Life Before Man

This is a fantastic book! Though originally published in 1972, before a lot of the recent finds and revelations about dinosaurs, it is very consistent with the generally knowledge about various standard species. There are ample charts, graphs, and explanations that are easy to read but far from juvenile.

I must confess I bought the book mainly for the illustrations (233, with 180 in color) by Zdenek Burian, which, though are not the highest quality, are still marvelous to look at. But after a casual flip through, I can see myself reading a lot of it because it is so darned interesting.

If you can find a good-very good copy at a decent price, and want to add either to your art reference collection or dinosaur library, I don't think you will be disappointed in your purchase!

Burian is an excellent illustrator of prehistoric life. One of the best of the early illustrators, this catalog of his paintings rates with the best paintings of Charles R. Knight (several of these paintings occur in National Geographic's 'Our Continent'). Though the science has changed some of the depictions painted, I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for those who simply love outstanding paintings of dinosaurs, trilobites, etc. living out their lives in excellent dioramas. I wouldn't part with my copy for anything.

Zdenek Burian was without doubt one of the greatest of all prehistoric life artists . In a genre thats see's artists work being dated constantly by new scientific discovery , Burians work may scientifically date but as wildlfe art it remains along with Charles Knight's work at the summit of fossil reconstuction art .The only thing stopping this getting 5 stars is the reproduction quality of some of the plates being inconsistent , otherwise it's fantastic

The 233 illustrations in this book easily make the cover price seem trivial. Mr. Burian was one of the finest prehistoric illustrators ever. These paintings and drawings were previouly printed in several earlier works and combined here.

I thought I would NEVER find this book!

This book is very special,although it is old and may not continue the today`s vision of the dinosaurs (for example,the Apatosaur is living in water)it is fun to see the old visions of the prehistoric. And this edition is completley updated,with the latest facts. The text is completley different from that of the old edition. It is also fun to see the new illustrations,although those are not made by Burian himself. I am a great enthusiast of his prehistoric paintings,and I think they are very inspiring,because I like to paint own dinos in aquarelle. Over all,Life Before Man is a classic in illustrated natural history books. The only thing I miss is that some of the old paintings are gone and has been replaced by others. Life Before Man covers the history of the Earth,from a time with volcanoes to the dawn of man. So,sit down and enjoy this exciting adventure under 3000 million years!

Great artwork of life before man.

Ja, der Meister der Paläo-Art präsentiert hier einige rare Bilder, die bis heute in gar keinen, deutschen Buch festgehalten wurden.

Siehe Foto!

Zdenek Burians großartige Gemälde und Illustrationen werden in Deutschland sehr vernachlässigt.

In Tschechien gibt es ein Zdenek Burian-Museum und eine großartige Dauerausstellung im Zoo: Dvůr Králové nad Labem zu besichtigen!

Fazit: Wunderbare seltene Zdenek Burian Bilder sind in diesem tollen Buch, Ehrfurchtgebietend wiedergegeben.

This is the one for useful illustrations.

I have had a number of editions of this book and I have to say this one has lost a great deal of printing quality compared to earlier editions that I have bought from Amazon.

I also own the German Version of the book. The English version has some additional paintings by Burian. However, the editor wasnt able to put those new pictures in a coherent order. Furthermore, the quality of the printing isnt great.