The Star Trek universe is one of the most complex, detailed and recognisable universes ever created in science fiction. If you wanted to hitch-hike your way around it then you would need a guide (and also, possibly, a towel).

Lucky for you then that DK books have brought out just the thing for you. If you don't know your Ocampa from your Tribbles then STAR TREK THE VISUAL DICTIONARY will give you everything that you need.

Actually, it won't. Though it's titled as a dictionary, it doesn't run the full gamut from A-Z and there is an awful lot missing. Picking a target for this book is not easy. Any real Trekkie will know pretty much everything that's in here already whilst anyone new to the shows might take one look and run screaming at the sheer amount of stuff there is ahead of them. The book expects you to know what you're looking for (it's not in alphabetical order and there's no detailed index at the end) so if you don't know that Bat'leths are used by Klingons then you're going to have a hard time locating it.

The clue to this book's appeal and to its target audience is in the title. It's the word 'visual'. This is a picture book. A less informed friend asks 'which ones are the Xindi?' and you can quickly show them a picture. Need to settle an argument over whether its Andorian or Orion females that are green? Look at this shot.

There are a lot of pictures in STAR TREK THE VISUAL DICTIONARY. Every Enterprise, Defiant and Voyager is lovingly depicted. Every major race displayed, every important ship crewman identified. Every piece of equipment you can think of from Plasma rifles to ceremonial spears.

It's lovely to just pick up and browse through. It might whet your appetite to learn more if you're new to the show and it might make you go back to favourite episodes if you're a trekkie through and through.

Could you honestly expect more for the price?

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