I would not worry at all about the fact the seats are rear-facing. When you're in the air you barely notice the difference (and obviously when cruising only notice when you look out the window). In the event of an accident or a bumpy landing they're actually safer.

On the whole, the window seats are most prized, not only for the view but also for the privacy. The best are those on the upper deck of a 747. If you are taller than about 6'1", you'd want a seat that doesn't have a seat in front of it (strictly, on the seat map, behind it, because they're rear-facing) so you can stick your feet out a bit beyond the foot-rest when sleeping. You can also get to the seat without stepping over another sleeping passenger, but unless you're a bit infirm that's not a big worry. There's a guide on here (see the Sticky for a link) about extra legroom seats. The most prized seats on a 747 are therefore 62 A/K and 64 A/K. There are endless threads on here comparing their relative merits, but I'd be happy with any one of those four seats - and it's a very long time since I sat in any other seat on a 747 (apart from 1K and 2K ).

As far are a view is concerned, the ones to beware of are on the 4-classs 777 (i.e. the version of the 777 which has a First Class, when CW is rows 10-15). Then quite a lot of the CW seats either have missing windows or a view of the wing. There is no really good seat in CW on those planes, but I think row 10 is the best for the view and row 15 best for a tall sleeper.