LIFE Wonders of Life: A Fantastic Voyage Through Nature (The Classic Collection)
The editors of LIFE Magazine deliver another typically handsome coffee table compilation, a "wild book" in their opinion, of 100 photographs focusing on all shapes and sizes our living world. Divided into two sections—Flora and Fauna—the book examines plant life and vegetation in some of the most unexplored corners of the world (as well as many spots readers would expect), and takes a close—often very close—look at mammals and insects. Readers will explore California's seemingly endless poppy fields and the wonderfully vibrant seagrass that grows near Mexico's Guadalupe Island, for instance, and find breathtaking beauty in underwater images of larger-than-life coral reefs remarkably various in color and shape, and the snakes, seahorses, sponges, and fish that inhabit them. The editors coyly bury the lead by saving "one animal—the human kind" for last, using a famous shot of a six-month old fetus from their 1965 cover story, "Drama of Life Before Birth," to wrap things up. Including five removable photos by such notable photojournalists as Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE's third "Classic Collection" volume is striking and accessible enough to interest all ages. Photos. (Oct. 19)(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC.  All rights reserved.