Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When it comes to science fiction, the Star Wars saga is the best. However, the films themselves give very little information regarding the weaponry used by their cast of characters. This is a shame, because the weapons technology of everyone's favorite galaxy far far away is nothing short of fascinating. Finally, a book entitled Star Wars - The Essential Guide To Weapons And Technology was released! Now, fans would be able to learn about the ever-so awesome implements of destruction characters in the films used! Read on for my review of this book.

PROS:
-If you're a fan of the Star Wars films, and you're interested in reading about the the weaponry characters use to destroy one another, you're going to love this book! From the lightsaber to Han Solo's trusty blaster pistol, all the weapons you've come to know and love are in here.
-The book covers the expanded universe! This means the weapons from Shadows Of The Empire appear here, as does weaponry that shows up in later novels, comic books, video games, etc. Even if you're just a fan of the films, the information on the expanded universe will fascinate you.
-This book is readily available in most major bookstores (B. Dalton, Barnes And Noble, Borders, etc.) You shouldn't have any trouble finding it.
-The price for this book is very good, considering all the information it has to offer. This is a worthwhile purchase if you're a Star Wars fan.

CONS:
-The major problem with this book is that it was released circa 1997. This means it came out before 1999, and accordingly the tools of destruction exclusive to the prequel films, Episode I and Episode II, don't appear in here. That's a shame, because I would have loved to read up on Darth Maul's double-bladed Lightsaber.
-The only pictures in the book are black-and-white sketches. I would have liked to see some more detailed pictures, preferably in color.

OVERALL:
If you're a Star Wars fan, I guarantee this book will fascinate you. If you're not a fan of the Star Wars series but know somebody who is, this makes a great gift. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

while this book apears to be good, it realy is'nt. the autor made several mistakes in writing. one example of his mistake is when describing the Sun Crusher he says that Maw Instalation was created from funds diverted from the Death Star project when the Death Star was first created and tested at Maw Instalation. also the so called schematics are really just drawings of the outside with very little technical detail.

Another hit in this series, this essential guide offers you information about the weapons and technology in Star Wars. Most of it is Canon, some of it is not. However, any fan of Star Wars Information and such should not be without this book. It is replete with information and knowledge.

I really enjoy the Del Rey Star Wars "Essential Guides...", they are for the most part well written and generally well conceived by authors who genuinely love Star Wars. Bill Smith's work on "The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology" is a fun tech book on everything from blasters and lightsabers to ground based turbo laser batteries, vaporators, comlinks and sensor jamming technology. The book also lists the corporations that produce the equipment people use in day to day life. I find that this tends to add a sense of realism, since no one uses entirely generic items that are provided free of charge to everyone...like on Star Trek.

The book is also well detailed with lots of art, both three-dimensional sketches and line drawings, accompany the text that describes each object. Often, in the case of unique items, Magwit's Mystifying Hoop, explain who used it and why. Unfortunately, if teleportation is so common that performers can use it in their stage acts, why isn't proliferated every where else in Star Wars? Mostly, the art is quite good, though I found a few of the personal weapons to be gimicky and/or poorly conceived of and drawn. Other than this is a great reference for Star Wars fans who might be tired of being buried under meaningless Treknobabble.

This was an excellent book. I found it entertaining and that's usually why I buy these types of books. They take a lot of their information from different SW novels, which sometimes bothers me. But I DO like this book. It kept my attention so that's good. Star Wars rocks...

This is a must have for everyone who has to know everything about Star Wars. The in depth, easily understandable articles cover plenty of different topics, and are crammed with information. Each of the entries details a piece of technology, and delves into its strengths and weaknesses. Both the author and illustrator obviously understand Star Wars, and their knowledge shows through. While this may not be the best book for a casual fan, for a serious one this is a must have book.

This is an excellent book and is a life-saver. I always got questions about one of the weapons or any of the technology in one of the books or in one of the movies and this is where I go first to to find information about one of the weapons. If I can't find it here I go to the Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Woo for this book! That's all I can say...of all the Guides books we own, its the most used and most helpful of all. Our copy is a year old and has been dropped, kicked, torn, wrote on, bent and mutilated, but it still keeps going! Like I say, everything I need to know about STar Wars weapons and technology I learned from THIS book. A MUST have for any true Fan!

The information in this book is entertaining, but for some reason, I kept getting BORED while reading it. It might be because the colorless pictures are very dull. Like in The Essential Guide to Droids, the concept art was good, but the schematics and silhouette models are just plain silly-looking.

In response to the question about Exar Kun he was a Jedi Knight turned Dark Lord of the Sith from the Dark Horse comic book seris Dark Lords of the Sith. It all took place hundreds of years before the Trilogy.