Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia

Ok, parent view: book is holding up well and made a long wait at a doctor's office go just fine...As a Star Wars loving parent, it's accurate and helps with the "stop watching TV and go read a book!" that has to happen from time to time.

If you let your kids watch Star Wars, then you've got nothing in this book to stress about.
Now, in the words of the ten-year-old (without any editing):

Geography Section

First I wish that the writers had put more info on the planets that we know about.
Second I like how they put in what planets look like in some spots.
Then they put in what inhabitant's homes And architecture looks like and I like that.

Nature section

This is a fun section you can find nearly all the creatures and people and where they're from.
On the in-depth analysis for the sarlacc it might have been a little to visual but not much.
First it tells about the creatures then about the people then about the plants.

History section

First up you have a timeline going from The Phantom Menace to The Force Awakens.
Then you have galactic politics which shows you all the wars from the Republic Era to the New Republic Era.
Then you have The Senate. This shows all the senators and Senate aids and other Senate people.
Then it shows you the Jedi council, Jedi masters, Jedi knights, and other Jedi.
Then it shows you Sith and Separatists and Imperials.
Then It shows you the Rebels and their allies

Science and Technology

First you have the Force, Light aligned, neutral,and Dark aligned.
Then you have droids, Camera droids, Labor droids, Service droids, Protocol droids, Astromech Droids,
War droids, and other droids.
Then it goes through equipment and weapons.
Then it goes to blasters The good, the bad, rifles, and unusual weapons.
Then we go to Warships then we go to transports, starfighters, and then air vehicles.
Then we go to walkers and tanks which shows you all the walkers and tanks in the Star Wars universe.

Overall review four and a half stars.

DK has produced a number of graphical encyclopedic volumes dedicated to Star Wars. This latest edition provides a rather thorough overview of the minutia associated with the popular movie franchise. While I found the STAR WARS VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA both fascinating and ridiculous, I am quite certain it will satisfy dedicated STAR WARS fans.

My initiation to Star Wars began as a kid in 1977 when the original movie was released; the movie was definitely fun and interesting, but still didn’t get its hooks in me like it did with others (growing up in a beach city, 1975’s “Jaws” was the movie that defined my childhood). 40 years later, I’m watching my young daughters devouring anything and everything Star Wars. They roll their eyes and correct me when I simply call the first movie “Star Wars” (which is what it WAS called back then) and always manage to lose me in their explanation of the series’ progression. They know the characters, the factions, the weapons, vehicles, gadgets, planets … the fine details of the stuff I not only never noticed but really couldn’t care less about. This book of Star Wars is tailor-made for them … the rabid fan.

The STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA is both thorough and general in nature. It covers most everything from the obvious (main characters and things that are standard SW fare) to the inane (processed “foods” and cultural things like clothing, art, accessories and leisure-time games). The information includes not only the movies, but the animated series as well. For the general SW “noob” (me), the book certainly presents itself as a useful resource on the entire SW genre and proves to be quite educational. It provides enough background info on people, places and things to be an effective reference to just about every Star Wars-related issue you can possibly imagine. While more-astute fans may disagree, I’m fairly confident saying: if you saw it in the movie, it will likely be in this book. The only glaring omission I can readily think of is that it fails to detail my favorite Stars Wars characters: the Sand People (the only reference pertains to their weapon).

As expected from a DK book, this volume is effectively organized and serves a treasure-trove of graphics. The presentation is akin to a visual history of an actual country … we get chapters dedicated to geography, history, culture, language, politics, food, creatures, etc. Each chapter includes subsets pertaining to the chapter’s topic and simply lists and explains everything imaginable with an accompanying photo. I was simply dumbfounded by the breadth of detail associated with these movies … I swear, a naïve person who doesn’t know anything about Star Wars MAY ACTUALLY THINK this book is about real events. From this standpoint, the book delivers. I honestly enjoyed looking through the book more than watching the movies. Analogous to a restaurant buffet, it is something that beckons you to return for more.

Discriminating Star Wars fans may nitpick the book’s content, but I find no reason to fault the STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA (I can forgive the Sand People omission). I’m sure more detailed descriptions could have easily doubled (or tripled) the size of this volume, but the succinct nature is what gives the book its value. The ability to detail most every facet of a 40 year old story line (with pictures) is a huge selling point. It is Star Wars buffet. Yes, this is obviously fodder for the Star Wars fan, but I’m quite certain it will entertain just about anyone. It’s a book that invites you to open it and quickly sinks its teeth into you (don’t leave it in sight of unwanted guests).

This is a visual encyclopedia, so the emphasis is on pictures with short captions - not in-depth articles. And this book is loaded with pictures! It opens with a geography section and map of the Star Wars known universe. The other sections are nature, history, culture, and science/technology. The geography and history sections open with a map or chart to organize the information, then each 2-page spread offers photographs or drawn characters with labels and sometimes capsule descriptions. The nature, culture, and science/tech sections pack in as many photos/drawings as possible with identifying labels ("Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Helmet") or short captions.

The photographs aren't large enough to see all the details, but they are very clear. The captions don't provide much depth--but the authors did a great job of including as much of the Star Wars universe as possible from the movies and TV series.

This is like looking through a museum exhibit. It's a book meant more for browsing than research. And you could spend hours browsing this over and over. My personal favorite section is the culture section with "Han Solo's Golden Dice", Queen Amidala's royal outfits, and the different types of food (although they leave out the blue milk!). There's a 6-page index in the back that allows you to search by major character and some subjects. The Table of Contents is more topical. Overall the book is pretty well organized so it's not difficult to locate a subcategory

DK has published a number of great Star Wars coffee table books over the last couple of years (coinciding with each of the major film releases). This one is another one worth having for fans of the series. The book reminded me a lot of similar Star Wars books I thumbed through for hours on end as a kid. Just like the recent films it made me feel a little bit like an eight year old again.

This is a fairly complete overview of just about everything in the Star Wars universe including extensive collections of props from the films (even stuff as mundane as furniture). Due to the large number of objects depicted in each section the photos are smaller than the movie specific DK books that came out last year. So if you're a huge fan of big photos and more written detail look to those books instead.

In addition to props it also covers key story points from the films and the two recent Star Wars animated series (Clone Wars and Rebels). The book will of course be incomplete when Episodes VIII and IX are released, although Disney and its licensees are very good at collecting your money so there will no doubt be an updated edition out along with the theatrical releases.

Casual Star Wars fans will enjoy thumbing through the book but more serious fans will be happier with the movie-based books that provide more detail. However those super fans may want to consider this book for a friend/spouse who they are trying to get familiar with the Star Wars universe. It's a very good primer for the uninitiated.

This book is a great resource for anything and everything related to the Star Wars universe. The reader will discover, through the pages of this book, all the geography, nature, history, culture, science and technology that has made Star Wars popular through the years. Whether you are a huge fan of Star Wars or just getting introduce to this world that your friend or family member keeps talking about, this book will open up the whole universe and will inform you about all the characters and more.

I am always impressed with DK books but this particular one based on Star Wars is a jewel in itself because of all the details included through the pages. You will have all the different droids at the thumb of your fingers, you will be able to discover all the helmets, outfits, armor used by the characters, explore the aquatic creatures that can be found on different worlds and discover much more in these pages.

The images in this book are stunning. The information will provide hours of reading for anyone interested in the Star Wars universe. Do you have a reluctant reader that is a huge fan of Star Wars – this book is definitively for him or her. I believe strongly that a child can enjoy reading if we place a book on their interests. Consequently if a child enjoy Star Wars and desire to learn more about it, this book is definitively the best one to have because it is well designed and contains a ton of information on the Star Wars Universe.

The book not only covers all the movies but also all the other television shows based on Star Wars. This means that sometimes you will have pictures of cartoons or real life characters. Seeing that all is linked together, I think it is good that DK has included everything from the galaxy, far, far away.

The question for this latest update of the Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia is, on its surface, simple: what is it for? How much you enjoy this book, however, will vary widely depending on your answer. So let’s break it down by category:

The casual fan: intriguing but probably better to request through the library because you know it’ll soon be superseded by another version once Episode VIII comes out. And it’s moderately space consuming/hefty book.

The gamer or would-be Star Wars author: a useful beautiful reference. This book contains a lot of details, arranged in categories that allow you to see themes and variations in world-building as well as terminology that you might not otherwise learn. (But then again, the Ultimate Star Wars might be better as it is explicitly includes all the things in the movies that weren’t mentioned by name in the films.)
The map of the galaxy showing key planets is probably the most revealing part of the book. (But my “old enough to remember when A New Hope came out” eyes would swear that Hoth is not on that map…)

The indiscriminate fanboy: this encyclopedia contains plenty of cross-film lumpings (Cyborgs! Blasters: good! Blasters: bad! Languages! Podracing! that can lead to new appreciation for the visual artistry and include some insightful tidbits. They would probably think entries like “luggage” are proof of how exhaustive the galaxy building is.

The grandparent looking for a quick fix: undoubtedly, when the Star Wars-loving grandkid rips off the wrapping paper, the ridiculously huge smile on the said grandkid will give the said grandparent a quick rush of pleasure. After all, this is at first and second blush an impressively gorgeous book. Depending on the age and temperament of the aforementioned grandkid, however, their euphoria might not last much longer than it takes to grab the next gift. Why? The contents, while beautiful, tend not to promote excitement after the initial “Wow!” It is, after all, an encyclopedia, so it’s not really meant to be read beginning to end. And some of the descriptions are facile, like the note on Poe Dameron’s helmet “Battered finish from multiple battles.” Things like that feel like desperation to keep away white space on the page. (Though other visual Star Wars books can be worse.) But again it is beautiful and well laid out.

Critical fan: let’s be honest: not everything in the Star War franchise rivals the initial trilogy. In fact, before Rogue One, you were essentially panning for gold in the mud of bad cinema. But the original trilogy doesn’t have an outsized role here (why would it when it has in so many other visual books) and — curiously — Rogue One is hardly visible. So you have this situation in which the lesser Star Wars outweighs the greater. It’s jarring to have animated images intermixed with the intensely realistic CGI and just not trauma-informed when Naboo gets a lot of coverage.

What a super 200 page pictorial collection! It covers the whole Stars Wars experience up through Rouge One.

I love DK books. We use them frequently for travel and many topics including Star Wars where visuals bring home the topic and fascinate to no end. Here, we start with a short forward by Dennis Muren, Senior creative director for Industrial Light and Magic; then, the book is divided into 5 categories: Geography, Nature, History, Culture, and finally, the largest category, Science and Technology.

With Geography, one really gets a lay out of the 'far, far away galaxy', talking about and showing, obviously, the planets, other celestial bodies, physical and urban geography and basic architecture.

With Nature, one learns about the myriad of fauna and flora. I can't believe how many creatures and bugs have been added over the years. What's a Rathtar? Do you know the difference between a Colo Claw Fish and a Sand Aqua Monster? Ever ride a Milodon. Learn about the Wet Habitat Sentients, e.g., Wookies and Dry Habitat Sentients, e.g., Jawa's, Tuscan raiders and Teedo (or is it Teedoes?).

With History, one discovers the general timeline for everything up until Luke found by Rey(my eldest daughter's favorite and her Halloween costume). Galactic politics are laid out including the various Senates, Jedi Council, Jedi, Sith and the Separatist; the various factions such as the rebels like Jyn Erso and Cassian from Rogue One, the New Era with Leia Organa as the founder of the Resistance, Military soldiers, pilots, the different battles and criminals. Of note, I would also mention that they include characters from the animated features,

With Culture, you see the amazing array of costumes, helmets(whew!),accessories, musical instruments like the Drixfar, Sabriquet, and Floonorp(sounds like something from the Coneheads), leisure activities, pod racing, design, art, furniture, languages, etc.

With Science and Technology, one gets the largest collections of droids, machines, blasters(you know, the 1st Star Wars movie was kind of akin to the old movie serials like Flash Gordon with space ships and ray guns and a lot of fun. It's still fun, but boy, it can also be a bit too melodramatic serioso nowadays.), lots of weapons, light sabers, super weapons(How many Death Stars can they build?), ships and other vehicles. It's truly amazing array of creativeness.

As my daughter says, there are so many details that she learned. DK provides short paragraphs about each item. It's truly a beautiful book.

P.S. I remember when Star Wars first came out. We were enthralled. Nothing like it. We saw it so many times, we could recite every line backwards. "Luke, I am your father." still plays in my head. Then, it went quiescent for years. I bought the original 3 and played the first one for my daughters. "It's ok." was the response. Maybe they just didn't understand it's strange innocence or uniqueness- whatever. Then, the promotions came out, and their friends were into it, and then they couldn't get enough of it. Hmm, they should have listened to their old man. Of course, the Rey character really scores for them, and that movie brought some of the fun back again. (Except for killing off Han, but that's for another time.) Forgive my rambling and enjoy the book.

I ordered this book for my son's birthday because enjoys Star Wars almost as much as I do. (He also received some Star Wars LEGOs and Star Wars Rebels: Season 1 [Blu-ray], among other gifts.) He really liked this book a lot, as it contains material from all previously-released Star Wars movies. Back around christmas time, I had ordered him the book Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, and he really enjoyed that book, so I knew he would enjoy this book, as well. It is packed on every page with great photos of stills from the movies and props and costumes used in the movies, along with brief descriptions of each. These books are usually so well-informed, that Star Wars fans will often read through them to get explanations or definitive answers about things they have seen in the movies. These book often have tid-bits of information in them that are not fully presented to viewers of the movies. Being officially licensed books, the information in them is considered Star Wars canon, so they are ideal reference points for Star Wars fans. There will be another visual dictionary of the upcoming "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" movie at the end of the year, and I plan on purchasing that book, as well.

DK has published a visual encyclopedia to the world of Star Wars. The book is divided into these sections: geography, nature, history, culture, and science and technology. As is the standard with DK books the pages are laid out into a two page spread with one topic. DK is known for their high quality full color photos and this book does not disappoint. Set upon the white background are many photos on every page, cluttered up and chock full as is seen on the cover. Each photo is labeled with the name underneath in a very neat style (this varies from the typical DK format of having blurbs of text. Also different here the photos are mostly all lined up neatly in rows as much as is possible and grouped into sections. This makes the page have a more clean appearance than the hodge podge style as on the cover illustration. For example on the armor page the sections are pauldrons, full body armor, leg, arm, body, and seripas's armor. There are a few sentences in very small font text for a section. Overall the book is heavy on photos and neatly organized and categorized. We own prior editions of the DK Star Wars books published in the 1990s and 2000s and my sons used to sit and look through the pages for a long time and over and over day after day. These were great for reading in the car too. Rating 5 stars for lots of Star Wars eye candy. This will be loved by Star Wars fans of all ages, from the smallest to the adults like me who saw A New Hope in the theatres when it first came out.

So make note: this Visual Dictionary follows the new canon, so the vast majority of the items documented are from the movies (currently 7 films, the 8th coming in about half a year). Since this is a DK Visual Dictionary, do not expect an in depth look at each of the items being notated. That being said, each entry has a photo (or several) with a brief description, often just a single line. But for those fans who are familiar with the series, this gives us a handy reference to look at particular features of the films and see these without having to use an online app, website, or pausing the films.

For example, this will give you a look at a new T-70 X Wing, but you won't get info in detail such as the manufacturing or design source (being heavily based on the old Headhunters).

What is amazing is that this visual dictionary is being treated as if the world of Star Wars existed, and was not made from the minds of Lucas, Abrahms and others. Sure the information is redundant since you can find it online, but this is a much better way to peruse the machines, weapons, denizens, and dress of the Star Wars universe.

This would make a great gift for a budding young Star Wars fan. I wish I had this when I was a kid growing up with the originals!

This Star Wars visual encyclopedia is a beautifully laid out and illustrated look at the Star Wars universe. It has everything from the different characters, to languages, vehicles, planets, and more. I can see why a very knowledgeable and dedicated Star Wars fan would not appreciate this type of book, since it is presented in a very easy to understand way and covers a lot of basics that may seem obvious to long time fans. However, for casual Star Wars fans such as myself, I think this encyclopedia is amazing. I have learned so much, and I like that it includes characters from outside the main movies.

If you or someone you know enjoys Star Wars but wants to learn more about that universe, this is a really nice looking, and easy to read way to go. If you are looking for something more advanced, you might want to look for something else. I do think this book does a great job augmenting and explaining some of the stuff that isn't really explained well if you only watch the Star Wars movies. So I'm very happy with it. The book is laid out in a way that is accessible to kids as well as adults, which I also liked.

My eight year old loves this Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia. There is literally everything about Star Wars in this huge volume. Every character up to date as of now, every weapon, every droid, every ship, and so on. The pictures are vivid and beautiful, and the book itself is gorgeous. This a very large and heavy book so know that for smaller kids this would be too big and too fragile as the pages are thin. The book is well bound and looks stunning. For any Star Wars fan this would be a must, and details about each entry in the book seem thorough and informative. If there is something you want to know about Star Wars then this book will not only tell you but show you as well. I received this book for free to review and my opinion is solely mine.

Another great book from DK! Other reviewers have described it as a museum in a book and I have to agree. It is like a primer on all things Star Wars. But even if you're well versed already, there is plenty to see here, so don't move along!

Unlike DK's usual Visual Dictionaries, this book doesn't focus on any one movie or era of Star Wars. It's a very high level look at all aspects of the galaxy from creatures to droids to weaponry. There are even pages for the mundane such as clothing, furniture, drinking vessels, and backpacks. There is a two page spread just about backpacks!

I'm one of those Star Wars geeks that really enjoys seeing the details of all the props even in the every day items that the characters wouldn't think twice about (like backpacks), so this book has been a real visual treat.

This would be a good book for younger fans as well because it is absolutely loaded with pictures, just look at the sample pages. It could also be a fantastic resource for anyone playing an RPG or writing stories in the Star Wars galaxy. Theer are plenty of things to see to fuel the imagination.

Believe it or not, the realm of Star Wars reference books is quite crowded. There have been visual dictionaries, character encyclopedias, art of and making of books for all of the various films and even some of the television series. When it comes to the reference books, DK Books is one of the key publishers in the field. But with so many guide books out there already, it becomes harder and harder to stand apart. While each new movie and season of an animated show provides more content to cover, there are limits on how many times you can update an existing format before the market becomes saturated. The interesting thing is how Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia actually manages to stand apart and accomplish something different from all the books that have come before.

First off, Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia achieves a lot with the keyword “visual.” There is a lot of content in this book, and while there is some written content, 80% of the value of this book is easily in the pictures. Flipping through it, most of the words are just labels for the pictures. This isn’t a book you’ll spend nights reading, nor is it a book you’ll read cover-to-cover. However, you will find yourself flipping through the pages and devouring the pictures cover-to-cover. While that could be a problem with some books, in this case, it allows The Visual Encyclopedia to shine. The imagery is the focus. And more than that, the organization of the imagery makes this book invaluable.

Have you ever wondered what kind of food there is in Star Wars? Perhaps you’ve looked it up on Wookieepedia. The results aren’t all that satisfying. You’ll find a list of a bunch of names that don’t make sense to you and you’ll quickly be jumping page to page just to get a handle on what’s out there. With The Visual Encyclopedia, simply turn to page 110. There you will find four pages of food, all wonderfully photographed and neatly labeled for your convenience. It’s even categorized into different types of foods: animal produce, fruits and fungi, street food, baked food, etc. Plus the pictures aren’t just scenes from the films but are often isolated close-ups of the props which gives readers an unprecedented look at what was often impossible to see in the movies and television shows. But it doesn’t stop with food, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s luggage, astromech droids, clothing, binoculars, lightsabers and starfighters. From the things you’d expect to see, to things you never dreamt would be given page space in a book, this thing has it all.

Some of the most outstanding displays are perhaps the things you’d expect to see in a Star Wars reference book, like helmets and blasters. Yet unlike previous books, this one groups all those things together. It’s one thing to see a page that shows a key character and their equipment exploded off into detailed views so you can examine each item. It’s an entirely different thing when you can flip through pages of helmets, all awesomely displayed side-by-side in all their glory. Looking through the arsenal of Star Wars weapons all neatly organized by type and category, and laid out next to each other, is quite the thing to behold. Then there’s the clothing section showing casual clothes, religious robes and funeral wear. There’s sections on furniture, art even interior design. They even have a focus on tattoos showing all the ink of the galaxy far far away.

But there’s more. Taking full advantage of this visual focus and highly organized look at Star Wars, the book has a guide for species, for characters broken down by factions, for starfighters, vehicles and all the various types of droids. There’s a section on languages which has various alien phrases with their translations and entire alphabets. There’s flags, locations, a timeline, creatures and even maps and planets. There is quite literally a little bit of everything, from health and safety tools to repair equipment. For a Star Wars fan, it’s a visual splendor.

Now having all these images organized by type, function and category is great, but it can lose it’s value if you can’t find a specific thing you’re looking for. Thankfully, The Visual Encyclopedia makes that a not so insurmountable task. The table of contents is broken down into geography, nature, history, culture, science and technology. Under each of those headings is a long list of topics with their corresponding page number. From the map of the galaxy on page 10 to tanks on page 193, it makes finding categories easy. Furthermore, there’s a super handy index in the back which lists all the items by name and which page they’re on. Need to find a Togruta? Check page 39. Need jewelry? Page 98. While not perfect, it’s extremely useful.

Star Wars reference books can be a niche thing for a very specific audience, but sometimes they cross all genres and interest with how useful and fun they can be. With Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia, they not only capture a great visual treasure trove of information, but inspire fans to explore Star Wars like never before. Before you know it, you might find yourself pondering over the different designs of Star Wars belts, the peculiar array of lighting, or the primitive yet otherworldliness of alien knives. With it’s easy to find format and pleasing assortment of pictures, The Visual Encyclopedia pulls off something new and worthwhile in the world of Star Wars books. This is definitely one you’ll want to check out and I give it a five out of five.

This book is great for kids and collectors alike. Yes, everytime they come out with a new movie, they make an updated version of the book. This book includes the six Star Wars Episodes, plus the Clone Wars, plus Rougue One and The Force Awakens. It has great pictures. It is a very sturdy hard back book with glossy full color pages. The topics begin with Geography, then moves into the Nature aspect of the Star Wars world (plants & animals), then moves into the history with a full two page timeline, following that is culture (outfits, armor, instruments, leisure, pod racing, food, design, languages), and finally the science and technology. It also has a very detailed index, for looking up specific characters or information. This book is extremely well done.

This Star Wars visual encyclopedia is a beautifully laid out and illustrated look at the Star Wars universe. It has everything from the different characters, to languages, vehicles, planets, and more. I can see why a very knowledgeable and dedicated Star Wars fan would not appreciate this type of book, since it is presented in a very easy to understand way and covers a lot of basics that may seem obvious to long time fans. However, for casual Star Wars fans such as myself, I think this encyclopedia is amazing. I have learned so much, and I like that it includes characters from outside the main movies.

If you or someone you know enjoys Star Wars but wants to learn more about that universe, this is a really nice looking, and easy to read way to go. If you are looking for something more advanced, you might want to look for something else. I do think this book does a great job augmenting and explaining some of the stuff that isn't really explained well if you only watch the Star Wars movies. So I'm very happy with it. The book is laid out in a way that is accessible to kids as well as adults, which I also liked.

My eight year old loves this Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia. There is literally everything about Star Wars in this huge volume. Every character up to date as of now, every weapon, every droid, every ship, and so on. The pictures are vivid and beautiful, and the book itself is gorgeous. This a very large and heavy book so know that for smaller kids this would be too big and too fragile as the pages are thin. The book is well bound and looks stunning. For any Star Wars fan this would be a must, and details about each entry in the book seem thorough and informative. If there is something you want to know about Star Wars then this book will not only tell you but show you as well. I received this book for free to review and my opinion is solely mine.