Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

24 used & new from $2.85

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle Don�t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature (Paperback)

by Wayne Douglas Barlowe (Author), Ian Summers (Author), Beth Meacham (Author) "The Abyormenite is a genderless entity about 1.2 meters tall, with a bulbous body supported on six muscular tentacles..." (more)
Key Phrases: Physical Characteristics, Old Ones, Fire Time (more...)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

5 new from $51.69 19 used from $2.85

Also Available in:	List Price:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Hardcover (2nd)			116 used & new from $0.40
Paperback			57 used & new from $0.01

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Purchase this entertainment book and get 12 issues to either Rolling Stone, Men's Journal or Us Weekly for $2.95 each. That's less than $0.25 an issue. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy

by Wayne Douglas Barlowe

4.3 out of 5 stars (7)

The Alien Life of Wayne Barlowe

by Wayne Barlowe

4.7 out of 5 stars (3) $18.96

Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings

by Terence Dickinson

4.7 out of 5 stars (6)

Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV

by Wayne Douglas Barlowe

4.6 out of 5 stars (22)

The Science Of Aliens

by Clifford Pickover

4.5 out of 5 stars (14) $13.50

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Any science fiction reader would enjoy receiving this as a gift." (Science Fiction Chronicle )

Product Description
Introduction by Robert Silverberg. In this illustrated field guide to extraterrestrials, Wayne Douglas Barlowe paints 50 denizens of popular science fiction literature. 150 full-color paintings show each character not only in full figure but also in detail highlighting distinctive characteristics. A 1980 nominee for the ABA (Art/Illustrated paperback category) and Hugo Awards, the guide was named one of the Best Books of Spring 1980 by School Library Journal. Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. 267,000 copies in print.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; 2 edition (January 11, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0894803247
ISBN-13: 978-0894803246
Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #285,420 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Barlowe, Wayne, Douglas

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
The Abyormenite is a genderless entity about 1.2 meters tall, with a bulbous body supported on six muscular tentacles. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Physical Characteristics, Old Ones, Fire Time, The Guild Steersmen, The Ixtl, The Soft Ones, The Triped

New!
Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 36 books:

The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. Van Vogt on page 39, and page 73
Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg on page 87
The Legion of Space by Jack Williamson on page 44
Children of the Lens (The Lensman Series, Book 6) by Edward E. Smith on page 102
World of Ptavvs by Larry Niven on page 91

See all 36 books this book cites

4 books cite this book:

Life on Other Worlds: The 20th-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate by Steven J. Dick on page 128
The Alien Life of Wayne Barlowe by Wayne Barlowe in Back Matter
Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction Fourth Edition (Anatomy of Wonder, 4th ed) by Neil Barron on page 663
Life on Other Worlds: The 20th Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate by Steven J. Dick on page 128

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	75% buy the item featured on this page: Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature 4.8 out of 5 stars (25)
	10% buy Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV 4.6 out of 5 stars (22)
	7% buy The Fantastic Art of Beksinski (Masters of Fantastic Art) 4.9 out of 5 stars (14) $16.47
	4% buy Barlowe's Inferno 4.8 out of 5 stars (20)

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

science fiction(9)

aliens(6)

illustration(4)

art(3)

fiction(2)

graphic sf reader(2)

See all 7 tags...

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

25 Reviews

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but seems to contain some errors, March 19, 2003

By	"qwayla" (Yardley, PA United States) - See all my reviews

I do want to say starting off that (1) I got this because, being a Sci-Fi fan into artsy books, this was a hole in my collection; (2) I have been a fan of Barlowe's art since I found a used-but-impeccable copy of EXPEDITION a few years back; and (3) overall, this book did not dissapoint.
The book seems (at least on the surface) to be a well-researched compendium of aliens renedered in paint fit to augment the fertile imaginations of readers everywhere. The aliens are mainly from books and short stories that I'm not familiar with (not surprising since this was published originally when I was aproximately 5 years old), but there is enough info about them included to make it not just pictures of things I don't know what they are.
I personally felt that the best part was the sketchbook drawings in the back. I would adore to see the Thype project finally completed. And I think that some of the sketches of the aliens are superior to the finished paintings, an opinion that I realize many readers may not share.
But my big beef with the book is based on the Guild Steersman. If you read the Dune books with any care you can figure out that steersmen are mutated humans. They are not at all in this book like they are portrayed in the novels and some of the facts here are quite wrong. That the steersmen are not aliens of an unknown planet but humans who are mutated by spice overexposure is used as a plot point in one of the Dune prequels and the fact is presumably taken either from Herbert's notes or the inferences from the original novels.
Now this in itself would not usually lead me to give a book a mediocre review. It does worry me, however, that one of the other races in this book was in a story I was reading at the time (I think it was one of the Poul Anderson stories, neither book is close at hand as I write this) seemed to have a few minor oddnesses with it as well. It makes me wonder if some of the other aliens don't have the same kind of factual problems between what is in this volume and what they're like in the original story in a way that's not simply a difference of imagination.
Bottom line: get it for the art and the glosses of the alien races, but don't be that surprised if the description or portrait of your favorite alien doesn't quite match what you've seen in your head all these years.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool !!!!!!!, August 18, 2000

By	L. Troy Beals (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The premise of this book is: The authors have taken various characters from various science fiction works and have visualy recreated them and write about some of their culture from what is in the books. This is one of the best Science Fiction art books I've ever read!!! and if you've read some of the books that these aliens are recreated from it's even better!!!! Colorful pictures, explanations, and even a couple of pages showing the comparative sizes of each of the aliens!!!!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what the title says..., April 3, 2004

By	Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

A book on great alien races from science fiction. Classic fiction to boot. Most of us know about the Overlords from 'Childhood's End', the Puppeteers from 'Ringworld', the Guild Steersman from 'Dune' and even the Old Ones from 'At the Mountains of Madness'. But do you remember the Thrint from 'World of Ptavvs', the Cinruss from 'Hospital Station', or the Cygnan from 'The Jupiter Theft'?
A great source of information on alien races with full color pictures, lots of data on history, culture and habitat BUT also a great source for finding classic stories you never heard of!
Do you know the Pnume, Salaman, Triped or Merseian? Well, get this book and found out who they are!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 25 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Barlowe`s Guide is a classic! A Field Guide for the Sci-Fi Novel.
I remember getting this wonderful book when it first came out and being amazed at seeing such professional paintings of the creatures and beings from many of my favorite science... Read more

Published 7 months ago by W. Hosford

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
It could be science fiction
myths...
unrealistic scenario,
but certainly it is amazing.
So much work went in the
preparation of this book. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Salim Mahdi

4.0 out of 5 stars think of it as "Alien Centerfolds of Sci-Fi"
The artwork in this book is fabulous. It's a neat little companion book for sci-fi fans; it has wonderful illustrations of all the various organisms that have been portrayed in... Read more

Published 17 months ago by R. Friesel Jr.

4.0 out of 5 stars Graphic SF Reader
Once I saw that there was a Velantian in this, from E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman series, I was sold, and had to get it. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Blue Tyson

5.0 out of 5 stars Xenophanes
Good book. I have owned this since I was a child. It was a great portal into many of these classic Sci Fi books as I would have never heard about them otherwise. Read more

Published on April 1, 2007 by Xenophanes

5.0 out of 5 stars From the author of Tales of Ancient Xenar
I enjoy art books, mainly books of fantasy art. But this book is more a sci-fi art book, and a very good one at that. Mr. Read more

Published on November 8, 2005 by J. Price

5.0 out of 5 stars High five
I love, love, love this book. I got this book about 10 years ago, and it brought my imagination to life, and what an imagination. Read more

Published on April 20, 2004 by TM WHITE

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives new meaning to loving a book to death
_Wayne Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials_ is my 12 year old son/fantasy/scfi fanatic's favorite book. It is dog-eared from so much love, reading, studying and attention. Read more

Published on June 10, 2002 by Cynthia J. Mahaffey

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Artwork
Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials is a really good book if you need to jumpstart your imagination. Read more

Published on April 2, 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome illustrations
Though I usually let my imagination do he work, these pictures for the most part surpassed me. They are marvelous! A must have for any SF fan.

Published on June 12, 2001 by D. Scott Roche

› See all 25 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
humor what is the funniest book/books you have ever read?	280	49 minutes ago
science fiction Zero gravity isn't utilized in movies much.	30	3 hours ago
science fiction New Sci Fi TV Series?	3	4 hours ago
science fiction Hard SF Novels With Strong Characterization	18	5 hours ago
aliens Do aliens really exist?	21	1 day ago
humor PLANET OF BEER: not at all funny	8	1 day ago
aliens O'Hare Airport	1	1 day ago