Life Through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory

by Mark P. Witton

What was life like on our planet long before the early humans emerged?

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 Ages II takes us on an unforgettable journey through the evolution of life on Earth.

Dozens of gorgeous color illustrations and meticulously researched, accompanying commentary showcase the succession of lost worlds, defining events, and ancient creatures that have appeared since the earth was formed, creating an indispensable guide to explore what came before us.

Genres: Palaeontology, Nonfiction, Dinosaurs, Art, Science, Biology, Evolution

166 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Peter Tillman]

Review by the Inquisitive Biologist: https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020...
Excerpt:
"In the pantheon of palaeoart few names loom as large as that of American artist Charles R. Knight (1874-1953). Of the several books he wrote, his 1946 Life Through the Ages is the one that stood the test of time, having been reprinted on multiple occasions. In Life through the Ages II, Witton provides a gorgeously illustrated tour of life on Earth, reflecting how the state of science has advanced in the intervening seven decades. ...

Witton’s style is characterised by a subdued use of colours and tones that feel earthy and organic to me, making for atmospheric pictures. Some are downright eerie, such as a giant, floating crinoid barge or his near-Lovecraftian depiction of a giant ammonite. There is as much attention to the backdrop of skies, vegetation, or mountains, as there is for the subjects in the foreground. The notes in the appendix reveal a careful artist who holds himself to exacting standards of authenticity while acknowledging the sometimes limited state of our knowledge. So, he asks readers to be sceptical of his depiction of the Ediacaran biota and warns them that more complete, future remains of Plathyhystrix could render his depiction obsolete. No posture, no limb placement, no choice of bodily proportions has gone without serious research and thought. "

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[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. The author created this as an update and an homage to Knight's original "Life Through the Ages" from decades ago (so there is no need to look for the Vol. 1 like I did!). I thought the introduction about Knight was really interesting, because apparently due to being popular early on his work became extremely influential - not only for pieces like Fantasia, but even for artistic tropes like T. Rex v. Triceratops or the Allosaurus gnawing on a tail.

The heart of the text is about 70 plates with a facing 1-page description. The plates are art - these are not just informed by science, but also by color, composition, lighting, and sometimes even try to create a particular perspective. My personal favorite is one image of a giant scorpion hunting, and we are gazing from below and from a curved perspective - almost like the perspective from a burrow.

The author's commentaries are great because they explain why this creature is signficant, what it means, what are some of the questions and speculation, and frequently connects back to present-day issues of climate, biodiversity, conservation, etc.

Finally, I appreciate the at the author included notes and references in the back to delineate fact, inference, and speculation.

[Douglas Summers-Stay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be understood in the context of the first Life Through the Ages, written and illustrated by Charles Knight around 1950. Knight was perhaps the greatest illustrator of the prehistoric to have ever lived, despite being legally blind. Beginning his career in the 1890s, he was the first artist to understand painting (use of color, composition, shading, etc.), animal anatomy, and paleontology at the same time. Before 1900, he was depicting therapod predators leaping and rolling around in combat, something that was very rare until the late 1970s. At the end of his career, after he painted all the famous murals at all the greatest Natural History museums, he created Life Through the Ages, a series of prints and accompanying descriptions.
Witton is my favorite living illustrator of deep time. From the beginning, he always had the most interesting things to depict, and his accuracy to plausible anatomy and the fossils was second to none, but over time his digital painting skill has increased to the point that he is now one of the best in the field at that, too. This is his take on Knight's concept, about 75 full page color illustrations on the right hand page, and a page full of text about them on the facing left hand page.
While there are a lot of dinosaurs and pterosaurs (Witton's specialty), some of the most fascinating to me were the illustrations of mammals and of bizarre pre-dinosaur life forms, which I have not seen depicted as often, and rarely well. A stand out is the last land whale (georgiacetus, I think?), which looks like something between a walrus and a particularly vicious dolphin. The pages are varied in subject matter, color scheme, and presentation, and there were tons of small facts I didn't know. My only complaint is that the reproductions (though high quality, sharp, and colorful) do not show contrast as well as the computer screen on which they were created so many are a little dark and muddy.
As an aside, I've been playing with Stable Diffusion for generating illustrations and one thing it is just terrible at is dinosaurs-- almost as bad as it is at fingers. Even if some future version can get their general appearance right, it will be quite difficult to get them able to incorporate the latest scientific findings as Witton does. I think his employment is secure for a while yet.

[Herman Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best standalone story of life ( www.amazon.com/review/RNC87X5NKMCOK/r... ): 5/5

If you want the best story of life for casual readers, get the "Earth Before Us" series (which I reviewed: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4095195260 ) &/or Witton's "Life through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory" (henceforth LA), depending on your preferences. In this review, I list the 2 main reasons why I think LA is the best standalone story of life, especially if you like Sampson's "Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life" (E.g. See the Sampson quote; Apparently, Witton is also "one of those people").*

1) Sampson's book takes readers on "an epic journey through time that[...begins with...]the foundations of the dinosaurian web, including the history of life and the diversity of dinosaurs, as well as the physical, ecological, and evolutionary processes that shaped the Mesozoic world". LA takes readers on a similarly epic journey, beginning with a similarly multi-part intro:
-The 1st part summarizes Knight's professional history & how it relates to LA, ending with a strong environmental message: "The early and mid-twentieth century had a vastly different view of human development, population, and our relationship with wildlife and natural environments. Growing realization about our shrinking, weakening biosphere necessitates a greater reverence for the natural world than was generally held in the 1940s, and this underscores the urgent need for its preservation[...]There has never been a more important time for understanding our place in the natural world, the evolutionary history that we are part of, and the way that organisms—including ourselves—shape the future of planet Earth." This message is apparent throughout LA, but especially closer to the end (E.g. In reference to Paraceratherium, "It is a sad fact that poaching will likely cause the final demise of the rhinocerotoid lineage, and quite possibly within our lifetimes").
-The 2nd part summarizes "the theories behind geological time, the relationships of organisms, and the paleoartistic process", & is illustrated with the geological timescale, "the general picture of life's evolution and the relationships of species on many specific branches", & a step-by-step of Witton's "methods and philosophy of reconstructing fossil animals", respectively. Said pic & step-by-step are especially noteworthy: For 1, as you may have noticed, too many dino/paleo books lack cladograms ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3528041425 ), including other story-of-life books ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/5950560092 ); For another, to quote Witton, "the paleoart process is not well known outside of a sphere of individuals with a keen interest in fossil animals, so it is worth outlining here to put the following illustrations in context."

2) To quote Sampson, "all science writing should follow Albert Einstein’s dictum: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”" That's exactly what LA is. More specifically, LA is a perfect balance of in-depth & concise, providing just the right amount of technical detail without being too technical. Furthermore, there's "an appendix with notes about the paleontological data used in each image", including references to more technical sources "if more detail[...]is desired". "Paraceratherium, a Giant Rhinocerotoid" is an especially noteworthy example, given how complicated trunks are (I.e. See the Witton quotes; The 1st is from the main text, & the 2nd is from the appendix). My only gripe is several examples of misediting throughout LA (E.g. "As was discussed when we encountered the giant rhinoceratoid[...]").

*The paleoart is another main reason (which I discuss in another review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5745771392 ). Speaking of which, my favorite part of LA is "Mesozoic Mammals" ( https://archive.ph/uY2Ws ): For 1, it reminds me of Kirk's 1989 work (I.e. A deinonychosaur is eating a mammal "against a beautiful sunset": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3748558779 ), but MUCH more up-to-date; For another, to paraphrase Witton, it's basically "a companion piece to[...Stout's "Mammals" essay, allowing...]for direct comparison of modern ideas with those of several decades ago" ( https://archive.ph/pahKh ); As you may remember, I reviewed Stout's book ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/4323522932 ).

Quoting Sampson: "Cultural historian Thomas Berry goes so far as to claim that much of our present crisis with the environment comes down to a lack of story. We currently do not have a compelling narrative that places humanity into a larger context, so our lives tend to lack a sense of meaning or greater purpose. No longer do we feel the awe, wonder, or sense of sacredness about nature typical of many preindustrial (and present indigenous) cultures. But what should the new story be? Berry's solution, supported by growing numbers of scientists, theologians, and educators, is the Great Story—sometimes called the Universe Story, the New Story or the epic of evolution—that begins with the big bang and traces our sinuous path to the present day[...]Some people view this narrative as the greatest triumph of the scientific revolution, as well as an opportunity to help heal the rift between science and religion and provide that much-needed sense of meaning and purpose. I am one of those people."

Quoting Witton: "Indricotherines are related to (or may be part of) Hyracodontidae, and they shared their gracility, short torsos, and long limbs. They would thus have been svelter than modern rhinos, and were probably relatively sprightly for their size. Indricotherines also had a reasonably long neck, though exactly how long remains to be determined: modern reconstructions still differ in this regard. Their skulls are well known and, though possessing powerful rhino-like jaws and massive teeth, they lack features we associate with the presence of rhinoceros horns. A further contrast with modern rhinoceros stems from indricotherine skull anatomy indicating a tapir-style proboscis at the end of their snouts. They likely used them to browse from trees, scooping vegetation into their mouths or stripping leaves from twigs. This may seem like a bold claim, given our lack of any fossilized indricothere soft tissues, but trunks and proboscises require significant reorganization of skull anatomy to house the demands of their musculature and nervous tissues, and we can identify these adaptations in fossil animals with well-preserved skulls."

Quoting Witton: "Numerous interpretations of Paraceratherium anatomy have existed over the last century, leading to reconstructions looking like scaled-up rhinos or robust-looking giraffes. Most recent literature seems to have found a middle ground between these two extremes, with a form resembling a gigantic, somewhat horselike creature. As noted in the main text, there is good reason to assume that Paraceratherium bore a short proboscis. Paul’s (1997) skeletal was the primary anatomical reference for this painting, with some additional details taken from Prothero (2013)."

[Martin McDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love dinosaurs so I usually love books about them, but this one is disappointing. The text is uninvolving and not as informative as I would have liked. The illustrations are probably good quality in real life but are so dark, as if taken from night time or in very overcast conditions, that the detail is difficult to make out - they would probably benefit from being reproduced in a bigger format and definitely benefit from being lightened up. Not recommendable.

[Robert Ham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork, based on the latest scientific understanding of these creatures. There is also an historical perspective I found fascinating, and the writing is clear and informative. I would recommend getting the actual book, as full color plates don't really come across in an ebook.

[Laura Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Witton is both a paleontologist and a paleoartist, so the beautiful illustrations are up-to-the-minute scientifically. The book follows life on earth over 3.5 billion years.

[Ritahelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Read!

I worried it would all be over my head, but it was not! It was broken down into an understandable series and the drawings of the animals were magnificent!

[Kyri Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love things like this. The art in this case was not to my taste but YMMV.

[Susanah Willard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives us an alternate view of how prehistoric animals may have lived and interacted .

I liked the illustrations but didn’t like the fact that when you get to the end of the book, there are descriptions of the illustrations but no way to associate the illustrations with the commentary.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid sequel to a beloved classic, Life through the Ages II is a portfolio of outstanding palaeoart by one of its leading lights. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020...