Greenworld
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 Japanese cover of the First Edition of the first volume. The cover depicts three organisms native to Greenworld in the lower left; the flying "Fallicon" and a "Strida" (an animal used similarly to horses by the human colonizers) carrying a "Sitta" on its back. | |
| Author | Dougal Dixon |
|---|---|
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Speculative evolution Science fiction |
| Publisher | Diamond |
Publication date | 2010 (Japan, in two volumes) |
| Publication place | Japan |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 337 (Volume 1) 365 (Volume 2) |
| ISBN | 978-4478860588 (Volume 1) 978-4478012512 (Volume 2) |
Greenworld (Japanese: グリーンワールド Hepburn: Gurīn wārudo) is a 2010 speculative evolution and science fiction book written by Scottish geologist and paleontologist Dougal Dixon and primarily illustrated by Dixon himself, alongside a few images by other artists. Greenworld features a fictional alien planet of the same name and a diverse biosphere of alien organisms. Greenworld has so far only been published in Japan, where it was released in two volumes.
The premise of Greenworld follows human colonisation of the alien planet over the course of a thousand years, chronicling mankind's disastrous impact on Greenworld's ecosystems, similar to how humans today are impacting Earth and its life. Greenworld and its creatures were originally designed by Dixon as a design exercise for his local science fiction group and the planet and its organisms first appeared in a 1992 episode of the Channel 4 series Equinox, followed by appearances in various other media, including the 1997 programme Natural History of an Alien.
Greenworld's premise is similar to, and repurposed from, Dixon's original idea for his book Man After Man (1990), which would have involved humans time-travelling 50 million years into the future to colonize biosphere of the future he had developed for After Man (1981). The version of Man After Man that was eventually published was considerably different from Dixon's original concept.
Greenworld is a hypothetical Earth-like exoplanet with a diverse and thriving biosphere. All animal-analogous organisms on Greenworld are descended from a radially symmetrical six-legged starfish-like animal. Animals on Greenworld secondarily developed bilateral symmetry (which is what is seen in most animals on Earth), developing into two major groups; "sulcosyms" in which the plane of symmetry lies between the legs (meaning they have three pairs of limbs) and "brachiosyms" in which the plane of symmetry has led to the formation of one "arm" at each of its ends (meaning two pairs of limbs and two unpaired limbs, one at the front and one at the back).[1]
In the book, humanity discovers Greenworld just as Earth finally collapses under the pressure of mankind's impact and a generation ship with ten thousand people is sent to colonize the planet.[2] Greenworld then explores the first thousand years of human colonisation on the planet through following some key families of settlers.[3] Over the course of this timespan, every ecological catastrophe caused by humans on Earth is repeated on Greenworld.[2][3] The book is divided into several shorter chapters, each telling a short story and featuring illustrations of the local animals and their interactions and relations to humans.[4] Illustrations also include "excerpts" of advertisements, science papers, field guides and recipes.[3] By the end of the book, Greenworld and its ecosystems are in ruins, mankind having caused a mass extinction event through their actions on the planet.[5]
