Life through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory (Life of the Past)

The original 1946 "Life Through the Ages" was created by Charles Knight, one of the most familiar paleoartists of his day. That text offered a personal and beautifully illustrated look at the animals of the past and present. It seems absolutely fitting and appropriate that this volume be followed up by a sequel of equal magnitude, containing over 70 years of new scientific understanding.What makes this book especially rewarding is that, in contrast to Charles Knight, the author Mark Witton is a paleontologist as well as a paleoartist. While Knight had an unparalleled talent for drawing and painting realistic depictions of wildlife, he was never formally trained in paleontology and was guided under the direction of those who were (though Knight had claimed his knowledge was equal to that of his supervisors). He often let much of his personal inexperiences and biases slip through his writings, particularly his favoritism towards mammals and seeming distaste for reptiles, influenced by the opinions of the day. Witton's book, thus, retains a certain level of professionalism in that he combines his mastery of fleshing out prehistoric environments with a long history of rigorous scientific work by both himself and his colleagues. He treats all of his animals, from microbes to mammals, with much respect, care, and attention. This is not to criticize Knight too harshly: he had acquired a very powerful understanding of mammal anatomy through dissection and personal observation, to the point where he could qualify as a scientific expert on the subject."Life Through the Ages II" is like no modern popular book on prehistoric life that I have ever seen. In retaining the exact format of the original book, Witton delivers a unique reading experience. While I can say much about the 'windows into the past', I must make note that the text itself is rich in valuable information. The introduction alone offers a fascinating historical view of Knight and his work, and the main text accompanying the plates gives a fairly comprehensive overview of the history of life that does not bias too heavily on dinosaurs and mammalian megafauna (which I understand was a deliberate choice by the author). Readers are treated to summaries of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution, the coevolution of plants and insects, and the life-histories of obscure Paleozoic tetrapods, as well as the usual accounts of the End-Cretaceous Extinction Event or the evolution of Homo sapiens. Thus, no aspect of prehistory is left uncovered. The text (I feel) is readable to all audiences regardless of prior understanding and may even serve as a good higher introduction to people curious about paleontology.On to the art itself. Each plate has its own atmosphere and rewards the reader by not being the same old monotonous tour of evolutionary history. Only small minority of animals are depicted fighting and killing each other: organisms rest, graze undisturbed, rear their young, or simply just observe their surroundings. An array of beautiful and colorful landscapes grace these artworks, with deep blues, rich reds, and hazy greens clothing our subjects. While the text is enormously valuable and a great bonus, I can understand if artists (and not just paleoartists) buy the book to enjoy the imagery alone. (On that note, if you enjoy Mark Witton's paleoart please consider supporting him by donating to his patreon: https://www.patreon.com/markwitton).I find it difficult to find anything particularly negative to say about this book that is noteworthy. I'll mention that I thought it was a bit disappointing to see such a high amount of mammals depicted in the Cenozoic pages versus other organisms, but I'm going to counter this by mentioning that the text itself betrays this fact: while one artwork may depict charismatic big mammals, the text urges us to consider, say, the foliage or invertebrate life and its ecology and evolution rather than just on the mammals themselves. I'm curious if others came to his conclusion as well.One thing that I consider so special about "Life Through the Ages II" is that Witton has devoted much of the text and imagery towards disseminating information regarding the current environmental crisis. He wastes no time discussion the issues regarding overfishing, the wildlife trade, and anthropogenic climate change. In a remarkably smart choice, Witton ties these themes towards the larger understanding of Earth history, because we only know so much about the effects of this crisis because of the research on paleontology. It is my hope that works like this help inspire people to join the ongoing action to stop the devastation of the natural world and care about the organisms that live around us.All in all, I would consider "Life Through the Ages II" among the best books on paleontology for this current century, for its comprehensive and authoritative scope, beautifully realized artwork, and simplistically effective layout. Please consider (as Witton himself suggests in the text) purchasing the original book as well, so you can compare and contrast the two works together. An inspiring and lovely book.

Charles R. Knight (1874-1953) was not the first artist to paint and sculpt extinct animals, but probably was, and still is, the most influential. Until middle of the Twentieth Century, he was just about the only artist who specialized in that field. Clearly the dinosaurs in early movies like “King Kong” and “The Lost World” were copied from Knight paintings, and almost all the current paleoartists say that they were inspired by his work. Not many people know that he was an accomplished artist in many fields: an illustrator of children’s books, a builder of stained glass windows, a taxidermist, a sculptor, and a designer of currency. In 1946 he published a book “Life Through the Ages,” probably the first instance where a paleoartist provided both the text and illustrations. I have the 2001 commemorative edition of LTTA, with some introductory material by Stephen Jay Gould and Philip J. Currie. LTTA is a very simple book, perhaps aimed at a younger audience. It covers 33 “special topics” in paleontology, not necessarily in chronological order, and not necessarily at the same level of generality, e.g. “Cambrian Epoch” vs. “The Tiger.” Also some of the topics overlap, e.g. “Horses” vs. “Hipparion”. For each topic, there are a few paragraphs of text on the left, and a charcoal sketch on the right. Not unexpectedly, the text reflects a very old-fashioned view of life, with a general attitude that more recent animals are “better” and were able to outcompete their predecessors. (At the time no one realized mass extinctions were a big driver of change.) At several points, Knight gleefully points out the alleged stupidity of various extinct reptiles, including dinosaurs. Today, this seems very strange. Ignoring the fact that it reflects out of date information, I can say nothing bad about the art, except for two things. It is well-recognized that Knight consistently drew dinosaurs with narrow reptilian thighs, even when he should have known better; the pelvic bones of dinosaurs dictated the thighs should be very wide from front to back. Also, Knight did not draw humans nearly as well as he did other animals.Paleoartist Mark Witton has written an updated version “Life Through the Ages II.” This is in the “Life of the Past” series edited by James O. Farlow; this series seldom disappoints. Since this new book is a clear homage to the original LTTA, it has a similar structure: special topics (in no set order) with text on the left and a color painting by Witton on the right. Here, there are more topics (66 vs. 33), and more words devoted to each topic. A few of the topics are the same as in the original LTTA, but most are different. There are four supplementary topics at the front:A reflection on paleontological science and paleoartistry 70 years after Knight.A quick summary of geological divisions.An overview of the “tree of life”.How prehistoric animals are reconstructed in art.An appendix, which I found especially interesting, contain Witton’s notes on each painting. These point out where anatomical guesses have been made, where unusual viewpoints have been chosen, where a lot more is known now about the animal than in Knight’s time, etc..I like Witton’s art styles, which can vary from the impressionistic to very detailed, so that alone is a good reason to buy the book. My usual criteria for judging popular paleontology books is how much material is new to me. This is a fairly high bar, since I have been following paleontology as a hobby since the late 1980s. High marks to LTTA II for this. There are at least a dozen unfamiliar animals discussed, some of which are:A large Devonian placoderm that had the lifestyle of a filter-feeding planktivore, much like a modern whale shark.A sail-backed Carboniferous amphibian called Platyhystrix.A Triassic amphibious proto-ichthyosaur called Cartorhynchus.A Triassic marine reptile called Atopodentatus which is a “collision of seal, crocodile, and a vacuum cleaner accessory.” Its weird T-shaped squared-off muzzle is the “vacuum cleaner accessory.”Jurassic “crinoid barges”, that are drifting logs covered with giant crinoids. The largest known specimen is ~500 square meters in area.A Late Cretaceous anklosaur called Zuul crurivastor is named for the fictional deity in “Ghost Busters” and the species name means “destroyer of shins.”An Eocene proto-whale Georgiacetus is an example where a partly land-dwelling animal has a very reduced connection between the pelvis and the spine, and probably did not walk, but undulated like a seal.So a recommendation for LTTA II. You might want to check out Mark Witton’s book “The Palaeoartist’s Handbook”.

The paintings are mostly alright.The book gives a brief overview of a period of time with an accompanied painting. Don't expect an encyclopaedia like description and depictions of animals, climates and time periods. The paintings are few - understandable, paintings are hard work. But in my opinion, the paintings are alright, at times the paintings are very dark making it unsure as to what I should be seeing. In addition, the paintings can lack details and be quite blurry. It's just okay, for me.

A natural history which has every promise of being as timeless as its inspiration.

Mark Witton's Life Through the Ages II presents 21st visions of Earth's prehistory in fascinating, scientifically accurate artwork & information. A successor to Charles Knight's Life Through the Ages, it takes inspiration from one of the most famous paleoartists of all time. Presented according to the most up to date scientific data while acknowledging when artistic license was taken due to incomplete knowledge, it's a riveting ride through prehistory. The artwork is, as expected, impeccable in style and accuracy. The accompanying text is highly informative and does not shy away from connecting the fates of these ancient worlds to our modern time which faces some of the same devastating effects, this time sparked by a particular species of very smart naked apes capable of writing online reviews (among other things), that very often led to severe depletion of the biosphere.Witton's artwork is beautiful to look at, full of details to admire and scrutinize. Apart from the accuracy and beauty, the composition of the elements within the artworks inspires the imagination and transports one back to these vanished worlds.Minor gripes (that neither detract from the experience nor warrants removing stars):- I would have loved the plates to be larger & more of them- There are quite a few spelling mistakesThe book is highly recommended to anyone interested in prehistory/paleontology and paleoart, from (in my opinion) one of the greatest in the field (with the added bonus of the artist being an actual paleontologist).

Great Book!This is for you, if you......like art: stunning pictures of extinct (and a few living) animals...like paleontology: every picture comes with a great (and often funny) description, but if you want to dive deeper, there‘s also the artist‘s notes in the appendix, and a lot of literature references.... love books: beautifully bound, very nice details, at a great price!... just want to get away from it all and want to take a few days off in the carboniferous. Very helpful advice (don’t go swimming in the lakes!).

I should say Dr. Witton's accomplished his goal, and then some. 😉 Excquisitely gorgeous!