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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This book is a solid resource for any Star Wars nerd out there. The general set up and story line of this book is the creation/idea of Star Wars and how it took over the universe or the culture of our whole world. Taylor does an amazing job at explaining the orgins of the story of Star Wars as well as the influences the creator himself had in shaping this small little science fiction adventure. The story flows extremely well that provides the story of the creation of these films, the fans, the cultural relevance, and the creator's view of things. Filled with fun and connecting facts this book explains why Star Wars has stuck with us. Chris Taylor gives many shout outs to the fans and how they have played a large roll in Star Wars, which could be a whole book in itself. The amount of information from fan groups to books, comics, shows, and movies makes the book a valuable one for not only Star Wars fans but fans of fantasy, science fiction, and film history. Just an overall great read for Star Wars fans and fans of popular culture. This book is an awesome read to get die hard fans ready for the newest line of movies coming out this year! Taylor does an excellent job at wrapping up the book and leaving us feeling good about being Star Wars fans prequels or orginal triology, it doesn't matter the force is with us all.
I suggest this to film buffs, Star Wars fans, Lucas fans, and general readers into science fiction. Check out more of Chris Taylor the author at mashables.com or on Star Wars podcasts like the force cast, rebel force radio, or coffee with kenobi. Thanks for reading!
-Shawn
The Nerd Stop! Creator.
I suggest this to film buffs, Star Wars fans, Lucas fans, and general readers into science fiction. Check out more of Chris Taylor the author at mashables.com or on Star Wars podcasts like the force cast, rebel force radio, or coffee with kenobi. Thanks for reading!
-Shawn
The Nerd Stop! Creator.
This was recced to me for a different look at the SW franchise & I was excited to find some interesting insights into the development of the world and other anecdotes, but it seems mostly concerned with picking apart George Lucas' life to establish this messianic narrative and make it seem like Every Moment Led Up To This Creation, which, y'know, whatever.
I could tell you why Star Wars is important. But I could never do it as poignantly or as interestingly as Chris Taylor does. This is a superb, comprehensive book on the making of this small franchise called Star Wars and its effect on our little blue planet.
Although many anecdotes and narratives within Taylor's book will be familiar to Star Wars fans, there are many I found surprising and new. Besides, even if you know every little detail (we nerds love minutiae), its simply nice to have them all in one comprehensive book.
You'll notice copy editing issues in the book (more misspellings, odd sentences, and missing spaces than expected); however, my inner Star Wars nerd is much older and much more nostalgic than my inner copy editor, so I didn't care all that much and it didn't hurt my rating of the book.
Some readers have noted the odd choice in the book's structure--in some spots, Taylor takes a detour in the main narrative of the creation of Star Wars to explore other areas (like when he takes a break after the first film's completion to discuss the toy and memorabilia madness surrounding the franchise). Others found this jarring and distracting, but I found the detours just as enjoyable as the central "story." Additionally, I'm hard pressed to think of another structural choice that would have been better and wouldn't have its own upsetting narrative.
If I had one critique, it's on the subtitle of the book itself, which gives an impression of a cold, business-like, and technical telling of the Star Wars franchise, whereas I found the text most effective and powerful when it approached this "universe conquering" from an emotional, human angle, which it did quite often. Yes, the book still has business and numbers and money, etc., but there's so much more.
I haven't given a book 5 stars in years (Harry Potter 7? Return of the King?). I also haven't read a book in which I was upset when it finished in just as long (I took a break from reading it as I drew closer to the end, only because I didn't want it to be over). When I learned I couldn't renew my copy at the library because it was already on hold, I decided to just purchase the thing. If you're a Star Wars fan, I highly recommend you do the same.
Although many anecdotes and narratives within Taylor's book will be familiar to Star Wars fans, there are many I found surprising and new. Besides, even if you know every little detail (we nerds love minutiae), its simply nice to have them all in one comprehensive book.
You'll notice copy editing issues in the book (more misspellings, odd sentences, and missing spaces than expected); however, my inner Star Wars nerd is much older and much more nostalgic than my inner copy editor, so I didn't care all that much and it didn't hurt my rating of the book.
Some readers have noted the odd choice in the book's structure--in some spots, Taylor takes a detour in the main narrative of the creation of Star Wars to explore other areas (like when he takes a break after the first film's completion to discuss the toy and memorabilia madness surrounding the franchise). Others found this jarring and distracting, but I found the detours just as enjoyable as the central "story." Additionally, I'm hard pressed to think of another structural choice that would have been better and wouldn't have its own upsetting narrative.
If I had one critique, it's on the subtitle of the book itself, which gives an impression of a cold, business-like, and technical telling of the Star Wars franchise, whereas I found the text most effective and powerful when it approached this "universe conquering" from an emotional, human angle, which it did quite often. Yes, the book still has business and numbers and money, etc., but there's so much more.
I haven't given a book 5 stars in years (Harry Potter 7? Return of the King?). I also haven't read a book in which I was upset when it finished in just as long (I took a break from reading it as I drew closer to the end, only because I didn't want it to be over). When I learned I couldn't renew my copy at the library because it was already on hold, I decided to just purchase the thing. If you're a Star Wars fan, I highly recommend you do the same.
assigned reading for class. i cared about approximately 20% of the contents.
There is a ton of information in here, however, there is a great much of it that is unnecessary IMHO.
Pages upon pages of lead in information but then there are more time jumps than an episode of Doctor Who. The timeline is very non-linear and makes for a confusing read, as well as introducing a 'fact' that is not relevant at the time in question, (but it will be in 1980, or 1983, or whatever).
I am sure that the due diligence was put in to create an accurate description of events, but the story is being told from many players in hind sight, so the 'facts' are questionable at best, and the influences are just not there.
I ended up skimming ym way through half of this, but again, there were some interesting tidbits of information in here, just not 500+ pages worth.
Pages upon pages of lead in information but then there are more time jumps than an episode of Doctor Who. The timeline is very non-linear and makes for a confusing read, as well as introducing a 'fact' that is not relevant at the time in question, (but it will be in 1980, or 1983, or whatever).
I am sure that the due diligence was put in to create an accurate description of events, but the story is being told from many players in hind sight, so the 'facts' are questionable at best, and the influences are just not there.
I ended up skimming ym way through half of this, but again, there were some interesting tidbits of information in here, just not 500+ pages worth.
Yeah, it's a well written behind-the-scenes book about an important part of geek culture, so I'm going to eat it up and give it five stars. What works best about this book is the breadth. Taylor does a decent job talking about the creation of the movies and the biography of George Lucas, but he also alternates those chapters with others that highlight the impact Star Wars has had on our culture. So you get sections about the creation of the 501st Legion (i.e., cosplaying Stormtroopers), what it's like to take a lightsaber class, and a great piece on applying the five stages of grief to the prequels. Taylor presents a very compelling thesis that we all use Star Wars as a cultural touchstone, regardless of our opinion of the films.
There's a lot of smaller points I like about the book as well. The coverage of the media reaction to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back is first-rate (as many folk realize that the first movie was not just a one-off success). Taylor does a great job discussing Lucas's take on his creation, including the number of times the whole work is meant to refer to Vietnam. And there are compelling sections on the spin-offs, as the Expanded Universe comes into being, flourishes, and then disappears.
I have a few quibbles. Even now and then, I'd look for a reference for something in the endnotes and not find anything. Taylor also (at the beginning of the book) seems determined to correct the mistakes he feels others have made in covering Lucas's life. Finally (and this is no fault of Taylor's), I simply can't read the synopses of the drafts of Star Wars before the shooting version --- it's too hard for me to understand what's going on with different names and character permutations.
The book covers everything from the birth of the space fantasy serial (e.g. Flash Gordon) up to the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, so it should please any Star Wars fan. I'd give it a big recommendation for anyone interested in geek popular culture.
There's a lot of smaller points I like about the book as well. The coverage of the media reaction to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back is first-rate (as many folk realize that the first movie was not just a one-off success). Taylor does a great job discussing Lucas's take on his creation, including the number of times the whole work is meant to refer to Vietnam. And there are compelling sections on the spin-offs, as the Expanded Universe comes into being, flourishes, and then disappears.
I have a few quibbles. Even now and then, I'd look for a reference for something in the endnotes and not find anything. Taylor also (at the beginning of the book) seems determined to correct the mistakes he feels others have made in covering Lucas's life. Finally (and this is no fault of Taylor's), I simply can't read the synopses of the drafts of Star Wars before the shooting version --- it's too hard for me to understand what's going on with different names and character permutations.
The book covers everything from the birth of the space fantasy serial (e.g. Flash Gordon) up to the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, so it should please any Star Wars fan. I'd give it a big recommendation for anyone interested in geek popular culture.
This book is an absolute hoot. I had tried one of the new tie-in novels for the upcoming new Star Wars film, and it didn't grab me. This did. We trace the evolution of the Star Wars saga from the pits and pieces of influence that took hold of George Lucas, through the making of the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, interspersed with how the fans have taken the franchise and run with it. This book is loads of fun to read, and a great way to get you pumped for Episode VII!!
This was a wonderful book and I found it to be extremely interesting and entertaining. It's basically a history of the Star Wars franchise, from conception to its sale to Disney. I found the chapter detailing the many many early drafts for the original movie to be fascinating, but almost every aspect of this book held my interest.
A great behind the scenes look at Star Wars and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the franchise.
A great behind the scenes look at Star Wars and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the franchise.
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe was a tour de force in the history of Star Wars writing. There have been so many Star Wars books published in the history of the franchise, what makes this special you ask? Well, it just happens to be the newest, and the only one I've read, so that makes it special in my book.
Chris Taylor is the deputy editor of the technology and news website Mashable. His articles also regularly appear in Time, Business and Fortune. This clearly shows up in his writing, every one of the chapters reads like very interesting articles by themselves.
First we get to see what looks like Taylor's qualifications as a fan; his interactions with, among other things, the 501st Legion, monks in San Francisco who practise the Jedi way of life, the R2 Droid builders club, and a host of others (including Navajo peoples who saw Star Wars for the first time dubbed in the Navajo language called Dene). Taylor then looks at the early life of the self styled "Creator", George Lucas, in small town California; what might have influenced him growing up in the post WWII generation. Lucas's early films in college, his collaboration with Coppola and Spielberg, all of these are examined in an engaging sort of way. This is a nice road trip through Americana, and something I enjoyed reading.
Next, we get to see the making of Star Wars itself. The "sequels" obviously take up a bulk of the remaining screen time. Lucas's visions, his reading, his experimenting are examined. To be honest, and Taylor admits this in a later chapter, we quite don't know whom to believe here. Lucas and the company he built, LucasFilm, have built so many myths around the myth that is Star Wars, even a monumental, unbiased work like this one will have its work cut out for it. We will only know for sure once Lucas is long gone into history, and more records are declassified. Suffice it to say, there has been nothing quite like Star Wars in movie history. It changed everything. How we view science-fiction/fantasy in films, and special effects are just two of the things it had a colossal impact on. But merchandising, studio deals, ticketing policy, Vietnam, vocabulary, just about everything has been impacted. And whatever faults the "prequels" may have (I share the same philosophy as the author here, the prequels are here to stay, we should learn to live with them), they too revolutionized film making technology with digital shooting and CGI. Taylor rounds up everything with an examination of Disney's buying out of LucasFilm and what it might mean to the future. (You can already tell the book is old, the Episode VII trailer is out, and the conversation buzz has moved on).
At it's heart though, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe remains a human tale. Taylor has interviewed many, many people including Lucas's ex-producer, ex-director, ex-wife and ex-PR guy (and ex-actors). The long string of ex-es is understandable, the new people don't talk (including Lucas, although he is famous as an introvert), but that doesn't take away from the authenticity of this book one bit. It's examination of fandom, Star Wars long lasting gift to the world is extremely well examined.
You can tell this is a new style of writing books. It references YouTube videos, asks its readers to Google things, and talks about what fans said on online forums; even though it is pretty bulky, it reads like a breeze.
Star Wars has changed the world for good, and impacted many, many people deeply. Reading this book gives you a great insight into all of that. It is excellent reading, even if you have only watched Star Wars only once.
Chris Taylor is the deputy editor of the technology and news website Mashable. His articles also regularly appear in Time, Business and Fortune. This clearly shows up in his writing, every one of the chapters reads like very interesting articles by themselves.
First we get to see what looks like Taylor's qualifications as a fan; his interactions with, among other things, the 501st Legion, monks in San Francisco who practise the Jedi way of life, the R2 Droid builders club, and a host of others (including Navajo peoples who saw Star Wars for the first time dubbed in the Navajo language called Dene). Taylor then looks at the early life of the self styled "Creator", George Lucas, in small town California; what might have influenced him growing up in the post WWII generation. Lucas's early films in college, his collaboration with Coppola and Spielberg, all of these are examined in an engaging sort of way. This is a nice road trip through Americana, and something I enjoyed reading.
Next, we get to see the making of Star Wars itself. The "sequels" obviously take up a bulk of the remaining screen time. Lucas's visions, his reading, his experimenting are examined. To be honest, and Taylor admits this in a later chapter, we quite don't know whom to believe here. Lucas and the company he built, LucasFilm, have built so many myths around the myth that is Star Wars, even a monumental, unbiased work like this one will have its work cut out for it. We will only know for sure once Lucas is long gone into history, and more records are declassified. Suffice it to say, there has been nothing quite like Star Wars in movie history. It changed everything. How we view science-fiction/fantasy in films, and special effects are just two of the things it had a colossal impact on. But merchandising, studio deals, ticketing policy, Vietnam, vocabulary, just about everything has been impacted. And whatever faults the "prequels" may have (I share the same philosophy as the author here, the prequels are here to stay, we should learn to live with them), they too revolutionized film making technology with digital shooting and CGI. Taylor rounds up everything with an examination of Disney's buying out of LucasFilm and what it might mean to the future. (You can already tell the book is old, the Episode VII trailer is out, and the conversation buzz has moved on).
At it's heart though, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe remains a human tale. Taylor has interviewed many, many people including Lucas's ex-producer, ex-director, ex-wife and ex-PR guy (and ex-actors). The long string of ex-es is understandable, the new people don't talk (including Lucas, although he is famous as an introvert), but that doesn't take away from the authenticity of this book one bit. It's examination of fandom, Star Wars long lasting gift to the world is extremely well examined.
You can tell this is a new style of writing books. It references YouTube videos, asks its readers to Google things, and talks about what fans said on online forums; even though it is pretty bulky, it reads like a breeze.
Star Wars has changed the world for good, and impacted many, many people deeply. Reading this book gives you a great insight into all of that. It is excellent reading, even if you have only watched Star Wars only once.
informative
slow-paced