After man Book

Speculative...Non-Fiction? 50 million years in the future, mankind is long extinct and the planet's fauna has evolved into some spectacular new shapes, often with way, way too many teeth.

The animals range from adorable (extra-long weasel) to nightmarish (ostrichbat) and the full color art shows each one from a variety of angles or in its habitat like a sci-fi Audubon plate. The accompanying text explains what branch the new species descended from and the features and behaviors that make it suited for the environment it lives in. Not only did I learn about these imaginary creatures, but I learned stuff about real animals, like why things that live in grasslands are all very fast. There's no shelter because the land won't support many trees, so if you live there you have to be ready to run for your life. I never put that together before.

As for the concept behind the animals, some of these critters totally have their heads pasted on -- llama with the head of a rabbit, I'm looking at you -- but others are thoughtful extrapolations, a subtle blending of several animals, and the final product really makes sense. You can look at these animals and figure out their life story just by their body shape, their coloration, their special adaptations. It's pretty cool.

Perhaps the best part of this book is turning the page, getting a glimpse of some half-squirrel/half-porcupine thing and thinking, "Oh, come on, like that would ever happen!" But it has happened. The porcupine? The echidna? Got 'em. We're surrounded by amazing creatures millions of years old and we accept them without question. It's only the new ones that freak us out (OMGWTFFURRYLOBSTER), so, once I figured that out, this book pretty much renewed my wonder of evolution and its infinite diversity.

Four stars. I found some of the author's assumptions to be questionable, but this is a great resource if you write science fiction. The pictures will start your mind whirring, and the book's brief introduction to DNA, evolution, natural selection, food chains, and the history of life on earth -- basically all the variables that influence the way living things evolve and adapt to their environment -- gives you all the tools you need to build your own animals. Or just ignore the text and look at the pictures.