32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and fun, April 20, 2006
This review is from: The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life (Hardcover)
I don't think one could quite call this a "complete" guide to prehistoric life, however it is very informative and a lot of fun to read. The many computer-generated graphics in the book are generally very good, they do a nice job of bringing the animals to life.
The book is divided into three parts, covering the four geological eras, the Precambrian and Paleozoic are both covered in part one. Each part opens with a high level overview of each of the periods of that era, I think these overviews really tied the book together nicely. Following this a selection of animals from that era are presented; with one exception, there are no animals from the Precambrian. Typically one or two pages are devoted to each animal, including text and graphics. The computer-generated graphics are ubiquitous; sometimes there are photos of fossils. I thought the text was very informative and interesting for every animal, not a bad section in the entire book.
I liked the selection of animals. Not surprisingly the animals covered were biased to those with extreme characteristics, e.g. the biggest arthropod or the largest land predator. There were the animals that show up in pretty much every book of this type, for example: Trilobites, Haikouichthys, Dunkleosteus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Smilodon and Megalodon. There were also some that seem to be less commonly covered, at least in my experience: Pterygotus (a nine foot arthropod), Arthropleura (an 8.5 foot arthropod), Lystrosaurus (an interesting looking therapsid), Leedsichthys (an 88 foot fish), Didelphodon (a cretaceous mammal), Doedicurus (a huge armadillo) and many more.
Based on page count, or number of animals, the presentation clearly leans towards the Mesozoic. Animals from it accounted for almost half the pages, while the Cenozoic accounted for about one-third and the Paleozoic accounted for about one-sixth. Some arthropods are considered in the Paleozoic, but after this it's mostly only vertebrates are covered. Plants aren't mentioned at all. Not a bad thing or even surprising, but given the title of the book I think it should be pointed out.
One the whole I thought this was a great book. For books of this type, the main part being a catalog of animals, it's my favorite.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Re: Dinosaurs and much more, November 9, 2005
This review is from: The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life (Hardcover)
I bought this book after seeing the Walking with Monsters program on Discovery and have been much impressed with it. The book itself is an encyclopedia of prehistoric life but the authors seem to have taken care not to bias it too much towards the dinosaurs (a failing of other prehistoric guides). Instead they cover a range of animals from around 550 million years to the present day. The book is broekn into three sections which cover the three main time periods of life (Paleozoic and before, Mesozoic and Cenozoic) with a brief introduction and overview to each.
Undoubtedly the great selling point are the computer generated pictures used to illustrate the book which are mostly very realistic but there's also a lot of text as well. Each animal has a one or two page biography that takes you from the basics (what did it eat, where did it live, etc.) through to more technical information about their evolutionry history. I am a fossil buff but there are quite a few creatures in here that are new to me or which I have not seen in other books. In all I would recommend this book to anybody who has a general interest in prehistoric life as it seems to combine a popular touch that will appeal to children with expert/new information that will appeal to more informed fossil fans.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All about the book., August 27, 2007
This is a great book. It features 111 of the animals from the BBC's famous "walking with" series. Unlike other books about prehistoric animals, it has realistic illustrations.
The "walking with" series is about prehistoric life that lived millions of years ago. It has many episodes. My favorite is Walking With Prehistoric Beasts which is about life in the Cenozoic era.
Though the book features most animals from the "walking with...." series it introduces a new specie called homo floresiensis. This human is not featured in any production of the walking with series.
The contents of this book are divided into the rise of life, age of reptiles, age of beasts, timescale of the earth and tree of life. The rise of life lists the creatures of the Paleozoic era. The age of reptiles lists the creatures in the Mesozoic era. The age of beasts lists the creatures in the Cenozoic era. Each chapter has great illustrations.
Most of the animals featured in the book are vertebrates. There were only nine invertebrates. Two of them are molluscs while the rest are arthropods.
The illustrations in this book are so realistic that in an illustration of a homo sapien, I knew exactly what the clothes felt like.
Everyone should get this book. It is a must for anyone who wants to collect books about prehistoric life.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
