Wayne Douglas Barlowe illustrates some amazing alien creatures from some choice (albeit 'his' choice) science fiction literature: reptilians such as James Blish's Lithian, James White's insectoids the Cinruss, the sphinx like Ishtarians created by Poul Anderson, or the Czill plant intelligence of Jack L. Chalker, and Frederik Pohl's tentacled Sirian. Speaking of tentacles, it is always nice to discover a new rendering of something from the Cthulhu mythos, and the Old Ones (responsible for the evolution of the Shoggoth - which lead to their eventual downfall) was a most welcome find.
This little book has become somewhat of an inspiration to sci-fi creators ever since it's publication, and shows such as Babylon 5 borrowed more than a few ideas from within these pages (as admitted in one of the DVD extras); not directly, but more as an example of how to imagine life-forms that were not simply 'humanoid men in a masks' - although a fair bit of this obviously does still exist in both.
There is also a nice fold-out comparative size chart in the middle of the book, and a 30 page folio of pencil drawings, at the back, taken directly from Wayne Douglas Barlowe's sketch book from 1979, which I found to be a lot more dynamic than his finished pieces which could often appear a little too posed.

I have created a helpful list by [Creature (book title) - author] which I hope will be well received by readers.

A
Sirian (The Age of the Pussyfoot) - Frederik Pohl
Rumi (The Alien Way) - Gordon R. Dickson
B
Black Cloud (The Black Cloud) - Fred Hoyle
C
Demu (Cage a Man) - F. M. Busby
Lithian (A Case of Conscience) - James Blish
Overloord (Childhood's End) - Arthur C. Clarke
Velantian (Children of the Lens) - E. E. "Doc" Smith
Master (The City of Gold and Lead) - John Christopher
Polarian (Cluster) - Piers Anthony
Cryer (Conscience Interplanetary) - Joseph Green
Abyormenite (Cycle of Fire) - Hal Clement
D
Dirdir (The Dirdir) - Jack Vance
Gowachin (The Dosadi Experiment) - Frank Herbert
Sulidor (Downward to the Earth) - Robert Silverberg
Guild Steersman (Dune Messiah) - Frank Herbert
E
Merseian (Ensign Flandry) - Poul Anderson
Uchjinian (Exiles at the Well of Sould) - Jack L. Chalker
F
Regul (The Faded Sun: Kesrith) - C. J. Cherryh
Ishtarian (Fire Time) - Poul Anderson
G
Soft One (The Gods Themselves) - Isaac Asimov
H
Vegan (Have Spacesuit Will Travel) - Robert A. Heinlein
Cinruss (Hospital Station Star Surgeon) - James White
I
Tran (Icerigger) - Alan Dean Foster
J
Cygnan (The Jupiter Theft) - Donald Moffitt
K
Slash (Kirlian Quest) - Piers Anthony
L
Old Galactic (Legacy) - James H. Schmitz
Medusan (The Legion of Space) - Jack Williamson
Cygnostik (A Little Knowledge) - Michael Bishop
M
Chulpex (Masters of the Maze) - Avram Davidson
Radiate (Memoirs of a Spacewoman) - Naomi Mitchison
Czill (Midnight at the Well of Soals) - Jack L. Chalker
Mesklinite (Mission of Gravity) - Hal Clement
Old One (At the Mountains of Madness) - H. P. Lovecraft
N
Puppeteer (Neutron Star) - Larry Niven
O
P
Demon (A Plague of Demons) - Keeith Laumer
Pnume (The Pnume) - Jack Vance
Master (The Pool of Fire) - John Christopher
Q
R
Dextran (The Right Hand of Dextra) - David J. Lake
Puppeteer (Ringworld) - Larry Niven
Triped (Rule Golden) - Damon Knight
S
Solaris (Solaris) - Stanislaw Lem
Dilbian (Spacial Delivery Spacepaw) - Gordon R. Dickson
Garnishee (Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers) - Harry Harrison
Mother (Strange Relations) - Philip José Farmer
T
U
Tyreean (Up the Walls of the World) - James Tiptree, Jr.
V
Ixtl (The Voyage of the Space Beagle) - A. E. van Vogt
Riim (The Voyage of the Space Beagle) - A. E. van Vogt
W
Master (The White Mountains) - John Christopher
The Thing ("Who Goes There?") - John W. Camobell aka Don A. Stuart
Salaman (Wildeblood's Empire) - Brian M. Stableford
Athshean (The World for World is Forest) - Ursula K. Le Guin
Thrint (World of Ptavvs) - Larry Niven
Ixchel (A Wrinkle in Time) - Madeleine L'Engle
X
Y
Z ( )

The writing here isn't spectacular, but the illustrations are great. A great pile of imagination fuel for kids and adult character designers alike. ( )

Supposedly there are 4 copies in system but none in larger libraries, so little hope of getting my request filled...

--------

request filled in two weeks! thank you Mineral County!

Good book for avid fans of classic SF & fantasy. I would have liked help from these illustrators when reading, for example, [b:Star Surgeon|1695599|Star Surgeon (Sector General, #2)|James White|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1187031294s/1695599.jpg|1692544]. On the other hand, if a reader does have a good imagination, s/he might disagree with these interpretations.

It could also be used as a reading list for someone who wants to read more of the influential works about aliens... but some of the text is a bit spoilery, so maybe not....

Unfortunately, there's no index of titles or authors, or bibliography - the table of contents lists the aliens by name, but since the book organization is already alphabetical, that info. is irrelevant. And it's a fairly small sampling of famous aliens, too - apparently the artists just picked the ones they were in the mood to draw.

Hard to say whether I recommend this or not - depends on what you want it for, I guess.

I did not read every word, but I did look at every entry and read many words, and scan for addendum. Therefore I feel justifed in rating it, despite not actually having it on my 'read' shelf. ( )

I liked the book. But, without knowing many of the back stories of the aliens, I didn't really connect to them. Also, I like how they look in my imagination! The drawings are well done - The illustrator/author is a very talented man. ( )

Critter pictures!

Really, it is interesting to see how someone else imagines the alien creature you also had in your head. Works well as a place to find SF books, too. I might not always agree with the depictions, but I never found it dull. ( )