Walking with Prehistoric Beasts

I really like these "Walking with..." books and I think THIS is my favorite of them all. With full "photosgraphs" of the beasts, a well-written, easy-to-follow storyline and millions of facts, Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari by Tim Haines is a very great book indeed. I especially like the side-boxes packed with infomation, and the fact files were good, too. Get this and the video now!!

I saw the documentary and now I saw the book! Oh my God! This vlume sets new standards for book design/layout, fantastic computer illustrations, photographs etc... Sure some of the information concerning these beasts is guesswork but not much. Remember, many experts within the field of paleobiology have put in their `2 cents worth`and they know what they are talking about. As a fisheries biologist, i enjoyed the idea of a book that deals with the life histories of these animals on a day by day basis. Book of the year!!

I bought two copies of this book: one for myself and one for a 12-year-old relative. The illustrations are superb, the information secure and grounded on the latest paleontological finds, the narrative intersting...in short, one fine example of BBC expertise in documentary-making. However, there's something that has, I'm afraid, gone astray in Chapter 5, where the author, in order to arrange for a confrontation between a pride of saber-tooth tigers and a giant ground sloth, comes with the idea that ground-sloths scavenged carcasses from predators "to supplement their diet". Now, where did this come from? I've never heard the slightest hint of evidence about that, and I found this particular piece of informed guess-work somewhat aberrant, to say the least. Seems like something atuned to the necessities of more dramatic story-telling of a kind of Pleistocene telenovela - perhaps because ground-sloths lived in what today is Argentina? Outside from this (admittedly small)slip, however, the book deserves to be bought, kept and cherished, from one generation to another.

Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, like Walking with Dinosaurs, is a well illustrated written companion to a BBC documentary on fossil animals and their environment. In this case the age of early mammals is the subject of the discourse. As the author himself points out, before the discovery of dinosaurs, the remains of the early megafauna of the ice ages were the great attractions in 19th Century museums and exhibits. These were the dream-team animals that inspired little boys to go into careers hunting fossils throughout the world. The beautiful CGI of the book does more to bring these animals alive than any other collection of images that I've seen, and it makes one appreciate the advances that have been made in this type of characterization.

While I enjoyed the wildlife presented, as with Walking with Dinosaurs, it is not always made clear to the reader that only some things can be known absolutely about these now extinct animals. Much must be extrapolated from what is known of modern descendants and shear guesswork. Not everyone who reads the book will realize that, and I think that more of an effort should have been made to explain why the authorities on the subject believe what they do about the period. For one thing it would have provided a better learning experience and a greater appreciation for the inspired detective work done by paleontologists world wide.

Worth 4 stars for the illustrations alone!

I have always thought prehistoric mammals and birds got the shaft when compared to dinosaurs, but I have also thought they were every bit as fascinating. I never thought I would see these creatures brought to print and screen as they are portrayed in this book and the accompanying television program. If you were a fan of "Walking with Dinosaurs" (and you should be), you will enjoy this as well. I learned a great deal that I did not previously know, even though I consider myself fairly well-read on the subject. It is a story that has been crying out for years to be told: What happened AFTER the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago, in the intervening 64 million + years. The book starts out at 49 million years ago, after the earth had recovered from the asteriod KT event, and ends only a few thousand years ago.