Let’s address the elephant in the room: Can you find a legitimate, free PDF?
Short Answer: Not legally.
Long Answer: A few fan sites and obscure forums (such as the Speculative Evolution Forum or the now-defunct The Vompire Library) have hosted scanned copies of the book. Due to copyright laws (the book was published in 1990, with copyright likely held by Mallard Press or subsequent publishers), these scans are technically piracy.
If you manage to find a scan or a physical copy of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Greenworld, here is what you can expect. It is not a narrative about alien creatures, but it carries Dixon’s signature approach: ecological realism.
The book’s unique 9”x12” landscape format makes it hard to scan without breaking the spine. Most circulating PDFs are crooked, low-resolution JPEGs from the early 2000s. Also, because the book is factual (not fiction), the demand is lower than for After Man or The New Dinosaurs.
Like all of Dixon’s work, Greenworld is a thought experiment in functional morphology and evolutionary convergence. Key themes include:
Dixon provides full scientific‑style illustrations and descriptions. A few standout species:
The planet (unofficially named Greenworld by the explorers) orbits a G‑type star similar to our Sun. Its atmosphere, temperature, and chemistry are so close to Earth’s that humans can walk unprotected. However, the last common ancestor of all complex life on Greenworld was a photosynthetic cell. Over millions of years, some plant lineages evolved:
As a result, Greenworld’s “fauna” are technically plants — they cannot consume solid food. Instead, they absorb nutrients through modified leaves or root‑tips. Predators do not swallow prey; they envelop it, secrete digestive enzymes, and absorb the resulting slurry.
If your search for the "greenworld dougal dixon pdf" is leading to dead ends, consider these superior (and legally obtainable) alternatives by Dougal Dixon:
| Title | Year | Focus | Availability | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | After Man: A Zoology of the Future | 1981 | 50 million years future evolution | Easy PDF (legal samples) / Print | | The New Dinosaurs | 1988 | Alternate evolution (dinosaurs never died) | Moderate / Used print | | Man After Man | 1990 | Genetic engineering + future human evolution | Rare / PDF scans exist | | The Future is Wild (companion book) | 2002 | TV series tie-in (200M & 5M years future) | Common used / affordable |
For botany specifically, try The Secret Life of Plants (Tompkins & Bird) or The Cabaret of Plants (Richard Mabey)—but they lack Dixon’s illustrations.