Alien Creation Sample References, 2023

For Web Shifters Library and other Esen books

Great Adaptations: Star-Nosed Moles, Electric Eels, and Other Tales of Evolution’s Mysteries 2020 by Kenneth Catania, Princeton University Press – beautiful descriptions and insights into research into adaptations, many dealing with senses.

Mutualism 2015 edited by Judith L. Bronstein. Oxford University Press – first new general work on the topic in thirty years, features in-depth articles on specific instances of mutualism and coevolution among species. Read to update my own understanding and to get details on specific organisms.

Parasite Rex 2000 by Carl Zimmer Atria Paperback, a Division of Simon and Schuster – A wonderful book, though you won’t look at anything the same way again. Detailed, with the bonus of showing researchers in the field.

Secret Lives of Animals Spring 2017 Scientific American Special Edition – light on detail but the illustrations were helpful.

The Secret Life of Slime April 2009 by Andrew Dopheide, article in New Zealand Geographic Magazine – new material and well illustrated.

The Symbiotic Habit 2010 Angela E. Douglas, Princeton University Press – looks at evolution and interactions among symbiotic organisms — very readable with excellent details.

For To Each This World

An Immense World 2022 by Ed Yong, Penguin Random House – spectacular and very readable book about glimpsing the world through the senses of other organisms. Even the footnotes are fabulous. My favourite new reference.

Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of the Pacific Northwest 2011 by David Hall, Greystone Press – a photo journey with evocative (and inspiring) looks at unusual creatures and environments. Used to help design Kmet (alien in EACH) plus the barnacles.

Imagined Life 2019 by James Trefil and Michael Summers, Smithsonian Books – a recent look at exoplanets and how intelligent species might have evolved on them. While I disagree with some of the authors’ assumptions, it’s a good start on the interplay between environment and body structure. The Planets 2019 by Andrew Cohen with Professor Brian Cox, based on the BBC program of the same name. Harper Collins. – very readable, with ample details and background on planet environments and the state of our knowledge