Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature

by Beth Meacham, Ian Summers, Wayne Barlowe

Book Overview

In this illustrated field guide to extraterrestrials-a 1980 nominee for the ABA and Hugo Awards and named one of the Best Books of Spring 1980 by School Library Journal-Wayne Douglas Barlowe paints 50 denizens of popular science fiction literature. 150 full-color paintings show each character not only in full figure but also in detail highlighting distinctive characteristics. Humanoids, insectoids, reptilians, and more are included. Field notes explain...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0894803247
• ISBN13: 9780894803246
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Old Childhood Favorite

I have some nostalgia for this book, it was one of the books I picked up most often when visiting my grandparent's home. I loved it for all its strange creatures, interesting artwork and details I would puzzle and ponder over as a child. I still love it just as much today and even my own kiddos got a kick out of looking at it!

Just what the title says...

A book on great alien races from science fiction. Classic fiction to boot. Most of us know about the Overlords from 'Childhood's End', the Puppeteers from 'Ringworld', the Guild Steersman from 'Dune' and even the Old Ones from 'At the Mountains of Madness'. But do you remember the Thrint from 'World of Ptavvs', the Cinruss from 'Hospital Station', or the Cygnan from 'The Jupiter Theft'?A great source of information on alien races with full color pictures, lots of data on history, culture and habitat BUT also a great source for finding classic stories you never heard of!Do you know the Pnume, Salaman, Triped or Merseian? Well, get this book and found out who they are!

Gives new meaning to loving a book to death

_Wayne Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials_ is my 12 year old son/fantasy/scfi fanatic's favorite book. It is dog-eared from so much love, reading, studying and attention. This is no kid's book, though--these are the wunderkind's Wayne Barlowe's illustrations that have appeared in many famous scfi books. Each alien has a full bio-ethnographic description, bring each to life.

Cool !!!!!!!

The premise of this book is: The authors have taken various characters from various science fiction works and have visualy recreated them and write about some of their culture from what is in the books. This is one of the best Science Fiction art books I've ever read!!! and if you've read some of the books that these aliens are recreated from it's even better!!!! Colorful pictures, explanations, and even a couple of pages showing the comparative sizes of each of the aliens!!!!

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials

This is a wonderful book with detailed pictures and descriptions of aliens light and dark,good and evil, cruel and kind, and large and small. It has vibrant illustrations that grab the eye, and descriptions that send the mind and imagination to worlds millions of light years away. You will not find these alien faces anywhere else but in this book. I would recommend it to any science fiction lover who can get their hands on it.

A modern classic

I first read this book when I was 10, and it freaked me out. It was one of the major reasons I began reading science fiction. This book can be reread endlessly without losing an ounce of wonder, for Barlowe's representations of alien anatomy are truly inspired. I constantly recommend this to my friends, and they are never disappointed, even the ones who can't stand sci-fi. Unfortunately, his paintings are much more interesting than some of the books they're taken from.