The Star Trek Encyclopedia by Michael Okuda

The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future
by Michael Okuda [791.457 StaYo] 

 As has been pointed out in previous Star Trek book reviews here on BookGuide, our modern era includes such wonderful sources for online Star Trek research as www.startrek.com and Memory Alpha — for anyone wanting to look up the minutia of details about any element in Star Trek history. However, for those of us who prefer to look things up the old-fashioned way in books, one of the most reliable sources for Star Trek information for years has been the various different editions of The Star Trek Encyclopedia, edited and compiled by Michael Okuda (the graphic designer behind the “look” of all the computer screens in Trek series from Star Trek the Next Generation on). (The library has the 1997 edition). Anything and everything that has ever been referenced in a Star Trek episode or movie, is cross-cataloged in these huge tomes — planets, aliens and other life forms, technology terms, ships, obscure characters, significant events, etc. You can also cross-reference writers and directors of the many Trek episodes as well. Packed with illustrations — photos, schematics, occasionally artwork — the various editions of The Star Trek Encyclopedia are beautiful to look at, excellent for anyone doing Star Trek research (I’d call them a fannish reference book), and they’re fun to just pick a random page and read a few entries! The libraries’ 1997 edition clocked in at 627 pages, but a brand-new two-volume slipcased edition to celebrate Trek’s 50th anniversary in 2016 is scheduled for release in October 2016, which adds 300 additional pages of new entries.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future, also by Mike Okuda.] [ Star Trek Encyclopedia entry at Memory Alpha ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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