So far there are two books out there for Avatar that give details on the world of Pandora. Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora (James Cameron's Avatar) and this one. The first is loaded with scientific theory and jargon, and while that's great for the people who are interested in knowing the super technical stuff Avatar: The Movie Scrapbook is also a great resource for those who want to know more yet not enough to write a science journal on the movie. The scrapbook is essentially a light technical manual that covers a lot of the animals, plants, and vehicles seen in Avatar along with details on the Na'vi and their culture.
The pros of this book as opposed to the survival guide come firstly in the easy to read information of the world of Pandora. It's the kind of writing that is easy enough for grade schoolers to read while at the same time not too simple the young adult reader can't appreciate it. Granted your high school student may find the writing simplistic, but that is made up with the second pro: the information. The book has dozens of entries on various subjects from the movie from the gunships and gear the humans used to the musical instruments used by the Na'vi. It seems to cover much of the info in the survival guide (almost in the same order as well), but condenses the details into simple descriptions. Keep in mind it's basic details. If you want a true technical manual then you should go for the survival guide. Interestingly enough there are a few entries in this Scrapbook that aren't touched on in the survival guide like the giant excavator, the tree of voices and woodsprites (those little floating seed things that seem to be omens for the Na'vi).
While the survival guide has more detailed information it lacks something this book has in spades. Large detailed images. The Movie Scrapbook is actually a larger sized book than the survival guide (about twice the size in fact), even though it's thinner in pages (1/4 the thickness of the guide). In that larger size you get bigger, more detailed pictures. While you will find a few pictures in both books the scrapbook touts some really nice images not seen in the survival guide, or even the movie for that matter. The larger size of the scrapbook also make it easier to thumb through and read comfortably compared to the significantly smaller survival guide.
So if you like the movie and want to know a little more about the world James Cameron put together then this book may be right up your alley. If you are a tech freak and are looking for lots of details then pass this up. If you are the uber-fan then maybe get both if you can get the scrapbook for a good price. The images on the book would make it worth it.
