The Life Nature Library was a popular series of hardbound books published by Time-Life

Time-Life

Time–Life is a creator and direct marketer of books, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. Its products are sold throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia through television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales....

 between 1961 and 1965. Each of the 25 volumes explored a major topic of the natural world

Natural World

Natural World is the longest-running nature documentary series on British television. 2008 marked the series' 25th anniversary under its present title, though its origins can be traced back to its predecessor The World About Us which began over 40 years ago...

. They were intended for, and written at a level appropriate to, an educated lay readership.

Each volume was written by a primary author (or authors) "and the Editors of LIFE". The 25 volumes in the series were:

• The Forest (1961; Revised 1963), by Peter Farb
  Peter Farb
  Peter Farb was an American author, anthropologist, linguist, ecologist, naturalist, and spokesman for conservation.-Biography:Farb was born July 25, 1929, in New York, NY to Solomon and Cecelia Farb. In 1950, he graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He attended Columbia University...
  
  
• The Sea (1961; Revised 1963), by Leonard Engel
• The Desert (1961; Revised 1962), by A. Starker Leopold
  A. Starker Leopold
  Aldo Starker Leopold was an American author, forester, zoologist and conservationist. He also served as professor at the University of California, Berkeley for thirty years...
  
  
• The Mountains (1962; Revised 1967), by Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne
• Evolution (1962; Revised 1964), by Ruth Moore
• The Poles (1962; Revised 1968), by Willy Ley
  Willy Ley
  Willy Ley was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.-Life:...
  
  
• The Earth (1962; Revised 1963), by Arthur Beiser
• The Universe (1962; Revised 1966, 1967), by David Bergamini
  David Bergamini
  David Bergamini , was an American author who wrote books on 20th century history and popular science, notably mathematics...
  
  
• The Insects (1962), by Peter Farb
  Peter Farb
  Peter Farb was an American author, anthropologist, linguist, ecologist, naturalist, and spokesman for conservation.-Biography:Farb was born July 25, 1929, in New York, NY to Solomon and Cecelia Farb. In 1950, he graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He attended Columbia University...
  
  
• The Birds (1963), by Roger Tory Peterson
  Roger Tory Peterson
  Roger Tory Peterson , was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement.-Background:...
  
  
• The Plants (1963), by Friz W. Went
• The Mammals (1963), by Richard Carrington
• The Fishes (1963; Revised 1964), by F.D. Ommanney
• The Reptiles (1963), by Archie Carr
  Archie Carr
  Archie Fairly Carr, Jr. was an American herpetologist, ecologist and a pioneering conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida. In 1987 he was awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award by the Ecological Society of America...
  
  
• Ecology (1963), by Peter Farb
  Peter Farb
  Peter Farb was an American author, anthropologist, linguist, ecologist, naturalist, and spokesman for conservation.-Biography:Farb was born July 25, 1929, in New York, NY to Solomon and Cecelia Farb. In 1950, he graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He attended Columbia University...
  
  
• The Land and Wildlife of North America (1964; Revised 1966), by Peter Farb
  Peter Farb
  Peter Farb was an American author, anthropologist, linguist, ecologist, naturalist, and spokesman for conservation.-Biography:Farb was born July 25, 1929, in New York, NY to Solomon and Cecelia Farb. In 1950, he graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He attended Columbia University...
  
  
• The Land and Wildlife of Africa (1964), by Archie Carr
  Archie Carr
  Archie Fairly Carr, Jr. was an American herpetologist, ecologist and a pioneering conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida. In 1987 he was awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award by the Ecological Society of America...
  
  
• The Land and Wildlife of South America (1964), by Marston Bates
  Marston Bates
  Marston Bates was an American zoologist. Bates' studies on mosquitoes contributed to the understanding of the epidemiology of yellow fever in northern South America....
  
  
• The Land and Wildlife of Tropical Asia (1964), by S. Dillon Ripley
• The Land and Wildlife of Eurasia (1964), by François Bourlière
• The Land and Wildlife of Australia (1964), by David Bergamini
  David Bergamini
  David Bergamini , was an American author who wrote books on 20th century history and popular science, notably mathematics...
  
  
• Early Man (1965; Revised 1968), by F. Clark Howell
  Francis Clark Howell
  Francis Clark Howell, generally known as F. Clark Howell was an American anthropologist. He altered the landscape of his discipline irrevocably by adding a broad spectrum of modern sciences to the traditional "stones and bones" approach of the past and is considered the father of modern...
  
  
• Animal Behavior (1965), by Niko Tinbergen
• The Primates (1965), by Sarel Eimerl and Irven DeVore
  Irven DeVore
  Irven DeVore is an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, and Curator of Primatology at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology...
  
  
• A Guide to the Natural World and Index to the LIFE Nature Library (1965)

See also

• March of Progress (illustration)
  March of Progress (illustration)
  The March of Progress, or simply March of Progress, is one of the most famous and recognizable scientific illustrations ever produced. A compressed presentation of 25 million years of human evolution, it depicts 15 human evolutionary forebears lined up as if marching in a parade from left to right...
  
  
• LIFE Science Library
  Life Science Library
  The Life Science Library was a popular series of hardbound books published by Time-Life between 1963 and 1967. Each of the 26 volumes explored a major topic of the natural sciences. They were intended for, and written at a level appropriate to, an educated lay readership...
  
  
• The World We Live In
  The World We Live In
  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 chapters published on an average of every eight months....