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Your favorite reference books?

M

Mr. Sin

Commander
Like just about every other sci-fi franchise, Doctor Who has spawned a ton of reference books (Both authorized and not), and has been since at least the 80s.

Among them:

The Doctor Who Technical Manual-A small book and not exactly technobabble-packed, but some nifty schematics of stuff from 80's Who.

Cybermen-A big book by David Banks (80's Cyberleaders) that gives both a fictional and Behind-the-scenes look at the Cybermen, with schematics of all the Cyber-outfits up to that point and a nifty timeline chart (Well, David Bank's version of their timeline) of the Cybermen.


History of the Universe-An ambitious attempt by Who writer Lance Parkin to harmonize the Doctor Who timeline. Of course it's seriously out of date but there's been several follow-ups published.


Monster guides-These books with various titles are probably the ultimate current 'monster' resource for fans of both the classic and new series. Both are covered, with a lot of BTS info, writings by RTD, photos, concept art and other cool stuff. The Ultimate Monster Guide is the compilation, although it's missing some of the material from all four books.
 
Seconding the Ahistory rec, and throwing in one for the second revised edition of The Television Companion - it's fricking huge, and has a ton of detail!
 
This won't shock anyone but I'm a fan of the DK Doctor Who Visual Dictionaries and I think they should do one on the First Eight Doctors perhaps their license doesn't include the first eight although they've got brief mentions. I love Lance Parkin's second edition AHistory...almost time for him to get on another edition. I am hoping that the upcoming Tardis Handbook isn't disappointing.
 
I just picked up the Torchwood Encyclopedia. Informative, given what little I know of the series ... but damn distracting. The thing is gorgeous, full of beautiful full-color photographs but the organization of said photographs leaves much to be desired. It's like the publishers had a huge stack of hi-res images from Children of Earth and decided to put them all throughout the book, even in places where entries were that had nothing to do with said images. And indices would be nice too, but whatever.
 
^ I was actually quite disappointed by the Torchwood Encyclopedia mainly by the organization of the photos as well as the minimal length of the entries. I think the Doctor Who Encyclopedia had more with as many seasons as Torchwood too...
 
I rely on two trusty books; The Discontinuity Guide and Whos' Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who. The irreverence of the former compliments the dryness of the latter well...
 
I've heard good things about the About Time books, but I don't have any reference books myself. I get all my Whogasms from the Doctor Who wiki.
 
L'officier's trilogy of Programme Guides/Universal Databank back in the 1990s were among the more well-thumbed books in my collection. I liked them because they indexed novels and comic strips and the like, which at the time was pretty rare.

The Discontinuity Guide was always fun. I enjoyed that whole run of "episode guides-cum-Nitpickers-style" books that Virgin put out, usually with guys like Keith Topping in the byline. I have similar books for X-Files, the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation shows, and even James Bond.

Howe's Celestial Toybox is a very fun read. I've yet to find any copies of the Updates, so what I have just covers up to about a year or so before the revival.

Companions and Allies is one of my favorites of the "recent era" reference books. There are some weird errors (no one, not even Doctor Who Magazine, seems to know where they came up with the title "Born Again" for the Children in Need mini-episode) but I appreciated that it actually acknowledged the fact that Doctor Who existed prior to 2005. I've been very disappointed that most of the flashy and colorful guides that have come out just focus on the 2005-present series. Forgetting that most of the people likely to buy said books are older than six and realize and appreciate that this franchise has been going for 47 years.

This one might make someone laugh, but I also have a fondness for a 1985 release called the Doctor Who Cookbook, which featured actors like Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, along with other guest stars and behind-the-scenes people, sharing their favorite recipes. I liked how it gave a bit of insight into their lives beyond the series. Similarly, although they're not DW reference books, Lalla Ward published two books of, of all things, knitting patterns back in the early 80s - Fowl Knits and Beastly Knits were their titles. One of the books features a bunch of photos of Lalla and other people modelling her designs -- one of the models was Louise Jameson!

Alex
 
I love the About Time series. I started a thread on them here. In terms of analysis of continuity, the series' concepts, and British pop culture, About Time is essential reading. I'm looking forward to About Time Vol. 7, which examines the 2005 series; it's already referenced in the retooled vol 3 and vol 6.

Star Trek, for all its cult appeal, doesn't have anything like this written by its fans--it needs to, though. If Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles can cover 45 years of Who history, someone on the Trek end of things can do so, too.
 
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