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And for the coffee table

Natural History, Dec, 2005 by Laurence A. Marschall

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs, by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart (Candlewick Press; $26.99)

Talk about intelligent design! The creators of this unique volume are artists and graphic designers, not scientists, and they have put together one of the most diverting and attractive dinosaur books you'll ever see. Its conventional facade conceals six internal two-page spreads, each featuring a giant pop-up creature. Around the margins of each spread are smaller "books," which in turn contain more dino-related pop-ups. An archaeopteryx, feathers and all, spreads its wings as you open one page; a lumbering ankylosaur rises from the folds of another, its spiny tail raised threateningly. There's just enough text to help budding dinophiles understand what they are seeing, and to remind old fossils like me what we learned about these "terrible lizards" when we were young. To top it off, the authors promise at least two more Encyclopedia Prehistorica volumes to come, one on extinct mammals, and another on extinct sea creatures.

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Einstein: A Hundred Years of Relativity, by Andrew Robinson, in association with the Albert Einstein Archives (Harry N. Abrams; $29.95)

The host of contributors to this centennial volume attests to the broad influence of Einstein's work since the publication of his first seminal papers in 1905. Physicists Philip Anderson, Stephen Hawking, Joao Magneijo, and Steven Weinberg, explain how the two major currents of twentieth-century physics, namely quantum mechanics and relativity, began with Einstein's work. They further show how current attempts to formulate a "theory of everything" are rooted in his yearning for a unified cosmology.

Andrew Robinson, an editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, reviews Einstein's public persona, most notably his deep-seated pacifism, which coexisted, sometimes uneasily, with his support for the state of Israel. Even such personalities as Philip Glass ("Einstein and Music") and Arthur C. Clarke ("Einstein: Twentieth-Century Icon") have a few words to say about the man Time magazine named "Person of the Century."

So much has already been written about Einstein that there are few revelations here. But the writing is elegant, and the illustrations impeccable: among them are many seldom-seen letters and photographs from the archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Altogether, they make the volume a gift worthy of the great soul it celebrates.

Art of the Ancestors: Antique North American Indian Art, by George Everett Shaw, with Steven C. Brown, Benson L. Lanford, and Bill Mercer (University of New Mexico Press; $65.00)

Lascaux: Movement, Space, and Time, by Norbert Aujoulat (Harry N. Abrams; $65.00)

No one knows the identity of the artists whose work graces the pages of these showpiece volumes. Yet in a way, it seems, we know them well. In the first book, art dealer and collector George Everett Shaw has teamed up with three other experts to present an album of Native American artistry that, in his words, "approaches perfection." The noble visage on a Tsimshian headdress, inlaid with eyes and teeth of abalone, or a simple Iroquois drinking cup, bearing a stylized beaver carved in maple, express an aesthetic that speaks to a common humanity.

The second volume, Lascaux, written by a geologist and archaeologist, is a lavish and comprehensive record of the celebrated cave in southwestern France whose walls display polychrome images of bison, bulls, horses, and stags. In spite of their familiarity, the images remain remarkably dynamic and pack a surprising emotional punch.

Most of the Indian pieces in Art of the Ancestors date to the 1800s, by which time the Lascaux drawings were already 18,000 years old. But browsing through both books, you feel as if you're looking at precious legacies from venerable members of your own family.

A Dazzle of Dragonflies, by Forrest L. Mitchell and James L. Lasswell (Texas A&M University Press; $39.95)

Although their fossil ancestors, with wingspans of two feet or more, were among the largest flying insects in the history of the planet, dragonflies are the embodiment of delicacy. Tissue-paper wings bear their needle-thin bodies just above the surface of a pond or brook, while their legs form a basket to trap small prey for a meal on the fly. If they seem in a hurry as they dart from perch to perch, perhaps it's because life is so short: a typical dragonfly lives for less than a month after it emerges from the larval stage, even if it's lucky enough to escape being eaten.

Mitchell and Lasswell, both entomologists at Texas A&M, have stopped this action on the wing, as it were, compiling an attractive and accessible album of photographs of North American dragonflies, with enough intriguing facts to make anyone into a dragonfly buff. The most attractive illustrations were made with the help of a flatbed scanner, which seems ideal for creatures so thin they are almost two-dimensional. The authors even offer detailed instructions on how to catch, sedate, and pose your own neighborhood dragonflies before releasing them back into the wild.

And for the coffee table

Natural History, Dec, 2005 by Laurence A. Marschall

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