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Travel

*** 1/2 “Grand Canyon--Amphitheater of the Gods.” Reader’s Digest/International. $24.95.

As anyone who’s been there knows, the Grand Canyon is an awesome sight but not an easy one to see in its totality. You’d have to spend several days in the national park--riding pack mules, taking a rubber-raft trip and hiring a helicopter--to get a comprehensive view anything like this excellent video provides. Of course, you’d also actually be there--but the cost would come to a lot more than $24.95 (or even the $59.95 that this and two other 55-minute tapes on Yosemite and Yellowstone sell for as a gift pack). The superbly photographed and well narrated travelogue fits all the cliches--spectacular, breathtaking, and so on. But it also has a couple of nice, slightly unexpected touches--including well-chosen music and a funny lecture on those mules by a park ranger. No controversy here, such as the one on aircraft use near the Canyon, but an hour of solid geography and beautiful sight and sound. Information: (415) 866-1121.