The Living Planet

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Publisher: William Collins Sons Ltd
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 1984
Edition: Reprint

Description: 320 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Very good condition throughout. David Attenborough's Searching Eye, Unfailing Curiosity And Infectious Enthusiasm, Explain And Illuminate The Intricate Lives Of These Colonies-from The Lonely Heights Of The Himalayas To The Wild Creatures Which Have Established Themselves In The Most Recent Of Environments, The City.

Publishers Description: Life on Earth was Attenboroughs justly acclaimed description of the evolution of plants and animals, as handsome a text and as showy a bit of BBC-TV on location as youll find. The present work is a sequel: not life as it developed, but life as it now exists in its myriad forms on the planet. The book is thus a paean to the dynamism of life in interaction with changes in geography and climate. Chapter 1, "The Furnaces of the Earth," deals with volcanoes and the subterranean forces that have built mountains and given birth to the volcanic islands. From there we go to "The Frozen World," to examine the variations between life at the North and South Poles. Then the chapters march majestically across the planetary surface: from the poles to the tundra, to the northern forests, to the jungle, the grasslands, the deserts. Fresh water and shore life come next, followed by a chapter describing the life-forms that have developed on isolated islands: the Galapagos, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar. After a chapter on ocean life, we arrive finally at "New Worlds" - where Attenborough deals with the impact of human society on planetary life. The cautionary tale is told of Perus guanay bird, a phenomenal producer of guano that fertilized the coastal waters - leading to the abundance of shoal fish and the bigger fish that fed on them. Then along came chemical fertilizers and the crash of the guano market, followed by the harvesting of the shoal fish - and, within a few years, the near-destruction of the shoals themselves, not to mention the guanay birds. Attenborough writes a suitably clear, straightforward prose - but what distinguishes the volume - like its predecessor - are the abundant and splendid color photographs on almost every page. (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 9780002191395