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''The World We Live In'' appeared in the pages of LIFE magazine from December 8, 1952, to December 20, 1954. A science series, it comprised 13 parts published on an average of every eight weeks. Written by
Lincoln Barnett Lincoln Kinnear Barnett (1909–1979) was an editor and author, most notably at Life Magazine for many years. Lincoln Barnett wrote a number of books, including "The Universe and Doctor Einstein", " The World We Live In", and "The Treasure of Our ...
, ''The World We Live In'' spanned a diverse range of topics concerning planet Earth and universe, and employed the talents of artists and photographers, including cameramen
Alfred Eisenstaedt Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for ''Life'' magazine a ...
and Fritz Goro and artists
Rudolph Zallinger Rudolph Franz Zallinger (; November 12, 1919 – August 1, 1995) was an American-based Austrian-Russian artist. His most notable works include his mural ''The Age of Reptiles'' (1947) at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and th ...
and
Chesley Bonestell Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. (January 1, 1888 – June 11, 1986) was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings inspired the American space program, and they have been (and remain) influential in science fiction art and illustr ...
. The parts were illustrated with art and photos, often presented in large
gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for gramophone record, LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square) ...
s which showed two sides of a scenario.


Barnett’s philosophy


Wonder, rationality, and man

Barnett’s first few pages of the first part expound his philosophy of natural history. It begins in the classical tradition with
wonder Wonder most commonly refers to: * Wonder (emotion), an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected Wonder may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * The Wonders, a fictional band ...
(Part I, LIFE p 85), a conventional motivation known as early as the
Academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...
. The
peripatetics The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...
of the next generation elucidate further that wonder is a perplexity eliciting feelings of ignorance. Barnett’s next assertion departs somewhat from the classical tradition. He supposes that wonder is the specific difference between men and animals, which in evolution "caused him to leave behind the animal forbears from which he sprang." From it "the questioning spirit of man was born." Tradition had gone in a different direction. Aristotle (and students), author of the earliest surviving work on logic, or reasoning, had defined reason, or rationality, as the ability to apply logic. Furthermore, he asserted, it is the one property that distinguishes man from the other animals. Centuries later, in a study of one of Aristotle’s works, Porphyry recapped the definition of man as a mortal, rational, sensible, animate substance, which survived as the main definition into modern times. Descartes simplified it to rational animal (only to then vainly reject its usage), while Linnaeus devised the
neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
name of Homo sapiens, "man the wise." “Rationality” and “Wonder” are not necessarily mutually contradictory if both are regarded as potencies, or the powers to produce human behavior; that is, all humans have the power to act rationally or experience wonder, but they may not necessarily actually do so. Pythagoras said (reportedly): :"in life, some grow up with servile natures, greedy for fame and gain, but the philosopher seeks for truth." But in traditional philosophy; specifically, The Theory of Act and Potency, the perceptible form of rationality is an act, an "accomplished fact", as opposed to a mere potency, or "possibility" hidden within something else. Some acts, however, retain something of potency about them. These are called active potencies. Those who seek fame and gain in Pythagoras are no doubt rational, and do wonder, but they choose not to pursue philosophic investigation, which is as yet only a possibility within them. Since wonder and rationality are the same type of object and serve the same purpose of being the specific difference of man, one might suspect that they are to some degree the same thing. Philosophy is a rational undertaking and wonder, the source of philosophy, must be under the same umbrella. Whether of rationality or of wonder, Barnett’s definitions offer a logical problem: man becomes different from the animals because of wonder, but wonder is the difference. Some animal therefore must have wondered. The problem, however, belongs to the concept of evolution, rather than to Barnett. The record of the rocks presents a stepped sequence of species already complete, but the concept of evolution requires continuous change. The transitions between steps are missing. Their existence was proved subsequently. After the chemical structure of genes and chromosomes was deciphered by
Watson and Crick "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" was the first article published to describe the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, using X-ray diffraction and the mathematics of a helix transform. I ...
and was published in 1953, the ability to reconstruct parts of the genome, or genetic map of a species, ensued. The resulting field of
cladistics Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived cha ...
compares genetic sequences to produce more accurate
phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
s than were possible with only
comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in ...
. Knowing the true lines of descent, the paleontologists have been able to identify many more
transitional fossil A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross a ...
s. Man’s closest living relative is the
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative the ...
. The last common ancestor is dated to 6 mya. Intermediate fossils by the hundreds lie scattered along the evolutionary path from then to now. There is a gradation, suggesting that rationality did develop gradually. It was the anthropologists of the 20th century who began to propose that the specific difference of man is only one or some subdivisions of rationality and that the animals have a share in others. The main suggestions have been culture, tool-using, language,
adaptability Adaptability ( la, adaptō "fit to, adjust") is a feature of a system or of a process. This word has been put to use as a specialised term in different disciplines and in business operations. Word definitions of adaptability as a specialised term d ...
. Barnett indulges in this sort of speculation himself at the end of the part on mammals, anatomically selecting the human brain (Part VI, LIFE p 109):
"a convoluted mass of soft tissue which enables him to perceive the world around him with unique acuity and respond to stimuli with a subtlety and self-consciousness that sets him apart from all other living things. It invests him, moreover, with a power which no other creature ever possessed – the power to modify the environment, to govern and alter the very course of evolution ...."
The passage expresses a studied optimism, but, in the middle of the 2oth century, there is a certain degree of prophetic hypocrisy about it:
“Of the more than one million species of animals on earth man is capable of killing all but a few without recourse to the weapons he ingeniously contrives for his own destruction.”
This expression of unease about the outcome of the wonder story long after Barnett’s death would become shrill cries of warning concerning the human impact on the environment. Amidst doubts about how successful rationality is as a strategy over geologic time, the theorists were finding increasing difficulty in defining it and discovering when it began. Each subdivision of rationality developed its counterpart in animal behavior studies:
animal culture Animal culture can be defined as the ability of non-human animals to learn and transmit behaviors through processes of social or cultural learning. Culture is increasingly seen as a process, involving the social transmittance of behavior among p ...
,
tool use by animals Tool use by animals is a phenomenon in which an animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, grooming, defence, communication, recreation or construction. Originally thought to be a skill possessed o ...
,
animal language Animal languages are forms of non-human animal communication that show similarities to human language. Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds or movements. Signing among animals may be considered complex enough to be a form ...
, and so on. When all is said and done about rationality, we are left with the problem of finding a complex that is minimally present in some form in animals but gradually grows more complex in humans until it accounts for their great success and power . Apparently, rationality would seem to be a pre-condition for the development of rationality. The paradox is nothing new to evolutionary problems. The answer is generally pre-adaptation, the pre-empting of a feature that evolved for some other reason, such as the use of feathers, which evolved for thermal insulation, for flying. Otherwise, the feathers would present a problem, as they could only evolve in animals that already fly. There is, however, no clear pre-adaptive function of rationality. The differences between human and animal rationality or irrationality are still being experimentally defined, a topic not covered by Barnett. His sequel to the human story in ‘’The Epic of Man’’ concentrates on anatomical development. He presumes, following anthropological tradition, that the growing skills of man are linked to the increase in brain size (a presumption often questioned and still not proved). The documentation of these skills, rather than any theory of wonder or rationality, is his main concern in that series.


Magazine articles

''The World We Live In'' was introduced to LIFE's readership as "the greatest series of science stories we have ever produced". It promised a "unified, understandable picture story of the planet Earth" authored by Lincoln Barnett, "one of the most literate authors in the field of science". The series itself started two issues later. Each part was assigned to a reporter, who was granted eight months to research the subject, organize the data, and oversee the photography and artwork. This opportunity to travel, learn, and explore on company expense was known informally as a "Luce fellowship". * I. The Earth Is Born - published Dec. 8, 1952. Illustrated by
Chesley Bonestell Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. (January 1, 1888 – June 11, 1986) was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings inspired the American space program, and they have been (and remain) influential in science fiction art and illustr ...
, the first installment of the series covered the formation of the Earth, its composition, and its eventual demise. Contemporary principles of geology were also introduced. NOTE: Two-Page Letter: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.117.3045.509.a - and -https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.117.3045.510 * II. The Miracle Of the Sea - published Feb. 9, 1953. The second part of the series discussed the geology and geography of the ocean, its, and its effect on coastlines. The first to include a gatefold, it featured a panoramic geological cross-section of the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of North America. The part was given to science reporter Nancy Genet, who requested "a couple of hours" with oceanographer
Maurice Ewing William Maurice "Doc" Ewing (May 12, 1906 – May 4, 1974) was an American geophysicist and oceanographer. Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean bas ...
and ended up spending two weeks, a fact Ewing remembered years later. She also had the idea of representing the seafloor in panoramic view, and drafted the concept on a scotch-taped "giant toilet paper roll" of paper 85 feet long. The final artwork was done by James Lewicki. * III. The Face Of the Land - published Apr. 15, 1953 Surface geology was the focus of the third part, which provided overviews of mountain formation and erosion. The geological formation of the New York area was included as a sample history. The gatefold showed forces of uplift in a bare landscape on one side, and the same landscape after the effects of erosion on the other side. * IV. The Canopy Of Air - published Jun. 8, 1953. Part 4 was the only issue not to be featured on the cover of LIFE; instead, the cover story was on Roy Campanella. ''The Canopy Of The Air'' featured clouds, air currents, chemical cycles, and other atmospheric phenomena. * V. The Pageant Of Life - published Sept. 7, 1953 After a discussion of evolution, the history of life on Earth is recounted, starting with single-celled organisms and ending with the demise of the dinosaurs. For the gatefold,
Rudolph Zallinger Rudolph Franz Zallinger (; November 12, 1919 – August 1, 1995) was an American-based Austrian-Russian artist. His most notable works include his mural ''The Age of Reptiles'' (1947) at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and th ...
's ''Age of Reptiles'' mural was used; however, the version in ''The World We Live In'' was Zallinger's preliminary, detailed study. The actual mural in the Peabody Museum is significantly different. * VI. The Age Of Mammals - published Oct 19, 1953 Zallinger was commissioned to produce another panoramic mural, this time showcasing the evolution of mammals in North America across the Cenozoic, from small Paleocene animals to the
woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus subp ...
and '' Megatherium''. The mural was eventually revised dramatically for the Peabody Museum, with several animals (such as the mammoth) revamped completely. * VII. Creatures Of the Sea - published Nov 30, 1953 After the physical properties of the ocean in part II, part VII introduced the organisms living in it. The gatefold showed the diversity of marine life on one side, and benthic organisms on the other. * VIII. The Coral Reef - published Feb 8, 1954. Types of coral reef, different species of coral, and the colorful denizens of the Great Barrier reef were present in this part. * IX. The Land Of The Sun - published Apr 5, 1954 Focusing on the
Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...
, part IX explained the vicissitudes of life in the desert and the adaptations of desert animals. The gatefold, painted by
James Perry Wilson James Perry Wilson (August 13, 1889 - August 12, 1976) was an American, painter, designer, and architect best known for his natural history dioramas. Active for over 40 years, he is noted for his work with the American Museum of Natural History, t ...
of the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inte ...
, showed the same desert scene by day and by night. A perfectionist, Wilson worked slowly and included as much detail as possible in the panoramas. He was unable to finish by the deadline, and some animals were painted by Robert Gartland. Both paintings were presented to the Peabody Museum in 1976 by Wilson's nephews. * X. The Arctic Barrens - published Jun 7, 1954. Life on the cold tundra was described in this installment, with a gatefold showing the seasonal transitions of the tundra. LIFE photographer Fritz Goro and reporter Jim Goode camped on the tundra for some seven weeks to obtain all the photos they needed, and by the end were reduced to living on macaroni. * XI. The Rain Forest - published Sep 20, 1954 The lush
Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
of Dutch Guiana was covered in part XI, with photos and several double-page spreads and a gatefold painted by Zallinger illustrating life in the forest. Zallinger, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, and reporter David Bergamini spent two months in Surinam gathering data. * XII. The Woods Of Home - published Nov 8, 1954 Terrain more familiar to LIFE's readers was discussed here, as the effects of the seasons are observed in the changing woods. Artwork by
Walter Linsenmaier Walter Linsenmaier (18 August 1917 – 31 October 2000) was a Swiss artist and entomologist. He was particularly known for his highly detailed illustrations of animals, plants, and insects which were widely published in magazines and books. He w ...
depicted animals of forest and pond, as well as insects of the ground and the trees. The photographs were taken in Mettler's Woods, now the Hutcheson Memorial Forest. * XIII. The Starry Universe - published Dec 20, 1954 Part XIII closed the series on a suitably grand scale, with Bonestell's art depicting the stars and planets. The gatefold showed a scale depiction of the solar system on one side, and the Local Group on the other.


Reprints

After its successful run at LIFE magazine, ''The World we Live in'' was released in book form in 1955, abridged in 1956 for younger readers by Jane Werner Watson, and re-released in a three-volume "Family Edition" in 1962. Some minor schematic diagrams were cut to better fit the format of the book. Some of Chesley Bonestell's art, notably the painting illustrating the end of the Earth, were removed, possibly because they were seen as dated by then. Jane Werner Watson's edition for young readers cropped many pictures or removed them altogether; for instance, the Paleocene landscape was removed, while the eroded geological panorama was relegated to the endpapers. This led to some odd situations, with some captions referring to animals that were cropped out of the picture.


Style

Lincoln Barnett's style is populist rather than mathematical. Totally absent are the calculations and traditional proofs of geology and the other natural sciences. He does repeat or summarize some statistics derived from those sciences of the times, without much reference to the sources. His work is a selective summarization of some of the major scientific theories about "the world we live in," greatly enhanced by prize-winning art and photography. Appealing to the public in general, rather than to any select scientific audience, his text can be criticized of being florid, sometimes to a ludicrous degree. As one reader put it, " Enjoyed "Creatures of the Sea" most of all because of the way Lincoln Barnett slings the King's English around. While Nobel Prizer Sir Winston Churchill had an easier subject, he can't hold a candle to this guy Barnett". The rationale for mammalian dominance of the Earth from Ch. VI is only one example.
"Indeed, it is probable that the mammals may have survived and succeeded to hegemony of the earth not in spite of but by reason of their very weakness and obscurity, their smallness in a world dominated by giants, their nakedness in a world of armor plate -- in particular, by their fear and sensitivity and awareness in a world of unperceiving, insensate, brainless brutes."
There is also marked personification and some bias. Large prehistoric mammals, for instance, are variously described as being "awkward" or "witless". ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' in Ch. V does not escape this treatment either.
"The apogee of development was attained with the creation of ''
Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
'', the mightiest and most fearsome flesh-eater that ever terrorized the land. A towering agent of destruction, endowed with gigantic strength and power, ''Tyrannosaurus'' spanned 50 feet from nose to tail and carried his terrible head 18 to 20 feet above the ground. His hind legs were superbly muscled, from his thick thighs down to his three-toed, cruelly taloned feet. His main weapon of attack was his murderous mouth which had a gape of incredible size and was armed with rows of six-inch saberlike teeth."
Finally, apparently as part of Barnett's effort to interest a wide audience, the text features quotations from non-scientific literature, including the Judaeo-Christian Bible. For example, each part includes such an independent quotation just below the title, as is often the practice in scientific works. Concerning the few Biblical quotes, one reader remarked that the "text was written as if the clergy were looking over Mr. Barnett's shoulder and crossing out anything that might be in conflict with the story of Adam and Eve". Whether the statement is to be judged true is a matter of opinion. Certainly, the Bible is not used as justification for any hypothesis in the entire work, which, unlike the Bible, portrays the evolution of the natural world in every part. Still, among the scientists, the purple prose does its job of conveying awe at the natural world. Paleontologist George Olshevsky described Lincoln Barnett's text as having "the grandeur of the universe contained in every word".Re: First Book for Smart Dino Enthusiast
/ref>


Factual accuracy

Much of ''The World we Live In'' is and always was intentionally out of date, due to differences between the latest theories of
modern physics Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity and general ...
, which are mainly incomprehensible to the general public, and the more popular theories of
classical physics Classical physics is a group of physics theories that predate modern, more complete, or more widely applicable theories. If a currently accepted theory is considered to be modern, and its introduction represented a major paradigm shift, then the ...
. This dichotomy of theory developed in the 20th century and continues today. Faced with it, Barnett chose the more classical theories for his presentation. Barnett primarily offers the Newtonian universe. At the time of publication, his parts were up-to-date with contemporary theories on the natural world, but major scientific breakthroughs in astronomy, geology, and biology date the series. For instance, the sections on geology assume geophysical global cooling instead of plate tectonics to explain uplift. The paleontological parts (V and VI) are especially dated, considering the speed of new discoveries in the field and the Dinosaur Renaissance. The frontier of research had already dissociated itself from the Newtonian universe in Barnett's time, in favor of the Einsteinian. Writing in the mid-20th century, he was well aware of this development. He copes briefly with Einstein in the last few pages of the last part as a special topic, but for the most part modern
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
, quantum mechanics, and advanced particle physics are beyond his chosen classical subject matter. For example, Newton's gravity prevails, but its equivalent relativistic
curved space-time General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. G ...
is neglected. There is no force of gravity in the relativistic universe; however, it is acceptable to use the language of gravity with relativistic meanings. The sections on various
biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
s such as the desert, rainforest, and woodland, which depend on more immediate observation, are still more or less accurate as far as they go, which today is more limited in reach. They reflect the ecology of the time. Neither Barnett nor any other writer had any hint of the massive changes to the biomes caused by climate change, such as the rapid melting of the polar
ice caps In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...
, the bleaching of most of the world's coral, and the threat to the atmosphere's ozone layer, narrowly placed in abeyance by world collaborative action.


Reception

"''The World We Live In'' ought to be in book form. It is extraordinarily well done, comprehensive and at the same time comprehendible—a great thing." :— Roy Chapman Andrews
"To own ''The World We Live In'' in book form is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for any family—old or young, it's a wonderful and exciting adventure in learning." :— Walt Disney
''The World We Live In'', with its several incarnations, successfully brought the intricacies of science to the baby boom generation. By the time the book version was being published, endorsements were printed by notable people, including paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, filmmaker Walt Disney, and Admiral
Richard E. Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...
. The "Letters to the Editors" page frequently featured glowing reviews of the series, as well as letters from creationists that either embraced or rejected it. After publishing part XII on Mettler's Woods, LIFE received mail from the Citizens' Committee for the Preservation of Mettler's Woods, which congratulated them for the article and encouraged readers to help save the forest from destruction. Eventually, a letter from the Committee was published announcing that they had "raised to funds to purchase and study these woods and adjoining woodlands", adding that ''Lifes article "not only stimulated several hundred persons to contribute to the fund to save one of the last primeval American forests, but encouraged the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to contribute $75,000 in memory of W. L. Hutcheson". The forest was renamed the Hutcheson Memorial Forest. Paleontologist Bob Bakker mentions Zallinger's dinosaurs as the spark that ignited his passion for prehistory; ironically, Bakker himself would later argue against Zallinger's rendition. George Olshevsky also cites ''The World We Live In'' as introducing him to science, and adds that he suggested authoring an updated version; however, LIFE's editors were not interested. ''The World We Live In ''was also the basis for a science series by the German comic book
Mosaik ''Mosaik'' is a German comic book magazine. First published in December 1955, it is the longest-running German (and European) monthly comic book and the only one originating in East Germany that still exists. ''Mosaik'' also appeared in other coun ...
.


Legacy

''The World We Live In'' was followed closely by '' The Epic of Man'', in ten parts (all signed by Barnett) beginning with the November 7, 1955 issue, and ending with the May 6, 1957, issue. It focused on the development and history of human civilization, material that is usually covered under
Physical Anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an e ...
and
Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
. The article format is the same: text by Barnett illustrated by many of the same artists and photographers. Panoramic fold-outs depict the ancient tribesmen carrying out their reconstructed cultural activities. These latter were duly compared to the activities of select modern tribesmen of the times. Ironically those ways were permanently altered by the exposure. The 1950s were times of great archaeological changes also, due to the multiplication of sites and discoveries. The magazine series finally presents the ancestors of modern Europe (
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
) and then ends abruptly, without a book edition for the time being. Notably missing from the series are the Far East and the Americas, where
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
is now known to have been innovated independently. After helping to produce the various editions of ''The World We Live In'', Barnett went back to his true passion, natural History. From the June 30, 1958 to the October 19, 1959 issues, an eight-part series, '' The Wonders of Life on Earth'' traces the development of Darwin’s Theory of evolution, portraying the places and species that influenced his thought in eye-catching color photographs. The ''Wonders'' name only appears in the first issue. In that issue also and in all subsequent issues the name is ''Darwin’s World of Nature''. In those years great changes were being reported by LIFE, which seemed to be obsoleting the series articles as fast as they could be written. For example, the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 was duly planned and was duly reported in advance by a single article in LIFE Magazine. Data collected during this international research undertaking unexpectedly proved and resurrected
Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...
's theory of
continental drift Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed into the science of pl ...
, the foundation of today's plate tectonics in geology, yet the magazine mentions it no further. Articles on the Space Race were frequent, as well as individual scientific articles on various expeditions and wildlife. Barnett played no part in these, as he was not a regular employee of the magazine. One of its reporters in World War II, he had resigned in 1946 to pursue a career as an independent writer. He did his major writing for LIFE as an independent contractor, bringing the art staff with him. In 1959, the handwriting appeared on the wall, so to speak, for LIFE Magazine. Circulation began to fall, due to competition with television, and fell even further in 1960. Barnett forged ahead with the book form of the Darwin series, returning to the title and concept of ''The Wonders of Life on Earth''. Darwin seemed to him to be the true heir to classical science, investigating, like Aristotle and his students, the puzzling circumstances of nature. Unlike ''The World We Live in'', the ''Wonders'' book’ rewrote and re-edited much of the magazine material. The first edition appeared in 1960 under the banner of Time, Inc., and was soon followed by others, including a special edition for young people by The Golden Press. Time’s principal owner and co-founder, Henry Luce, moved in 1961 to restructure his holdings. LIFE Magazine was less successful, but Time Books was very successful. Luce took the advice of a new employee, Jerome (Jerry) Hardy, who had recently come to Time, Inc. from another publishing house. In 1959 he had launched a series of books, ''Time Capsules'', containing extracts from '' Time'' with moderate success. In consultation with the LIFE editorial staff he proposed a new division that would publish series of books on specific topics. In 1961
Time Life Time Life, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...
was created under Hardy’s management. It joined the scientific research assets of LIFE with the book publishing assets of Time Inc. The magazine would now decline, but Time Life would rise to new heights. Time Life was able to restore and improve many dropped projects from the archives of LIFE. One of the first was the single book based on ''Epic of Man''. When it appeared in 1961 it was considerably different from the magazine articles. The WorldCat citation for APA lists Barnett as the author along with Time Life. The printed version ignores Barnett, citing the Editors of LIFE as the author and Time Incorporated as the publisher. The book itself is divided into 16 parts, not 10. China, the Maya, and the Incas have been added, as well as new material on Cultural Anthropology. Many of the parts correspond to the previous LIFE articles, but the names have been changed, and the material has been rewritten. Barnett has been listed as Senior Writer, and 9 other writers have been added, but none of the parts are signed. From 1961 on, Time Life produced hundreds of books in dozens of series, typically about 20 books a series. The one that most closely emulates Barnett’s interest is perhaps the '' Life Nature Library'' some 24 volumes of Natural History, 1961-1965, each expanding and updating some article or part of an article of ''The World We Live In''. For example, parallel to the article, ''The Age of Mammals'', is the book, ''The Mammals''. The 25th volume is a series index. Barnett, however, does not appear in any of the 25, or in any other series. He has moved on to other books. In his place Time Life has recruited other notable writers and scientists in their fields, such as
Willy Ley Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scre ...
,
Francis Clark Howell Francis Clark Howell (November 27, 1925 – March 10, 2007), generally known as F. Clark Howell, was an American anthropologist. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, F. Clark Howell grew up in Kansas, where he became interested in natural history. H ...
, and Niko Tinbergen.


References


External links


''The Pageant of Life''
''Life'' magazine (September 7,1953).
''The Starry Universe''
''Life'' magazine (December 20, 1954). {{DEFAULTSORT:World We Live In, The Life (magazine) Nature