The World Of Kong: A Natural History Of Skull Island is a 2005 encyclopedic book which was made for the release of Peter Jackson's King Kong. The book tells all about King Kong's world. It talks about everything on the fictional Skull Island, from the Dinosaurs to the plants of Kong's world.

Plot summary

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Project Legacy is series of expeditions guided by movie producer Carl Denham to explore the natural flora and fauna of Skull Island, the famed home of the giant ape, King Kong. These fictional expeditions lasted from 1935 until 1948, when the island sank beneath the ocean because of a massive earthquake. These "expeditions" are recorded in the book, The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island.

Reeling from several lawsuits caused by Kong's rampage, Denham was able to get himself off the hook by selling Kong's body, along with the potential film rights. He then agreed to work as a guide and charter for the expeditions that followed over the next decade.

Revealing as it did the existence of a Lost World, Kong's rampage in 1933 Manhattan shook the scientific world to its core. Several expeditious groups of scientists from universities and private organizations immediately set out to explore the island's secrets. However, only a handful of the two dozen early expeditions made landfall on the island. And of these, half were woefully unprepared for the terrors the island had in store for them. According to excerpts from "World of Kong", the men referred to it as, "That hell of a jungle," where "...Man is no predator here; he is PREY," and "Exploring that pit was like overturning stones in Hades."

Most were swallowed up by Skull Island's craggy rocks and dense, dark jungles, as well as the fearsome reptilian predators that called that phantasmagorical place home. The massive losses were a tragedy to the scientific community, and few people sought to set foot on the cursed island after this series of events.

However, all hope of exploring the island was not lost. In 1935, an expedition funded and organized by the three biggest interested concerns, and led by the experienced Carl Denham, set out to systematically explore and catalogue the island. Their stated goal was to document and study the various species of prehistoric animals living in this lost world. However, the most important thing learned from this first expedition was the fact that the island was far more dangerous and intricate than previously believed. (Also, confirmed during this expedition was that Kong was the very last of the giant gorillas.) Dozens of new species and behavior were observed every day. It soon became painfully clear that decades of study would only scratch the surface of this ecologically abundant locale.

During the second expedition, in fall 1936, it became apparent how fragile the island itself was. A giant earthquake shook one part of the island, killing five expedition members. Geologists discovered soon afterwards that the island was extremely tectonically unstable, and was doomed to continue to sink into the sea.

At least four Project Legacy expeditions were carried out, before World War II halted all further expeditions. After the war's end, a new expedition was not organized and dispatched until early 1948.

However, before the new expedition's arrival, another tremendous earthquake (of Richter scale 9.2) was detected hitting Skull Island, ripping it to pieces and sinking the remainder of the island below sea level, drowning away the incredibly diverse ecosystem, and all the organisms that had evolved there.

The book, The World of Kong, as well as the physical remains of Kong himself, are all that remain from this stunning lost world. King Kong