...In 2358, man no longer owns the Earth - at least, after what he did to it. The planet's resources are depleted, many species of living beings have been exterminated, and the biosphere is polluted. And now the alien race Ima has taken on the task of restoring the destroyed biosphere of the Earth. And so that people would understand what they had lost, they organized a joint expedition to the newly discovered habitable planet, which is known to mankind as Darwin IV. And the author of the book, taken on the expedition as an artist, talks about the rich and untouched nature of the planet, radically different from the earthly one - bizarre and alien to us. Of course, this book is fantastic. The author of the book is an excellent illustrator; his works adorn many books of various genres, including science fiction. And in this book he presents to the reader his vision of the bizarre wildlife of a fictional planet. The inhabitants of Darwin IV are shown in relation to the areas of the planet they inhabit: inhabitants of the plains, forests, Amoebic Sea, mountains, polar regions and air. Each chapter of the book describes several typical inhabitants of each of the natural zones of the planet. The text is supplemented by numerous drawings that imitate field sketches in a diary and sketchbook, and this creates the impression that this is a genuine account of a journey to the planet. There are some things that one may disagree with - for example, the advantages of echolocation over vision, the use of biological lights by the blind inhabitants of the planet, or with the strange ways of feeding some creatures. But despite this, readers will greatly enjoy reading this book. In Russia, the inhabitants of Darwin IV are better known from the film "Alien Planet", which was shown several years ago on cable channels, and in the book you can find some plots in common with the film. But overall, the book is much more complete, more detailed and interesting than the film. It can be recommended to both children and adults interested in biology and science fiction. Note from the creator of fb2: the illustrations have been reduced in size, the original ones can be found at