The Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune [Paperback]

Frank Herbert (Author), Brian Herbert (Editor), Raquel Jaramillo (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 63 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (July 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039951466X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399514661
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Herbert (1920-86) was born in Tacoma, Washington and worked as a reporter and later editor of a number of West Coast newspapers before becoming a full-time writer. His first sf story was published in 1952 but he achieved fame more than ten years later with the publication in Analog of Dune World and The Prophet of Dune that were amalgamated in the novel Dune in 1965.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A miss titled book, September 4, 2001

By 

D. Noceti "whitelightning7" (Turlock, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune (Paperback)

My main concern with the book is that it is not a collection of notes from Frank Herberts Dune, rather it is a collection of quotes from the series. If you are looking for a book that gives you insight into the creative process of Frank Herbert, look elsewhere, because you wont find it in this book.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dune Wisdom, July 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune (Paperback)

This book puts the nuggets of wisdom in Frank Herbert's Dune series all in one place. Compiled in a thin, paperback book, you won't have to search for the "litany against fear" or other wise sayings. Chock full of life truths and insights into human behavior, it's best taken a quote at a time, digested with a bit of thought afterward.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only Worthwhile For Collectors, November 28, 2011

By 

John Jorgensen (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune (Paperback)

I love Dune. I love it so much that I collect as much Dune memorabilia as possible, assuming the price is right. And when I saw a book titled "Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune" with Brian Herbert as editor, I became very excited. I thought we were finally going to see the mythic notes which the younger Herbert and Kevin Anderson claim are the basis of their Dune 7 books, freed of all the idiotic original characters they put in and elements drawn from their extraneous Dune prequels.

Anyway, it's not that. As soon as I saw the publication date I knew it wouldn't be: It predates the younger Herbert's partnership with Anderson by many years.

What is in this book is a series of quotes lifted from Frank Herbert's six novels. Many of them are the expository statements and quotes from the beginnings of chapters. All of them are supposed to contain some hidden pearl of wisdom which Brian claims Frank hid in what unsuspecting readers assumed was just a science fiction adventure, so that he could subtly preach to them. Well the Dune books are often preachy, and there's usually nothing subtle about it. . . . But I digress.

Every other page is a list of between five and eight quotes. They are not attributed to particular books, not in text and not through the nonexistent footnotes. They are attributed to particular characters, which can help: A quote by Leto II is probably in God Emperor of Dune, whereas one by Miles Teg would certainly not come from anything earlier than Heretics of Dune. Anyway, if you've read the Dune Chronicles you've seen them all before, and anything of interest probably stuck with you the first time through.

The odd-numbered pages feature one quote, presumably the best of the bunch (though frankly I often didn't see anything about those quotes that made them any more special than the others) illuminated in some sort of interesting calligraphy. These look good, and the attractiveness of them is easily the highlight of this notebook; but content-wise, there's really not much to them. (The centerfold is a two-page illumination of the Litany Against Fear--which, if you ask me, is pretty far down the list of most profound soundbites in Dune, and thus, those most deserving of that place of honor.)

I don't regret buying this book, because (unlike Songs of Muad'Dib: The Poetry of Frank Herbert, which has even less in the way of substance) it usually sells for a pretty low price--I think I got mine for $5 and change--and because it IS a legitimate piece for a Dune collection. If that's what you're looking for, go ahead and buy it, but don't expect all that much enjoyment from this book in its own right.