Something must be slightly amiss in the journalistic universe: National Geographic's October issue is–be sure you're sitting down for this one–a photo issue!

This shook me to the core. If the October issue is a photo issue, what have all those other issues been?

The photo issue celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Geographic, and it includes odd facts such as this: The magazine published 1,468 photos in 2012. They were culled from a staggering 2 million that were taken in that single year. (See what I mean about calling this a special photo issue?)

Among the photographs that made the cut for this issue, you will see chilling images of child soldiers in the Eastern Congo, terraced fields in Borneo that are scarring the landscape, the astonishing retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Columbia Bay, Alaska, and a series of dramatic head shots that illustrate the changing face of America.

You will also find the one-pager that really makes this a collector's item: A timeline showing the publication dates of all of the 539 photos showing bare-breasted women that have appeared since 1896. As Margaret G. Zackowitz ruefully admits, "Everybody always mentions the nudity in National Geographic."

-Paul Raeburn