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Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary book review .
With Into Darkness 's arrival imminent, this picture book provides a good way to get up to speed on decades of Trek continuity.
Covering the whole franchise, it itemises all the major races, vessels and conflicts, mostly in lavish double-page spreads.
There's only about an hour and a half's reading here, but then you don't buy a Dorling Kindersley book for the text. It's beautifully illustrated, with clever use of cutouts: for example, the profile of Picard is scattered with artefacts like his Ressikan flute.
Hardcore fans will know it all already, and with vocabulary like "savant" and "polyamorous" scattered about, The Visual Dictionary is certainly not aimed at young kids. Ideal for a teenage Trek fan hooked by the Abrams movie who'd like to learn more.
Ian Berriman twitter.com/ianberriman
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