Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary

Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary #1

by David West Reynolds

The Visual Dictionary is the essential guide to Star Wars. DK#39;s renowned Eyewitness style brings the characters, costumes, droids, and gadgetry of the Star Wars universe to life in astonishing visual detail. Highly defined, annotated photography shows and explains the culture, background, and technology of the Star Wars trilogy. Fans of all ages will enjoy detailed revelations of Star Wars secrets like how a Stormtrooper#39;s equipment works, what the insides of a light saber look like, and what Sand People keep in their bandoliers. A visual glossary explains all the technical terms used in the trilogy. Together with Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections, these books comprises the definitive classic Star Wars reference library.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Reference, Fiction, Fantasy, Art, Childrens

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 1998

About the author

Dr. David West Reynolds earned his Ph.D. in archeology at the University of Michigan. A lecturer, veteran of field expeditions on three continents and author of scientific archeological publications, Reynolds has also written X-Wing: A Pocket Manual, Tie Fighter: A Pocket Manual, and various Star Wars articles. He approaches the world of Star Wars like ancient Rome or Egypt, considering it a culture from another time and place to explore. Reynolds lives in Marin County, California.

Reviews

[Kelli]

When I decided to rate the books I'm reading with my children this year I meant only those I had read cover to cover, so I would not have expected to include a book like this one. Well, like it or not, I will be reading or I will have read to me every shred of information in every book in this series. My son is working his way through the next in the series having pored over every fact in this one for several weeks. I was astounded with his knowledge when we watched the original Star Wars. He knew every species & proper name, every planet, every spacecraft, everything! This book is why. This gets 5 stars from him!

[Leonardo]

Your number-one resource for good-old Star Wars Civil War era lore. Where else were you supposed to learn about Boba Fett’s knee rockets?

[Daniel]

my favorite people were luke skywalker emporer
jawa boba fett

[Graham Barrett]

This was the best as a kid! Probably the reason I first became an encyclopedia of Star Wars knowledge over the years.

[Elwin Kline]

Considering the scope, intent, and overall delivery of this book - going to throw down a 4.5 star rating, with a round up to a 5.

This provides exactly as expected for a Visual Dictionary within the Star Wars classic era of Episodes 4, 5, and 6. Details on very specific components on droids that are extremely minor characters/background entities within the movies, deep dives into Jabba and his entire entourage, super fun alien species content, and so much more.

Another great reason for me to give this 5 stars, is I read every single page of this book side-by-side with my daughters before bed time. This entry right here really has solidified their Star Wars interest and they are now growing fans. Future son is laws... you're welcome.

I am a big fan of these Visual Dictionary books and already have my next one lined up to read with my girls. While not my favorite trilogy up next for this material (the Sequels aka TFA)... looking forward to more quality time spent before bedtime.

[Daniel Kukwa]

It's squarely aimed at a slightly younger readership...or those of us who still feel young at heart. Forget your prequels and your sequels...this is pure, distilled, original "Star Wars" coffee table book goodness at its finest. Indulge.

[Annabelle]

When I was a kid and my parents first showed me Star Wars, an early 2000s Blu-Ray set copy of A New Hope, they also handed me this book. That led to me accumulating an entire bookcase of Star Wars novels and info-books like this one and making it my whole personality for like 5 years.

[Joseph Benitez]

Great book! It has everything about Episodes IV-VI. The book is comprehensive and has highly detailed images that are high quality. It is a great book to read and own.

[Teri]

More interesting than expected.

I expected to just thumb through it but read it all! Interesting tidbits of info that made some things from the original trilogy make more sense.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind)]

Great reference book

[J.B. Mathias]

Great reference book for Star Wars fans. Good information, some background stories and great pictures.

[Joseph]

"Great—definitely a good Star Wars book"

[Jane]

This is such an excellent book. I stumbled across it while thrift shopping and read everything in the store. Now, it has a home on my Star Wars bookshelf.

[Camilla Helsloot]

My three year old loved this book. The details and background information for each character gave a new feeling of reality to the Star Wars universe that I appreciated.

[Chad]

A mix of interesting and worthless facts about, and photos of, technology, creatures, weapons, vehicles, and more from the Star Wars original trilogy. A lot of the details are minutia that don't affect the stories. The book is shorter than I expected; only 63 pages. Each character or species gets only 1-2 pages, so it doesn't go into much depth.

The book was published in 1998, after the 1997 Special Editions of the original trilogy, but before Episode I.

Notes

While the pure energy blade has no mass, the electromagnetically generated arc wave creates a strong gyroscopic effect that makes the lightsaber a distinct challenge to handle.

Inherent instabilities limit the ability to precisely aim a blaster bolt, but knowing one's weapon well can strengthen marksmanship. Plasma energy is dissipated as the bolt travels, limiting range as the energy becomes incoherent. Longer range is developed by longer blast tubes.

Han was raised by gypsies, never knowing his parents. He was expelled from the Academy.

The book labels Luke's black Return of the Jedi clothes as Jedi clothes.

Chewie is repaying a life debt to Han, who rescued him from slavery. Chewie has a wife and son on Kashyyyk.

Luke is C-3PO's 43rd master.

Obi-Wan once rescued Luke when, as a boy, Luke became lost in the wilderness. Owen Lars forbade Obi-Wan from coming near the farm again.

The book labels Obi-Wan's clothes as "Jedi robes," and uses the same label for Anakin's clothes as he appears at the end of Return of the Jedi.

Akbar was a slave of Tarkin. After his rescue, he convinced Mon Calamari to join Rebellion.

The space slug is silicon-based, digesting minerals with a uranium-based metabolism.

Mynocks are silicon-based and feed off energy from ships.

Dianogas (garbage squids) are sometimes bred for waste processing.

The Sarlaac keeps victims alive for hundreds of years to feed off their consciousnesses.

[Brittany Herrera]

Title: Reynolds, D. W., Bies, D., Hall, N., & Ivanov, A. (1998). Star wars: the visual dictionary. New York: DK Pub..

Name: Brittany Herrera

Type of Reference: Dictionary

Call Number: 791.43

Description: This book includes everything from the original Star Wars saga as well as the prequel trilogy. This would engage those male students that are often uninterested in reading. This dictionary is geared for fifth graders. It may be useful to teachers that are trying to connect with their students.

Review:
Not as elaborate as Chronicles (see above), but still yummy and way cheaper, DK's "Visual Dictionary" and "Incredible Cross-Sections" series are fan faves. The former offers a photo of a character or prop with a caption that details its background and identifies specific elements of clothing, weapons, etc. The latter sports drawings that label parts of the interiors/exteriors of vehicles and ships from the SW universe. Reynolds's background in archaeology adds some meat to the brief text. Fabulous for the price.

Citation review: Rogers, M. (2005). Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Characters and Creatures/Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections; The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Space Craft. [Review of the book Star wars: the visual dictionary]. Library Journal, 130(7), 91.

[Theresa]

Very basic but well presented.

[Jeff Lanter]

I finally found a Star Wars book that I own and do not have fond memories of. In fact, I'm not entirely sure why I bought this book way back when. It is pretty with nice large pictures and a good layout. The problem is that for most Star Wars fans, this book has information in it that is too simplistic and can be found in other, more interesting books or some info is possibly even inaccurate. Some of the information, like about Boba Fett, has changed dramatically in the Expanded Universe (anything Star Wars outside of the actual movies) which makes this book seem out of date. I'm sure a newer and more complete version of the Visual Dictionary does not have this problem, but in my opinion, an older copy like this one, is not worth tracking down.

[Sarah]

I read this in a fit of desperation, having neglected to pack an appropriate amount of reading material for the amount of travel we had to do this Christmas. My 4.5-year-old son got this as a gift and has been pouring over it ever since. I was "allowed" to read it in the car only because he could still see it from his seat. ;)

Not being much of a Star Wars fan, it was pretty boring, but I do have an incredible amount of respect for the attention to detail and back story there is for seemingly every aspect, no matter how minor, throughout the entire saga.

[Vaishali]

DK books are famous for trumping gorgeous pictoral layout over information. After considering all the Youtube fanvids and Wookipedia, a DK book on Star Wars is almost pointless. Star Wars is the only movie franchise in global film history that's been democratized... fans write the stories! Since its legacy is everywhere in American pop culture, what value can DK possibly add? Still, as an avid Star Wars fan I had to read this. I shall blame this squarely on the Darth Vader covershot. You should have married ME, Anakin ! :)

[Luke Ewell]

I thought it had some very interesting information like a Jedi's lightsabor depends on their history. For example, Luke's lightsabor is a lot like his teachers lightsabor and, Darth Vader is basically the same as Anakins but much darker. I loved reading about Luke because he is one of my favorite Jedi's. Did you know that Luke could of used his sky hopper to track R2 but his uncle grounded him for bad flying?

[Jenny]

Not being a big Star Wars fan necessarily I am surprised at my 4 star rating, but I have to admit the pictures from the movies are cool. Lots of good information. I have to admit I learned a lot about the movie and my 3 year old loved it. I love the Ewoks because I think they are cute so the pages on them were especially enjoyable.

[Jason May]

Definitely antiquated since there are a plethora of editions that came out with the prequels, this being the first edition it is also quite streamlined considering it covers episodes 4, 5, and 6, however it is still enjoyable to see the detail put into each photo, adding another level to the SW experience. In short, buy it for nostalgia; seek out other editions for more current information.

[Joel]

Perhaps this book was great when it was published but isn't very useful to a modern reader unless you are a child. It's mostly trivial and silly information. Also keep in mind that although the material all come from the OT, a lot of the information also comes from the old EU which isn't canon any more.

[The Brothers]

Asher (9yo) read: "Had some pretty cool pictures. Told me some information that I've read before in The Complete Visual Dictionary, but added some things that weren't in The Complete Visual Dictionary."

Dexter (7yo) read: "Very, very cool. Shows us what was inside of things we didn't know, like the helmet of the a storm trooper.

[RumBelle]

Visual Dictionaries are always fun reads, simply due to their level of detail. This one, focusing on Episodes IV - VI, details information on characters, ships, locales and more. The illustrations are vivid and just call out for you to explore them. The text teaches you a lot.

[The Brothers]

Asher (9yo) read: "It had some pretty cool pictures of droids and some cool information. It showed you all the types of droids - like warfare droids, medical droids, technical droids (R2-D2), labor droids, and social droids."

Dexter (7yo) read.

[Melissa Namba]

I love how this books treats the movie in a very scientific fashion. I have to day that I learned quite a bit about the back story to many characters in the movie. it will get my nephews adjusted to reading factual literature in the future.

[Natasha]

Yet again, a great reference book!

[Jessica]

Purchased for my son during his Star Wars craze. He read it daily for quite awhile then never picked it up again.