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162 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great content; poor editing, October 15, 2010
This review is from: Lost Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
First, an initial statement of possible sources of bias: I am a professional academic and an unapologetic LOST enthusiast (you may read what you like into that conjunction). I ordered the LOST Encyclopedia on May 4 and received it on October 12 following a delay from its original listed release date of August 24, so I've been anticipating its release for a while. Second, an executive summary: as a fan of the show, I'm glad to finally have this "encyclopedia" on my bookshelf and think it an excellent resource. Nevertheless, the presentation of the book is somewhat less polished than I would have hoped, leading me to suspect that a second edition may be in the works. Any recommendation that I can give would therefore have to be a guarded one. Like the show for which it serves as a reference guide, this book must have been a massive undertaking for everyone involved with little guarantee of pleasing everyone in its audience. I can therefore forgive the omission of some items (no entry for the Hybird, or "Hurley bird," for example) and the lack of linked entries (e.g. "The Hatch: see Swan Station," or "Jeremy Bentham: see John Locke"). My objections to the book's editing begin with the character entries, which are generally sorted alphabetically by first name. I have no problem with organizing an encyclopedia in this way, as this is hardly an academic text and there are a variety of minor characters whose last names are unknown; however, the glaring exceptions to this rule--John Locke, whose entry is filed under "L," and James Ford, whose entry is filed under "S" for "Sawyer"--happen to be among the most important entries in the volume. Finding those entries will only take an extra few seconds of the reader's time (especially since, as mentioned above, there are no linking entries), but the organization comes across as sloppy. Also sloppy are the various textual redundancies. In the "Man in Black" entry, for example, a text blurb entitled "Jacob's Spirit" calls attention to the fact that "The spirit of a young Jacob repeatedly appeared to the Man in Black while he was acting out his end game as Locke..." One page later, immediately facing that blurb, is another blurb entitled "Haunting Reminders" which calls attention to the very same fact using the very same text, the only difference being in the capitalization of a single word. Similarly, the entry for Magnus Hanso ends with a three-sentence paragraph: the first sentence states that "Hanso's death remained a mystery to the outside world [until] DHARMA Initiative member Stuart Radzinsky documented Hanso's final resting place on the Blast Wall Map"; the second sentence states that "Details of Hanso's death remained a mystery to the outside world"; the third sentence states that (you guessed it) "DHARMA Initiative member Stuart Radzinsky documented Hanso's final resting place on the blast wall map." Again, this book constitutes a relatively massive undertaking and it's understandable that various typos would slip through (and there are a number of those), but given the two-month delay in the book's release I would have expected the editors to catch these obvious artifacts of the rewriting process. I had initially speculated that the publication delay was a function of the writers' need to rewrite some entries in light of the final episode's controversial revelations regarding the "flash-sideways universe." That was apparently incorrect, as the only reference to the flash-sideways (that I've found, at least) comes at the tail end of Juliet's entry. Instead, all information about that "universe" is relegated to a few text-light and picture-heavy character entries that follow the encyclopedia's index. The entries seem arbitrarily organized (in order: Desmond, Hurley, Ben, Sun, Jin, Sayid, Kate, Claire, Locke, and Jack) and utterly disconnected from the rest of the encyclopedia. To the writers' credit, they call attention to some quotes from the final episode that should help confused viewers figure out where the flash-sideways universe fits into the overall story structure; however, one is left with the impression that someone involved with the book's production was embarrassed by the reception of the final episode and wanted to minimize its influence on the rest of the text. I would certainly hope that delaying publication gave the writers and editors adequate time to integrate this information--if they had wanted to do so. For better or for worse, this storyline is as much a part of LOST canon as anything else and it should have been treated as such. Finally, there are several minor factual errors in the text--particularly with respect to the descriptions of the philosophers referenced by the show--but those are more nits to be picked than they are problems affecting the book's presentation. Nevertheless, it's an editor's job to pick those nits before publication. Again, I'm glad to own the LOST encyclopedia and will readily admit that fans of the show (be they dedicated or casual ones) won't be able to find a better reference. The content is top-notch, covering both breadth and depth, as detailed in other reviews. If asked whether or not I would recommend that someone else spend $25 on it (much less the $45 cover price), however, I would only be able to answer that anyone considering doing so should take into account the very real possibility that an updated and cleaned-up new edition may be forthcoming. Of course, I also can't guarantee that any such edition will actually see the light of day. As such, I have no regrets on my part, but less risk-averse fans might think otherwise.
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good, if not definitive resource with some noticeable flaws, October 19, 2010
This review is from: Lost Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
The LOST Encyclopedia will not bring a bevy of new insights or craved "answers" for fans of the show, but it is a solid catalog of facts and histories from the show's vast mythology. I wouldn't call it comprehensive, but it's an enjoyably casual reference for fans of the show. The biggest negative trait of the book is the sloppy editing. Despite being delayed multiple times before its release, the articles still contain numerous typographical errors (I'd estimate one every couple of pages on average), far more than should be acceptable for a professionally published work like this. There are even entries that are OUT OF ALPHABETICAL ORDER: under "D," there are three entries ordered "Donovan," "Dogen" and "Doctors." I know it's something most people won't lose a lot of sleep over, but as an English major I found them impossible to ignore and quite distracting from the flow of the book. More important and germane to the nature of the LOST Encyclopedia, there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the emphasis placed on some elements of the show in contrast to others. For example, on the same two-page spread, Eddie Colburn, a minor character featured in ONE flashback episode, is given as much attention as Edward Mars, a character who appeared in multiple flashbacks and on the Island. Another example: there's a massive two-page entry dedicated to the RECORD PLAYER in the Swan station. The same amount of space is given to the blast door map, one of the pivotal set pieces of the series. If I had to guess, I'd say that such decisions were made to make the articles fit into neat two-page layouts, with the visual presentation emphasized over the relevance of information. As mentioned in a previous review, the alphabetization of the entries is slapdash. If you want to actually look up an obscure element of the show rather than just casually browse the book, you may find yourself taking several guesses on what your query may be titled before you find it. For example, if you want to look up the glowing river alternatively called "The Source" or "The Heart of the Island," you won't find it listed under either of those two names. Instead, it is mentioned in a brief paragraph in the massive entry "The Island," as well as intermittently in other entries. Other aspects of the show that this fan thinks should have entries but do not, based on their importance in the show, include the Whispers, Time Travel, and the Donkey Wheel. Now, to the positive. Given the existence of the much more comprehensive fan wiki "Lostpedia," the biggest appeal of The LOST Encyclopedia is not the depth or organization of its entries. Instead, it is the hundreds and hundreds of visual aids that accompany the entries, along with photos of LOST props and locales sprinkled liberally throughout the book. All of the entries on the major Dharma stations feature original diagrams. There are hundreds of close-ups of key props, such as Faraday's journal and maps used by the characters, as well as more obscure pieces like Drive Shaft promotional posters and the contents of Kate's time capsule. Most fans have never had an opportunity to see such components of LOST lore this clearly and up close. The encyclopedia also features a number of ancillary elements that exist outside of the show, thus establishing them as canon while also exposing them to fans who may not have seen them before. The entry for Alvar Hanso contains information about Thomas Mittlewerk and Rachel Blake, characters featured only in the LOST Alternate Reality Game "The LOST Experience." The article on the Purge includes a copy of the truce between the Others and the Dharma Initiative, previously available only to those who bought the special edition of the Season Five box set. There are even translations of many of the hieroglyphics featured on sets and props from the show, engravings that would be impossible to discern from screencaps. Ironically, the unofficial Lostpedia easily remains the definitive source of information on LOST even after the release of this book. Really, The LOST Encyclopedia functions best as a kind of coffee table attraction, a tome to peruse for the sake of curiosity as opposed to a serious study of the show's mythology. While its numerous textual errors give some entries an unpolished feel, from a strictly visual perspective the book is stunning. It's not easy to produce as many new images from a show as heavily scrutinized as LOST, but the material unique to the book, as well as the conversational tone best suited to enjoyable casual reading, make it worth the buy.
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36 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No buts-this book is canon, October 12, 2010
This review is from: Lost Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
I still highly recommend this book to anyone who loved Lost. If you want a gift for your favorite Lost fanatic, this is the only book you should consider buying. That is because this is the only book written with the help of the Lost producers. It is fact-canon. Other books may theorize what happened in the Lost world but this is the only book that tells you what did happen. "No great depth" said the previous review! I was amazed at all the depth and details. Just a few examples: Jacob appreciated Widmore's loyalty and allowed him to rise to leadership with Eloise. Jacob had Alpert strip Widmore of his position and banish him. Danielle arrived on the island after the Purge. Ben planned to fool Juliet into releasing the gas from the Tempest killing herself, the 815 survivors and the freighter crew. Plus it confirms things we suspected like Widmore being the one to execute the Purge of the Dharma Initiative via gas from the Tempest and the one who told his goons to slaughter the Ajira 316 survivors. There is very little on the flash-forwards. The 14 or so pages (text is limited to brief recaps) are tacked on the end of the book after the index like an afterthought. Given this is an encyclopedia there isn't much for the writers to say about them anyway but the placement is very odd. Know what else is odd? Apparently the editors didn't show up for work! I found too many instances of misplaced and repeated text including this gem in a series of bullets about Shannon; "Loudly whined about Marshal Mars dying too callously." LOL! It is sooo annoying when someone dies callously! That probably should have been "Callously whined about Marshal Mars dying too loudly." I also found overall that the text lacked clarity. Many paragraphs were poorly worded and clumsy. In places grammatical errors left the text unnecessarily ambiguous. It's obvious that neither the publisher nor the writers were up to the task of producing this book properly which is sad. Or perhaps the producers are at fault for not choosing writers who could produce clean text under a tight deadline. I'm still giving it five stars because the book looks great (all 400 pages), it contains a mountain of information that is all canon (which no other Lost book can claim) and it is relatively cheap for all it contains. For all its faults, it still makes the best gift you can buy for any kind of Lost fan from the causal fan all the way up to the Lost fanatic.
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