I saw a post in the TOS section about where the engine room in the original Enterprise and I immediately thought of a book I have in my collection. It is a look at the refit of the Enterprise. Every little detail you want to know is in here. Every deck is looked at and rooms are drawn and labeled. It also included other fun information such as what symbols are used to signify what, rankings, shuttlecrafts, phasers etc. I personally love cutaways and learning where the captains closet is, haha. I would say it is invaluable if you want to do an accurate cutaway version of the refit (as I do) and full of fun stuff for the average fan.
It gives Ent-A Transwarp drive (A handy explanation for TFF) and its dates are suspect but it is still a book I like very much.
I loved Mr Scott's Guide as a kid. My first copy literally fell to pieces it got so much use. It's full of outdated premises and few mistakes, though: Dates MSGttE uses the FASA/Spaceflight Chronology dating system, meaning all the dates are roughly 60 years earlier than they are in "current" Trek timekeeping. Torpedoes MSGttE puts one torpedo bay on the ship - yet Spock's funeral is held in one, and we see one get blown up earlier. Oops! Warp Speeds Top speed: Warp 12. Awesome! (that's warp 9.2 on the TNG scale) Transwarp on the -A. James Dixon wrote an unintentionally hillarious page-by-page destruction job on MSGttE because it doesn't mesh with his (very unique) version of the Trek universe. Links somewhere inthe continuity thread. Several of the specs and details in Mr Scott's Guide were used recently on the Experience the Enterprise site, transplanted to the alt-1701, like deck numbers (which don't work with the bigger new ship) and that the warp engines were made by Leeding Engines Ltd.
I remember reading that. the one he did on the TNG Tech Manual was funnier, though. What ever happened to that guy? Maybe the last movie exploded his head.
I have that, and I used to look at it all the time. Ended up putting it in storage to make more room on my shelves though.
I have that book as well.. as a kid I would sit for hours trying to copy the drawings and make my own ship plans after them.
This book came out just around the time I was not buying every Trek book that came out, and wouldn't for another 20+ years. Need to check it out, I guess.
Now that I think of it, this is probably the book that turned me from a general sci-fi fan into a Trekkie. Loved pretty much everything about the book, from front to back, and the diagrams of various areas of the [then believed] Enterprise-class just amazed me as a kid. The various phaser sidearm types, the tricorder, the communicator, general Starfleet information--man, I sat through Star Treks II-III and I didn't even notice the significance of the pins on the uniforms until this book. It really gave me the sense that the Enterprise was "real" with the detailed descriptions and floor plans of areas of the ship. Sure, it's outdated and has been contradicted up the whazoo by onscreen material, but I still think it's a fun "Treknology" read and it probably now gives insight into that era of fandom back then...
MSGTTE is a pretty good book for what it is. It's a shame that shane Johnson's proposal for an update wasn't picked-up. IIRC, he wanted to expand the book to include full deck-plans of the ENT-A. He posted some images hereabouts a couple years back and it was some really great stuff.
I liked the text a lot. Outdated by today's standard, yes, but I found it insightful when it first came out for someone just getting into Trek at the time.
I found it entirely readable, unlike the TNG manual. It had a sense of fun about it as well, which most books of it's kind lack. I hope the forthcoming (assuming it hasn't been officially cancelled yet) Haynes Enterprise Manual has a similar vibe. Or maybe it was just my age and now nostalgia that makes me think it was fun?