Best "Star Trek" reference book so far!!!
REFERENCE BOOKS... THE FINAL FRONTIER
I have an absurd quantity of Star Trek reference books, and while of course, I haven't them all, I think that I can be so boldly to tell that this reference book is without a doubt the best and coolest reference book about Star Trek so far (2018).
Reference books about active media franchises, obviously are almost outdated at the moment of publication, but in defense of this one in particular, since it was published in 2016, it contains since the first Original Series until the film Star Trek: Into Darkness soooo...
...at this particular moment, it only lacks the info about the movie Star Trek Beyond and the first season of Star Trek: Discovery...
...true, it isn't complete, but at this moment, certainly is the most complete reference material that you can find printed on paper...
...and since it's a DK Publishing book, also you can buy it in a quite accessible price, taking in account that it's a hardcover (including dust cover) edition, with prestige paper, in full color each page!
BEAM ME UP!
An interesting (and quite logical) thing that it was done in this reference book was that they accomodate the info in a "chronological" order, inside of the fiction of the franchise, I mean that since Star Trek: Enterprise is a prequel to the Original Series, you find first the information about Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew before of the exploits of Captain James T. Kirk, and so on.
When they touched a topic or event related to the "Kelvin Timeline" (Abramsverse), they counted how it happened in the original timeline and right after how those same events unfolded in the other timeline, to have a full scope of both parallel universes.
You find first a chapter, recounting of how the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet were formed, along with the key alien races involved in the consolidation of those organizations, along with key situations like the Mirror Universe and the Kelvin Timeline.
Then, you'll have a following chapter offering dossiers of each Starfleet crewmember of each TV series, along with the starships and/or station (sadly with some omissions like Saavik and Ro Laren (oh well, nothing is perfect)).
Third chapter you read about villains of the franchise along with their allies, and including pivotal space battles and wars, like Khaaaaaan!, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Dominion, the Borg, the Species 8472, the Bajorans, the Ferengi, etc... along with the Battle of Wolf 359, the Earth-Romulan War, the Dominion War, etc...
Fourth chapter is dedicated to the futuristic (and many times, visionary) technology used on the franchise, Warp engines, transporters, communicators, universal translator, holodecks, phasers, cloaking device, etc...
Finally, a chapter about certain aliens that aren't quite "normal" and/or isn't easy to fit them as friends or foes of the Federation, like "Q", the the Talosians, the Metrons, the Prophets, the Nacene, the Guardian of Forever, etc...
In each chapter, each topic counts with fulll color photos along with text boxes, quotes, and even exclusive diagrams.
Moreover, you'll find a glossary explaining of that technobabble that you get to love when you become a Trekker.
This is a must-have book for any Trekker and a wonderful piece for any new fan interested to know the past history of the iconic sci-fi franchise.
Engage!