Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft [Hardcover]

David Reynolds (Author), Hans Jenssen (Illustrator), Richard Chasemore (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

An exhaustively researched, definitive reference for Star Wars fans of all ages brings the world-renowned DK cross-sections illustration techniques to the Star Wars universe. The main ships are explored and cutaway to reveal the armaments, propulsion systems, armor, control systems, and other key aspects of each vehicle, from Han Solo's Millennium Falcon to Darth Vader's TIE fighter. Special features and hidden mechanisms, never before revealed, are described and illustrated in graphic detail. Together with Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, these books comprise a definitive classic Star Wars reference library.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who knew proton torpedoes were so expensive? Apparently that's why Luke only had one pair when he set out to take down the Death Star. And that's not the only bit of trivia you'll bring away from this aptly subtitled Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft. Whether you're looking for the bathroom on Jabba's sail barge or you just want to see where Boba Fett catches a few winks on Slave I, this is the book for you. In Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections, author-archaeologist David West Reynolds zooms out from cataloguing minutiae as he did in Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, and instead takes apart the big toys of Star Wars, from AT-ATs to X-Wings.

Full-color, exploded technical illustrations get you under the hood of every noteworthy ship in the Star Wars trilogy, from a grand tour of a Jawa Sandcrawler to a sprawling, four-page foldout of (what else but?) the Death Star. Detailed labels and realistic, miniature depictions of crew and characters roaming around each ship are so engaging that you may find yourself imagining you're on the Millennium Falcon giving Chewie a hand with the power couplings. --Paul Hughes

From Library Journal

Who would have imagined, 21 years after the initial release of Star Wars, that the Force would still be with us? And box office receipts in the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by the 1997 rerelease of the SW trilogy prove that interest in the series hasn't waned. This trio tell you everything you always wanted to know about Star Wars but were afraid to ask (or didn't know you should). Sansweet's Encyclopedia is an incredibly detailed A-Z listing of characters, creatures, gadgets, and gizmos gleaned from the films as well as the numerous novels and comic books they've spawned. It also offers a time line for the entire SW story and an introduction by best-selling novelist Timothy Zahn. The beautifully illustrated DK duo cover characters, costumes, and weaponry in Visual Dictionary, while Cross Sections dissects vehicles and spacecraft. Want to know how a light saber really works or what the interior of an Imperial Stormtrooper's helmet looks like? It's allhere. The most remarkable thing about the books is the amount of thought that's been expended on the workings of things that don't exist. Though the Encyclopedia is remarkably comprehensive, it will unfortunately become outdated upon the release of the first of the SW prequel films, The Phantom Menace, next May, making it a marginal purchase, especially at $50. The DK books are seriously cool and exceedingly browsable, making them solid items for libraries. Though they are aimed at kids, don't be surprised to see plenty of adults flipping through them as well.?Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 3rd Printing edition (October 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789434806
• ISBN-13: 978-0789434807
• Product Dimensions: 14 x 10.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David West Reynolds is the author of several books, including #1 New York Times bestseller Star Wars: Episode I, The Visual Dictionary. He holds a doctorate in classical archaeology from the University of Michigan. An expert in space exploration, Reynolds is directing a project with a group of lunar and astrophysical scientists to recover image data from a little-known 1973 Soviet moon landing. He lives in Marin County, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Detailed UnlessReallyinto Vehicles May Prefer Dictionar, September 23, 2003

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft (Hardcover)

Unless You are really, really obsessed with the star wars ships and other vehicles you are probably better off to purchase the visual directory by the same author. The directory has more pages and is more interesting as it looks at all the characters, creatures, weapons and everything else as well as the ships although the ships and vehicles are not in as much detail as the ones in this book.

The detail in this book is very extensive, so if you are fascinated by Star Wars vehicles then this is definitely the book for you. If you wanted a broader picture of the whole Star Wars world then get the dictionary instead. If your a huge Star Wars fan then you'll probably want both.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the BEST, August 15, 2005

By 

SRFireside "ZOOM!" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Incredible Cross-sections of Star Wars, Episodes IV, V, & VI: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft (Hardcover)

Even after all three prequels have had their cross section books the original is still the best. You get more details, more vehicles, more explanations of technology than in any other book. I suppose that's the way it should be considering this is the first in the series. If you are a fan of Star Wars and have any interest in knowing how the vehicles work or what's in them this is the book for you.

While this book isn't 100% comprehensive (not all the Star Wars trilogy vehicles are covered) it covers all the important ones like the X-Wing, TIE Fighter (three versions), the Millenium Falcon and much more. You not only get cut away views of these vehicles, but also some interesting information on the history of the ship as well as how they work. The detail that goes into these ships is amazing. And it's not just an artist putting "busy stuff" in the hulls to look technical. A lot of care was put into this one. I would even say this book gives you better information on the ships covered than the very comprehensive Star Wars Guide to Essential Vehicles.

Only about a dozen ships are featured in this book. While that might sound small the details you get make it definitely worth it. So don't fret over the lack of quantity because it makes up for it in quality.

The book itself is definitely a coffee table type book. These Incredible Cross Sections books are the largest in my collection. It's a huge hardbound book with a dust jacket. The dust jacket and cover look identical so you don't lose too much taking out the jacket. While the book is large the number of pages is small so the book ends up really thin, but with only a small amount of vehicles covered I can understand the small number of pages.

The only drawback on this book is the lack of other ships in the trilogy that could really use some exposure like the A-Wing and B-Wing fighters, the Mon Calimari ships and many others. Here's hoping they make a follow up to do just that. I'm guessing if you're interested in this book you either have one or more of the others or are looking to get them. I consider this one a required asset to that collection. Sure the other cross section books are pretty good, but this one is the top dog.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A smile twelve parsecs wide, June 22, 2002

By 

Mpiumetti - See all my reviews

This review is from: Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft (Hardcover)

While the new prequel trilogy shows us the most sleek, sophisticated, and mind-boggling ships in the Star Wars universe, the ships of the original trilogy are like cars from the 1950s...they'll always remain loved. Sure the Millennium Falcon doesn't look as dignified as Episode 1's Republic Cruiser or as stylish as Padme's yacht in Episode 2, but you don't exactly get a regular chance to see the insides of the Death Star, do you? Although there are probably a few people out there that like this book because the Empire's hardware is disected, I enjoyed this because of the more personalized craft such as the Millennium Falcon, the original Slave 1, and Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, as well as more industrialized vehicles like the Jawa Sandcrawler. I'm just one man, but it gives me a smile twelve parsecs wide to go through this book and think "Now if I owned this ship..." Han Solo always bragged about how much he modified his ship. Well, now you can check out just how screwed up the Millennium Falcon really is! Or if you ever wondered how Jabba the Hutt managed to get his greasy butt onto his sail barge then you'll want to at least glance through this book.