Focus on The World We Live In (Life magazine) and analyze the 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, 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.
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 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'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 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, part IX explained the vicissitudes of life in the desert and the adaptations of desert animals. The gatefold, painted by James Perry Wilson of the American Museum of Natural History, 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 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 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.
evolution panoramic Amazon rainforest Sonoran Desert Roy Campanella Lincoln Barnett Local Group woolly mammoth James Perry Wilson logic uplift Hutcheson Memorial Forest American Museum of Natural History Walter Linsenmaier Rudolph Zallinger Megatherium Peabody Museum James Lewicki mural gatefold Gene Maurice Ewing Chesley Bonestell Fritz Goro Alfred Eisenstaedt coral