A year ago here at borg we reviewed the intriguing Star Wars tie-in book The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. For fans who have been lucky enough to experience firsthand Disney’s Black Spire Outpost, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Treasures from Batuu will take readers back to Oga’s Cantina and Savi’s Workshop, and take home some souvenirs, too. The new “vault” type book is coming in July from Titan Books in the UK and Insight Editions in the U.S. and available for pre-order now here at Amazon.
Remember the first time you watched Jurassic Park on the big screen? Steven Spielberg created something like we’d never seen before, taking Michael Crichton’s masterpiece science fiction novel and giving it the visual spectacle it deserved. Remember the ice cream scene? When giant dinosaurs are after you, there’s nothing like ice cream. A new book will take you back to that magic, and teach you not how to walk like a Saurian, but to eat like one. In Dayton Ward and Elena Craig’s Jurassic World: The Official Cookbook, available now here at Amazon, fans of the original movie and the franchise finally get to sink their teeth into something straight out of the amusement park ride adventure, just as the latest movie, Jurassic World: Dominion, is being finalized for a summer 2022 release.
Take a look inside the book, released this week, courtesy of the publisher:
Who doesn’t want to get their eyes on anything about JK Rowling’s Harry Potter “Wizarding World” universe? A book coming soon from Insight Editions is mixing interactive elements with behind-the-scenes content for the theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. In Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Movie Magic (available for pre-order now here at Amazon), get ready to see how the moviemaking magic is done, complete with replica props and more. Take a look inside the book below.
Back in 1978 there wasn’t a kid that didn’t love the Star Wars Holiday Special, a surprise holiday event that featured the stars of Star Wars on our television sets instead of the movie screen. It’s there we got close-ups of aliens from the Tatooine cantina at Mos Eisley, we saw Boba Fett in action, and we got to meet Chewbacca’s family as they readied to celebrate Life Day. It was Lucasfilm’s way of getting fans a Christmas special. For this Christmas Lucasfilm is looking back to Life Day with the new Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook: Official Holiday Recipes from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
I’ve reviewed several franchise tie-in cookbooks and every one of them is really an excuse to have fun in the kitchen and try something new. By my count this is the ninth Star Wars cookbook, and although I might be partial to The Wookiee Cookbook and its Boba Fett-uccini, or a Han Sandwich, every Star Wars fan will find something new and fun to try in The Life Day Cookbook. It’s available just in time for our Earth holidays, and you can order it in the U.S. here and the UK here. Check out a preview below.
Review by C.J. Bunce
If you’ve read his book James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (reviewed here) or watched his accompanying series, you can tell that James Cameron is first and foremost an artist. With an artist’s eye he has created some of the biggest science fiction movies ever made, from The Terminator to Aliens to The Abyss and Avatar. For the first time Cameron is revealing the contents of his sketchbooks and personal art archives and discussing his creative process and inspiration. Insight Editions’ giant chronicle Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron, arrives in bookstores next week and available for pre-order here. Fans will find a collection of rare and never-before-published art that reveals how this award-winning director has translated his ideas to film, often employing advanced film-making technologies to realize his unique vision. But as readers will find, it all begins with pen, pencil, and paint.
Review by C.J. Bunce
Remember the first time you watched Jurassic Park on the big screen? Steven Spielberg created something like we’d never seen before, taking Michael Crichton’s masterpiece science fiction novel and giving it the spectacle it deserved. A new book will take you back to that magic. In James Mottram’s Jurassic Park: The Ultimate Visual History, available now here at Amazon, fans of the original movie and the franchise finally get a behind-the-scenes chronicle worthy of the amusement park ride adventure, just as the latest movie, Jurassic World: Dominion, is being finalized for a summer 2022 release.
To celebrate 35 years of the Jim Henson fantasy TV series Fraggle Rock, Insight Editions is taking a look behind the scenes of the show in Fraggle Rock: The Ultimate Visual History. It follows in the footsteps of three previous chronicles of Jim Henson’s creations, and his family’s prequel series, The Dark Crystal: The Ultimate Visual History, Labyrinth: the Ultimate Visual History, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance–Inside the Epic Return to Thra. Take a look at a preview of Fraggle Rock: The Ultimate Visual History below.
Whether you use it as the perfect stocking stuffer, for an office party gift swap, or you just want some convenient content to carry around in your backpack, publisher Insight Editions has the right book for you. For Harry Potter fans we reviewed the detailed MinaLima-designed treasure trove The Art of Harry Potter–Mini Book of Graphic Design a few years ago, and for superhero fans we looked at two volumes of the history of Wonder Woman in comic book covers. These are jam-packed books that literally fit inside your pocket, and the content spans the scope of pop culture and genre. Love Batman? Check. Mickey Mouse? Check. Beauty and the Beast and other Disney favorites? Check.
Today we have previews from four of Insight Editions’ books featuring Star Wars, one with the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, a two-volume collection of Marvel comic book covers, and another with famous poster artwork that spans the 11 films. Typically available at $11.99 or less, it’s an inexpensive source for the visual details of the movies, production, and marketing that you’ve never seen before, and a quick gift idea for your favorite Star Wars fan.
Review by C.J. Bunce
For nearly 55 years sci-fi fans have been watching and re-watching Star Trek’s original series and rebuilding futuristic components from the show in their own homes. In the 1960s it was easier, as many of the components that defined the early look of Star Trek were simply “found objects”–items existing in the real world that could be repurposed to create a vision of the future. Midcentury Modernism was the artistic movement that coincided with the inception of the worldbuilding for Star Trek, and fans Dan Chavkin and Brian McGuire chronicled some of the Star Trek creators’ use of those designs in their new coffee table book, Star Trek: Designing the Future–How Midcentury Modernism Shaped Our View of the Future. Take a look at a preview of this introduction to the artistic movement and the early Star Trek design aesthetic below, courtesy of publisher Insight Editions.
We’re continuing our ten-year celebration of borg today with our favorite genre books. If you missed them, check out our Top 40 movies here and our Top 40 TV series here.
We reviewed thousands of books and comics that we recommended to our readers since June 2011, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t publish reviews of books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects only 23 of the Best of the Best books and book series reviewed from June 2011 to June 2021.
So let’s get going!
