Doctor Who: A History of the Universe in 100 Objects

by Steve Tribe, James Goss

Every object tells a story. From ancient urns and medieval flasks to sonic screwdrivers and glass Daleks, these 100 objects tell the story of the entire universe, and the most important man in the Doctor.Each item has a unique tale of its own, whether it’s a fob watch at the onset of the Great War or a carrot growing on the first human colony on Mars. Taken together, they tell of empires rising and falling, wars won and lost, and planets destroyed and reborn.Within these pages lie hidden histories of Time Lords and Daleks, the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, the plot to steal the Mona Lisa and the story of Shakespeare’s lost play. You’ll find illustrated guides to invisible creatures, the secret origins of the internet, and how to speak Mechonoid.A History of the Universe in 100 Objects is an indispensible guide to the most important items that have ever existed, or that are yet to exist.

Genres: Doctor Who, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Collections, Science, Doctors

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2012

Reviews

[Sophie Crane]

While I generally feel a certain amount of dislike for products that feel like the marketing dept is running the show, the Dr. Who: History of the Universe in 100 Objects does provide a good account of items that are significant in the series. This is quite handy as objects are important to the stories. Plus, it was a huge hit with the person I gave it to as a gift.

[Chris Cloake]

Makes sense of the infinite Dr Who universe giving proper attention to the show's unique history.

A must for fans and a lot of information and some great art / photos.

[Nicholas Whyte]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2983726.html

This is really rather gorgeous - clearly rips off the British Museum's excellent podcast and book with similar titles, but a good idea is worth stealing imitating. Tribe and Goss list 100 important objects in the Whoniverse in chronoligical order (ie from the early universe to the far future, passing through the 1960s and 2000s en route), mentioned in TV stories from 1963 to 2012; each entry recapitulates the story or stories in which the particular object appears, but then also looks at other stories with similar themes (eg space arks) and even at sources of inspiration for the originating writers. The whole thing is beautifully illustrated. Definitely at the top end of the Doctor Who reference book range.

[Tracey]

Loads of great Dr Who trivia and information on objects characters and a plethora of other stuff for every Whovian on this planet or any other come to that.

[Theresa]

This a great Doctor Who fan book. The print is “newspaper” print, the pictures are beautiful printed, and the information is tied to all the Doctors to Matt Smith’s Doctor.

I liked the information and the history of the past Doctors and their episode. Some of the episodes are lost forever.

I enjoyed reading about the different items like The Trojan Horse, Mondas, Axonite, and the Peking Homunculus. I also liked revisiting the items and monsters/characters from past Doctor Who.

[Weasel]

Interesting, there's a lot there. More of the objects are from the current run, but it does cover the whole of Doctor Who.

[Erika]

An interesting way to tour through Doctor Who. A little odd though, since it was written just prior to season 7 of new Who, so you got a throw-back vibe.

[Angie]

I think you need a deeper knowledge of Old Who than I possess to follow all of this wonderfully researched book LOL

[Raj]

This is a somewhat odd book. The idea is stolen from the BBC's History of the World in 100 Objects, which examined the history of the world through objects in the British Museum. This book picks a hundred objects from Doctor Who and creates a timeline of the series from before the dawn of time to the end of the Universe. The format is interesting and fun: the object is described, and placed in its context around the episode in which it appeared, tying it to other objects and times as required. Then we jump of out the story and you'll find sections on the production of the series, and notes about wider real-life history.

The history is certainly very diverse, taking in the full range of the series, from the first Doctor's pipe (object 10) to the eleventh Doctor's fez (object 65). In places, we jump from Bowie Base One to Gallifrey to Mondas with an even-handed mix between the New and Classic series.

As a reference book, however, it fails, with no index, table of contents or other way to quickly look something up. It's a great book for randomly picking up and browsing though.

[Jess]

Highly enjoyable for what it is. Good info and good balance between classic and modern "Who". Yes, you may question why some items are included and others not but they explain their arbitrary nature in the introduction! It's very humor-filled and much in the mind-set of the Doctor. I quite enjoyed the relationships made and the comparisons of various Doctors, companions, villains, and beings across all of "Who" on the same subjects. I only wish this had come out two years later and fully wrapped the 50th Anniversary stories into this collection.

[Daniel Kukwa]

A fantastic combination of "Doctor Who" coffee table book and encyclopedic resource. What's fantastic about it is (1) the right amount of tongue-in-cheek attitude, and (2) the occasional mistake that long-term fans will pick up along the way...and I believe, based on the book's introduction, are MEANT to pick up along the way. Delightful from start to finish, and nice first outing to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary year.

[Adam]

Interesting read from the history of long running show Doctor Who. Currently watching reruns of the original series, this helped fill in some of the gaps with regards missing episodes and lore. Mainly for the fan, the premise is 100 items from the history of the show, similar to a BBC Radio show they did on history. Only problem is that lore and real history are sometimes mixed up, so not great for those who don't already have a smattering of history and can tell reality from fiction.

[Carl]

Excellent for all Who geeks like myself.
A nice pick of objects from the Whoniverse all nicely illustrated. Lots of facts relating to the objects and lots of production info about the objects and the episodes they come up in.
Not a lot I can say about this book, but if you are a Whovian just read it.
You'll be glad you did.

[Sarah]

Although it was a bit confusing darting about space and time to the different objects but that is typical of doctor who so it did end up fitting it perfectly. I loved how they had simply the hundred objects but the objects allowed them to expand in different directions.

[Michael Kelly]

A fascinating attempt to put the Doctor Who timeline in some sort of coherent chronological order, using 100 objects as markers along the way to hang events upon.

An amusing and consistently entertaining read, very well illustrated.

[Chulainn]

AWESOME... Just AWESOME

[ani]

Superb

[Kathryn Parry]

Yay my son's present that I cannot wait to read.

[Paul Pendell]

Extremely clever and excellent!

[Denise]

My son found this. We just started the new series on Netflix streaming and this book has been a great companion.

[Laurel Reinoehl]

Manages to somehow cover the entire 50+ year history of the show. Very informative without too many plot spoilers.

[Jennifer Baratta]

For fans to read.

[Brandon]

An okay book that used objects (mostly) to explore the Doctor Who universe. It had both in universe descriptions and behind the scenes information. It would have been better to be one or the other.

[Jacob]

Good for dr who fans