The Teeming Universe: An Extraterrestrial Field Guide: An Exploration & Journey to Worlds Beyond the Solar System

By chance, I happened to go to a speculative biology reddit, and saw the author annoucing the release of the book. I came to Amazon, had a quick look at the reviews and then, figuring I had an Amazon vouncher for by birthday, decided what the heck, I'd give it a shot.I started a reading a little later, having followed a sequence of reading the new hardcover of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life (up through the epochs), then my very first personal copy of the the seminal After Man, and then on Space! with this book.Having got through the initial set-up to the meat of the book, to the first alien life:Alien micro-organisms.A bold choice for the first glimpse. Not, perhaps, something that might quite have grabbed eight ot ten year-old me like, say New Dinosaurs did (on the other hand, though, I was a strange child!), but certainly one that did 42-year old me!There is a certain logic to that too, as in broad strokes, the sucessive worlds go through increasingly complexity of biospheres. It also underlines the amount of thought and effort yhat went into this. For instance, the consideration of how the alien DNA/RNA equivalent works. I am only a lay palentoloigist-slash-chemist (I'm more of an engineer!), enough to understand the book's explanations, enough to appreciate that the author has made best effort for credibility, something I always appreciate.This is also a quite weighty tome - at not much under 300 pages, it's about two-and-a-half times the page count of the aforementioned After Man, and provivded several evening's reading, a planet or two at a time.Presentation is fine. The text size is my only note (and it's not so much a complain as an observation); it starts out at quite a large size, like it was large print, but in a couple of places, notably the last section, is reduced in size. It thus feels a little odd, but not enough to detract from the experience. (I've had more glaring issues in novels published by big companies.)The biospheres and worlds looked at are of necessity, comparitive snap-shots - but that is also true of the aforementioned palentological works - offering a tantalising and exciting glimpse into a completely different ecosystem. One is left with the urge to grab Sir David Attenborough, pump him full of age-reducing drugs and shoot him into space with a full BBC camera crew to make dozens of documentaries to explore each world in detail.We don't see nearly enough works in this genre, and it is gratifying to see a new author come onto the stage with such a very solid and enjoyable begining. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre.

Very interesting concepts, each planet, felt unique, and the Fauna and Flora, was all very original. The layout of the book was also neat and easy to read. And the authors artwork, really helps brings these worlds to life.A definite read for any Speculative Fiction enthusiasts.

The book itself was very expensive IMO but my son absolutely loves it and was his favourite Xmas present

An amazingly rich imaginary trip discovering life in the universe. This is so much better than Star Trek and guys with funny foreheads. This is a scientifically based exploration of possible Earth-like worlds. The slightly familiar is followed by the utterly alien in this panoramic voyage through the galaxy. Any one of these worlds might fill a book by themselves. But in stead the author/artist chose to take us on a whistle stop tour of eleven planets beyond our own. In each world we see several major families of life forms and how they relate to each other. We are also introduced to the planets themselves, showing how they and their solar systems are different from our own and how that relates to the formation of the worlds and the life on them. This book is fascinating and I will be sorry to see it end. But field guides often only hit the high spots. This book could launch a whole Encyclopedia Galactica! It shouldn't take more than a couple of dozen volumes for a starter set. I would reserve my set like a Time/Life subscription. No problem!

Libro molto interessante

This book is ABSOLUTELY SOVLFUL, by which I mean it's an enthusiastic, attentive love letters to the works in its genre that came before it made by a fan who wants to leave his own mark on it, even if it's not absolutely perfect. It's a speculative biology book like those of Wayne Barlow or Nemo Ramjet (though much less grim and creepy than Ramjet's prognostications of humans warped by the Qu, lol). There are several planets that Cline has created with incredible, painstaking detail, down to their mass in relation to earth, orbits, axial tilts, etc. etc. etc, and he did the same with the creatures he made up for them, which range the gamut from tiny microorganisms to giant air-faring behemoths to a "mechanical autominer" robot civilization to an actual alien civilization, the Yaetuan. He put SO much thought into all of them with such painstaking attention to scientific detail in physics and biology I MUST give this book 5 stars. Now, there are a couple small drawbacks. The print quality isn't super good, the book feels a little like a cheap school textbook, though maybe that's the intent for nostalgia purposes. The art is fine, it's not on Simon Stalenhag's level, but it gets the job done. The writing is just serviceable, there are little errors here and there so that could be better. It would be AWESOME if someone like Stalenhag's editors worked with Cline to get a nice hardback artbook with professionally edited text for Cline's work! But yeah, absolute SOVL. 5 stars!

The Teeming Universe : A Extraterrestrial Field Guide is a science fiction book by Christian Cline in which we explore speculative biology one planet at a time. We tour the universe, in a way, visiting system after system. Each system with their own alien life forms which illustrate certain ways evolution works on Earth and may work on other planets, The author also does all the images inside the book and he is a good artist. From landscapes to aliens to machinery he can do it all.There is a Glossary and even a list of books, many classics, for further reading.This book is so good that there is already a sequel which focuses on the Yaetuan Species all by themselves. This sequel has already been declared a example of the best world building by a YouTuber who I watch and trust. So, yeah, I will likely grab the sequel if I can. These are NOT cheap books to be honest.I would put this right up there with After Man by Dougal Dixon, Expedition by Wayne Douglas Barkowe, The Snouters by Gerolf Steiner, and many others.

There are a lot of great ideas and concepts in this book. Illustrations are very good. The problem that detracts is the inconsistent large type font (font even changes from page to page in some sections). Margins are taken nearly to the edge of each sheet. Ironically, there are info boxes with more standard-sized fonts. The inconsistent use of fonts and overall bad formatting provide an unprofessional feel to this book. Still, the book deserves full credit for it's content.