A paleontologist shows what life was like on our planet long before the early humans emerged through words and illustrations.Paleontologist Dr. Mark P. Witton draws on the latest twenty-first century discoveries to re-create the appearances and lifestyles of extinct, fascinating species, the environments they inhabited, and the challenges they faced living on an ever-changing planet. A worthy successor to Charles Knight's beloved 1946 classic, Life through the A...

**A marvelously illustrated look at everything we now know about the fearsome king of the dinosaursContinue the adventure with the dazzling film, T.REX, narrated by Sam Neill, now playing in IMAX and museum cinemas worldwide**Tyrannosaurus rex is the world’s favorite dinosaur, adored by the public and the subject of intense study and debate by paleontologists. This stunningly illustrated book brings together everything we have learned about T. rex...

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals have always fascinated people but they pose vast problems for the artist. How do you go about recreating the anatomy and behaviour of a creature we've never seen? How can we restore landscapes long lost to time? And where does the boundary between palaeontology - the science of understanding fossils- and artistic licence lie? In this outstanding book, Mark Witton shares his detailed paintings and great experience of drawing and painting extinct speci...

The most authoritative illustrated book on flying reptiles availableFor 150 million years, the skies didn't belong to birds—they belonged to the pterosaurs. These flying reptiles, which include the pterodactyls, shared the world with the nonavian dinosaurs until their extinction 65 million years ago. Some pterosaurs, such as the giant azhdarchids, were the largest flying animals of all time, with wingspans exceeding thirty feet and standing heights comparable to mo...

Extinct worlds live again in palaeoart: artworks of fossil animals, plants and environments carefully reconstructed from palaeontological and geological data. Such artworks are widespread in popular culture, appearing in documentaries, museums, books and magazines, and inspiring depictions of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals in cinema. This book outlines how fossil animals and environments can be reconstructed from their fossils, explaining how palaeoartists overcome gaps in fossil ...

The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, a series of thirty-seven incredible sculptures of prehistoric animals and geological displays, were unveiled to the public as part of the famous Crystal Palace Park in 1854. The display, which includes iconic depictions of rhinoceros-like dinosaurs, regal extinct mammals, serpentine marine reptiles and giant, frog-like amphibians, captured a snapshot of palaeontology from a golden era of scientific discovery in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, they are inter...

"A valuable volume detailing an underexplored region of the world of dinosaurs . . . essential reading for any dino-devotee." — ForeWordDinosaurs of Darkness opens a doorway to a fascinating former world, between 100 million and 120 million years ago, when Australia was far south of its present location and joined to Antarctica. Dinosaurs lived in this polar region.How were the polar dinosaurs discovered? What do we now know about them? Thom...

Fascinating revelations of the parts played by David, Solomon, Judas Maccabee, Pompey, Cleopatra, Justinian, and others in the making of the city.Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, with evidence of an original settlement dating back more than 4,000 years. Vitally important was the supply of water provided by the Gihon Spring, in a land that normally experienced rainfall only from November to March. Since then this Middle Eastern city has been attack...

Discover why insects look and behave the way they do in this fully illustrated field guide to the world's most adaptable animals.Still going strong after five mass extinctions, insects may be the most successful land animals ever. They have evolved a spectacular array of real-life superpowers to help them thrive in virtually every environment on the planet. Filled with fascinating photography and in-depth information, this volume explains why insects are even more a...

An award-winning science writer presents a captivating collection of cosmological essays for the armchair astronomerThe galaxy, the multiverse, and the history of astronomy are explored in this engaging compilation of cosmological tales by multiple-award-winning science writer Marcia Bartusiak. In thirty-two concise and engrossing essays, the author provides a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe and those who strive to uncover its mysteries.Bar...

A noted linguist examines extinct languages, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to the mysteries of as-yet undeciphered writings, in this scholarly work.While certain ancient languages were passed down continuously through the ages, many others were ignored for centuries. When scholars began to decipher these extinct languages in the early nineteenth century, they uncovered previously inaccessible riches of knowledge and history. Yet much work remains to be done on undeciphe...

A journey into the alien depths of the sea, and into our possible future, from a marine biologist known for "nature writing at its most engaging" ( Sunday Express).A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway as revolutionary studies rewrite the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet, its topography even more varied and extreme than its lan...