Non-franchise, non-fiction books about ST

[tmclough]

In this thread, as its title suggests, I would like to discuss non-franchise, non-fiction books dealing with Star Trek. For example, books about the science of ST, or religion/philosophy and ST, etc; as opposed to franchise, non-fiction books such as ST reference manuals, or the making of ST, etc.

What books that fit into this category have you read, and how well did you like them (or not)? Which would you classify as your most or least favorite? What did you like or not like about them?

Feel free to talk about and discuss any other aspects you can think of about this class of books. I would like this to be an open discussion about such books, as well as an idea source for such books to buy or put on my Amazon wish list.

 

[Thrawn]

I remember The Science Of Star Trek, the very first one back in the mid 90s, was a pretty great read.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

David Gerrold's Trouble with Tribbles-
As an individual interested in the workings of television, and someday creating and producing my own show...this was a fun book to read. From what I know, a lot of things haven't really changed.

Inside Trek by Susan Sackett-
I know why I got this book, but I'm not going to say it on this board. Still, it was an interesting read.

Inside Star Trek by Herb Solow and Robert Justman-
A cool book detailing the behind-the-scenes of TOS.

I own some others, which I haven't read:
*The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold
*Star Trek Lives

 

[Steve Roby]

I've read quite a few of these books, and one of the recent ones I liked quite a bit was Ina Rae Hark's BFI TV Classics: Star Trek. A few years back I enjoyed Star Trek: The Human Frontier by Michele and Duncan Barrett.

FWIW, you can find more books of Trek criticism and analysis listed here at my Trek books website (the links lead to more detailed information), and the Books by Type pulldown menu at the bottom of each page can lead you to biographies, "making of" books, etc.

All of the books Joel mentions are worth reading, though a couple of them are a bit dated -- Star Trek Lives! looks at fandom circa 1975 or so, and the world has changed a lot since then. And I think Thrawn is thinking of Lawrence Krauss's The Physics of Star Trek, the book that kicked off the whole Science of... publishing phenomenon.

 

[Therin of Andor]

a couple of them are a bit dated

Yeah, I have a soft spot for "Star Trek Lives!" and "The Making of the Trek Conventions". Also "Chekov's Enterprise" (Koenig's hilarious TMP diary) and "On the Good Ship Enterprise" by Bjo Trimble. All of them are anecdotes told with quirky humour and keen observations of human behaviour.

 

[rahullak]

The Physics of Star Trek: Lawrence M. Krauss
Beyond Star Trek: Lawrence M. Krauss

Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant: Kevin S. Decker, Jason T. Earl

 

[PaulSimpson]

a couple of them are a bit dated

Yeah, I have a soft spot for "Star Trek Lives!" and "The Making of the Trek Conventions". Also "Chekov's Enterprise" (Koenig's hilarious TMP diary) and "On the Good Ship Enterprise" by Bjo Trimble. All of them are anecdotes told with quirky humour and keen observations of human behaviour.

We've asked Walter to go back and look at Chekov's Enterprise for his interview celebrating the 30th anniversary of TMP that's coming out at the end of the year...

 

[trevanian]

a couple of them are a bit dated

Yeah, I have a soft spot for "Star Trek Lives!" and "The Making of the Trek Conventions". Also "Chekov's Enterprise" (Koenig's hilarious TMP diary) and "On the Good Ship Enterprise" by Bjo Trimble. All of them are anecdotes told with quirky humour and keen observations of human behaviour.

We've asked Walter to go back and look at Chekov's Enterprise for his interview celebrating the 30th anniversary of TMP that's coming out at the end of the year...

Can you get him to address something that has been driving me bonkers since the book came out? He mentions that he and De came up with their own ending, subsequently vetoed by Shatner, for TMP -- one that would have required reshooting the sickbay scene where Spock comes to. Is there ANY chance he remembers any details of it?

 

[PaulSimpson]

Yeah, I have a soft spot for "Star Trek Lives!" and "The Making of the Trek Conventions". Also "Chekov's Enterprise" (Koenig's hilarious TMP diary) and "On the Good Ship Enterprise" by Bjo Trimble. All of them are anecdotes told with quirky humour and keen observations of human behaviour.

We've asked Walter to go back and look at Chekov's Enterprise for his interview celebrating the 30th anniversary of TMP that's coming out at the end of the year...

Can you get him to address something that has been driving me bonkers since the book came out? He mentions that he and De came up with their own ending, subsequently vetoed by Shatner, for TMP -- one that would have required reshooting the sickbay scene where Spock comes to. Is there ANY chance he remembers any details of it?

It was on the list of questions for the interviewer. I've not had the interview back yet (although I know it's happened) so don't know if it was addressed... That bit jumped out at me when I reread the book when deciding to commission the piece.
It's one of the areas I love asking about - I did the same with Nicholas Meyer in that interview, when I spotted a couple of "loose ends" in his discussion of Star Trek VI.

 

[Steve Roby]

I've been curious for a few years as to how much work Koenig did on Roddenberry's The God Thing, and what he remembers about it. And if he still has a copy.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I've been curious for a few years as to how much work Koenig did on Roddenberry's The God Thing, and what he remembers about it. And if he still has a copy.

If I get a chance, I'll ask...

 

[seigezunt]

I enjoyed a few years back reading Enterprising Women, which approached women who write Trek and other fan fiction as an anthropological study. Interesting look at what IMHO evolved into a considerable voice in "official" Trek fiction for a while.

 

[Steve Roby]

Yeah, that's a good one. Camille Bacon-Smith, the author, actually had a major article on the subject in the New York Times a few years earlier. Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins is the other really good book on the subject.

 

[childofdarkness]

When we were kids, The Making of Star Trek and David Gerrold's Trouble with Tribbles were our Trek "bibles." Of course, there wasn't much published stuff out there yet on Trek. (This was the Pre-Cambrian era of Trekdom, I'm afraid.)

 

[Myasishchev]

I always wondered if Athena Andreadis' To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek or the Jenkins' Life Signs: [also and highly originally subtitled -_- ] The Biology of Star Trek were any good. The reviews on Amazon are mixed, with some salient criticisms.

 

[TGTheodore]

Some absolutely horrible ones were self-published by JVH. And I believe he was finally sued by Paramount and/or Pocket.

--Ted

 

[Christopher]

^That would be James Van Hise, right?

 

[Steve Roby]

Van Hise didn't publish his own stuff, he was one of a few writers who worked for the notorious Hal Schuster. Schuster was sued by J. Michael Straczynski over an unauthorized Babylon 5 book. He died in Thailand a few years back.

I've emailed James Van Hise and Edward Gross about Schuster, and neither is particularly complimentary. Schuster rewrote people's material, took credit for other people's material, made lots of screwups, recycled content from one book to another, and couldn't keep the titles of the books straight, so there are some books that no one is sure were actually published... and yet, after he pretty much wound up his own operations, HarperCollins reprinted some of his stuff, presumably to keep cashing in on Trek fans after the success of the Shatner Star Trek Memories books they published.

 

[trevanian]

Some absolutely horrible ones were self-published by JVH. And I believe he was finally sued by Paramount and/or Pocket.

--Ted

As bad as Van Hise was (and I know, he lifted whole 'graphs from my TUC piece, minus the punctuation, almost like that Carol Press STAR WARS book from a decade back that stole and misspelled whole sections of SW making of stuff), he DID publish some good work by Ed Gross.

While he didn't have access to all parties, Gross did a good job of presenting the Phase II story in one of his books done by Pioneer.

And Van Hise is the first guy to tell the Ellison / Trabalus Mayans story, too (as near as I can tell anyway), though I first found it referenced in DANSE MACABRE.

I think Van Hise sells a lot of memoribilia on eBay; he had a copy of Enterprise Incidents 9 on sale for some godawful amount, like $15, for years, but I held out, and found it elsewhere for a buck-fifty (well worth the investment, it has a great how-we-got-on-the-Paramount-lot-during-TMP story by Doug Drexler.)

 

[trevanian]

Van Hise didn't publish his own stuff, he was one of a few writers who worked for the notorious Hal Schuster.

Hmm ... way I understood it, Van Hise was his allegedly creative partner, not an employee of Schuster's. And when I showed some of his steals from CINEFEX to that mag's publisher, he sent the cease-and-desists to Van Hise, or at least that is how it was represented to me (and I was working there at the time, so in theory I should be 'in the know' on that one.)

One book I really wish they'd come out with -- it was promoted in a couple other of their books -- was going to be titled RETURN TO TOMORROW and be the Preston Jones account of making TMP that never ran in CFQ. I'm guessing they never paid Jones either.