The Best of Trek - Paperback Non Fiction series

Throughout the 80's, I really enjoyed the "Best of Trek" paperbacks that provided highlights from TREK magazine.
I had kind of forgotten about the series, but recently discovered there may be a few paperbacks I may be missing.
I'd like to ask any of you...what happened to TREK magazine and has there been paperback editions that have covered Trek V and beyond.
I did see there's a large trade paperback "The Best of Trek" volume out there, but I would appreciate any news or updates regarding this great series.

 

Trek magazine was published through the 70s and mid 80s on a sporadic basis. They collected the best articles and published 18 "The Best of Trek" paperbacks published by Signet/ROC. The last one of those was published in Feb. 89 which just started covering Star Trek V and the first year of STTNG. They also published 2 "The Best of the Best of Trek" oversized paperbacks which just culled some articles from the 18 paperback books. Walter Irwin and G.B. Love who published Trek magazine have both since passed away and I am unaware of anybody continuing the zine unless anybody else has an insight?

 

Nice review "KeepOn"; sad to hear that the publishers have passed. I have fond memories of the paperbacks, and in fact still have most of my old copies, purchased in the early to mid 80s. I remember reading articles about warp scales and distances covered in specific episodes, why TOS Klingons didn't have ridges (and other "ret-conning", though I don't think it was called that back then), various "what-ifs", and lots of other things that have been talked about bit ad nauseam over the years, but which were fresh to my teenage mind back then.

 

Thanks Guys for the fast response. I now think I've seen all the Trek paperbacks. I was hoping I may have missed one or two. But yes, they were a great series of books and really gave lots of fun opinion and feedback on not only the original series but the movies as well.

 

I'm pretty sure the two "Best of the Best" volumes were combined into one trade paperback, also called "The Best of the Best of Trek." I never had the chance to do a comparison, but I read both of the MMPB-sized ones from my library, and I later found the TB in a used bookstore, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything missing.

 

The Best Of the Best of Trek trade paperback was later split into two mass market paperbacks (Part 1 and Part 2). It got really confusing when The publisher then did a Best of the Best of Trek II trade paperback, with entirely different content, but all still drawn from the earlier Best of Trek mmpb's.

It's really confusing.

 

Hm, I've never seen a TPB BoBoT 2. Something to keep my eye out for, I guess. Probably shouldn't get it on-line, as I might end up with the MMPB of the second half of BoBoT 1.

I think.

This page has a list of all the Best of Trek books, including the two-ish Best of the Best collections. I probably should've realized the MMPB versions would've come later, since they had CG covers and the TPB was still using painted ersatz-Star Trek art.

 

I have at least three or four of the old Signet paperbacks around here somewhere. There were very worthwhile, especially in that pre-Internet era when Star Trek discussion wasn't so plentiful.

 

I came to these a few years ago and now have all but #17. I love them. Fandom hasn't changed a bit.

 

Thanks for sharing that link...I need to get volumes 17 and 18...never knew they existed !!!!

I'm new to this site and so far...I'm really enjoying it !

 

The Best of Trek #17 doesn't have the number in the title, it's just called The Best of Trek (exactly the same as the first volume). It's ISBN is 0-451-45438-3. which makes searching for it easier.

 

I enjoyed those a lot, back in the day, especially the "speculative faction" articles, and the various essays were probably what introduced 12-year-old me to the basic idea of literary analysis. And for some reason I always loved the cover art on the paperback, usually painted *almost*-Trek starship art, often quite elaborate.

 

Welcome Hope you continue having fun!

 

I live a few doors down from Walter Irwin's widow. Our phone number is almost the same so we would get calls for them quite often.

 

Volumes of The Best of Trek were some of my first steps into the idea of hardcore Star Trek fandom, back when it wasn't easy for someone to just hop online and encounter other fans willing to do a deep dive into their favourite franchises...

Even now, I think they provide an interesting window into the fandom of the period and the assumptions fans made about the Star Trek universe and where the franchise would (or should) head.

 

I'm really glad I stumbled upon this thread. Found one of the books on ebay (no. 2) and promptly bought, arrived today and I gotta say I'm really looking forward to it. I love this kind of thing. Looks like they aren't too easy to get hold of in the UK so it's gonna be a long journey finding them all.

 

BoT#2 is my favourite, especially the "Fall of the Federation" article postulating how it all ends.

 

I miss those books.

 

I loved these books. I actually started buying and reading these before I really got into Trek fiction. My favorite articles at the time were the "Star Trek Mysteries Solved series (finding in universe explanations for production mistakes and bloopers) and the timeline they did for the Terran Empire (divergence point was the Challenger disaster). Also the Fall of the Federation article mentioned above was a good one.