The Book of Alien Paperback – March 1, 2004

I have wanted to own this book for years and years, I finally got around to purchasing a used copy on Amazon. I will be straight to the point with this one, if you're a fan of Alien, I really highly recommend you own this book! Not only is it packed with tons of concept art, and behind the scenes shots, but it's also got some excellent captions and the text accompanying the photographs is really in-depth as well. There are dozens and dozens of concept art pieces, many black & white and color photographs, and many sketches and paintings in the book. I believe another reviewer put it this way, if the book was marketed today it would be printed as a "Making Of.." book. I was lucky enough to find a cheap copy on here and I'm glad that I did. If you're an Alien fan, check it out.Layout 10/10Content 10/10Cool Factor 8/10Overall 9.5/10Pros: Really fascinating book about the making of and design of the first Alien film. Plenty of cool pictures, rare concept art pieces I have never seen before as an Alien fan of almost 15 years, and it's a very in-depth, easy read.Cons: Book is pretty short in length, weighing in at just over 110 pages. But I imagine if you wanted an even more in-depth look at the movie, Alien Vault would be a smarter choice.

If you’re thinking about buying this book, just buy it. Lots of fun to look at over and over again after you read everything in the book.

The book is good and content wise provides some insights to the franchise that carry through into the latest installment.I had the original book in the early 80's and the cover of that printing was a collage of preproduction art, mostly by Ron Cobb. I took a chance and bought this edition thinking that it was a reprint with a different cover. That is true however the reprint is published on incredibly cheap paper and the physical cutting of the pages (at least with my copy) is pretty sloppy.If you are looking for a copy of this book pay an extra dollar or two and search out an edition from the early 1980's.

This is a nice book about the original Alien movie if you are primarily interested in seeing the conceptual artwork that was created before the film was shot. There are also many behind the scenes photos of the sets and of the Alien creature being built and worn by the actors in this complex costume. If you are really a fan of this film and want more in depth information on pre and postproduction details then seek out back issues of Cinefex and American cinematographer magazines. Also there are websites dedicated to memorabilia and information about this film, as well as a nice write up in Wikipedia.

Great re-release of the making of Alien book released when the movie first came out. If you want to get the feeling of Alien just having been released and studied over then this book is for you. It has loads of development photos, stories and art from many of the leading sci fi illustrators of the time and of course from Giger. And it does it in a fairly compact form. So it's streamlined but just packed efficiently and effectively.

I gave my copy of this book to a good friend in the 70s, and never got it back.Now, many years later, it's mine again!!! This book is a must for anyone that loved the original Alien, the way I do. Full of photos from behind the scenes, trivia and conceptual artwork!!!

First off, the book arrived poorly packed, heavily mutilated. That's on Amazon. The book is laid out in a very amateur manner: Awful fonts, margins so tight the text nearly gets cut off, there are no page numbers, and it just abruptly ends. There are some behind-the-scenes photos not seen before, but the contrast in the black/white photos is pretty poor. Not sure I can recommend.

This book is outstanding! I love how it covers all the elements of the movie, with heavy attention to the artwork created to help envision both the Alien creature and the universe that these people live in.