Star Trek Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library Hardcover – Box set, December 3, 2013

After some discussion with Stellar Cartography's author, Larry Nemecek, which you can see below in the comments section of this review, I have decided to amend this review with a small qualification: Stellar Cartography is a well-produced resource that aligns neatly with the commonly-accepted canon. It does not try to introduce any new information or expand the Star Trek setting, which I found disappointing. My negative reaction to this book is largely due to disappointment at what I see as a massive amount of wasted potential. Stellar Cartography could have been an amazing, transformative resource. It could have helped recontextualize and redefine our collective understanding of the Star Trek setting. It could have been so very much more than what it ultimately is.So long as you go into Stellar Cartography understanding both what it is and what it is not, I think you'll more likely be pleased than not. But going forward, I would greatly appreciate it if further attempts to expand the Star Trek setting go *beyond* simply rearticulating information we already have bountiful access to via Memory Alpha and other like resources.Original review follows:---Stellar Cartography is a hard book to review because it really, really is a love-letter to Star Trek fans. The production values alone would bump up the worth of this book in any consumer's mind. Unfortunately, the actual content is very much a mixed bag. I'll try and be as clear and succinct with this review as possible, but be warned that specific details regarding this product are a bit difficult to articulate as it is more a work of visual art than literary art.....[ What's Awesome ]The "book" is packaged in a large box with reflective-foil type and a beuatiful illustration of the Enterprise 1701-D flying over what looks like an old "textured" globe from the 1960s; the background is composed of a green nebula that forms a shape reminiscent of the Romulan Star Empire's emblem, dotted with small planets. The box is made of high quality cardboard and held shut with a "flap" with a magnet.When you open the book, two panels fly outward, revealing a "frame" for the hardcover book flanked on either side by folders, each containing five enormous poster-sized maps. The maps are big, and mostly beautiful to behold.The book contains various reproductions of the maps depicted in the 10 large posters, with along with some explanatory text. The paper is thick and glossy, and the book has approximately 48 pages.[ What's Not Awesome ]Many of the maps look very similar to each other, and many of them are "alien" -- that is to say, they have no legible writing anywhere, displaying instead imaginary Klingon, Romulan, or Vulcan script.The composition of the maps also leaves a lot to be desired--so much so that I found their arrangement to be irritating, at best. In an effort to shoehorn as much of the geographic content from the franchise into a single, cohesive map of the setting (something anyone devoted Trek fan can tell you, immediately, is an impossible task) the maps feature all manner of inane, implausible features. To list a few:-All of the major governments are located extremely close to Earth, the result being that the major homeworlds--Qo'noS, Romulus, Cardassia, etc.--are pressed up against the Federation border. In order to accommodate some of DS9's silliness, Cardassia and Bajor are depicted as being around 2 light years distant--which, if true, would have made Cardassia THE most vulnerable world in the Cardassian Union and the resolution of the Dominion War a much simpler proposition than it was depicted in the series.-The scale is also wonky. The Federation is depicted as covering a super-massive area of space. That's fine--we know they're supposed to have over 1000 planets composed of over 100 species.But what's not fine is that all the other species--particularly the Cardassians and Romulans, who pose such enormous threats to the Federation--are depicted as having such miniscule territories. The Romulans and Cardassians are depicted with scarcely more than a dozen systems each.-the Sarek-era map of Vulcan is by far the most visually unique (and appealing) map, but it's also the least credulous. It's a very "stylized" depiction of the Vulcan solar system that makes it seem like the Vulcans of Sarek's time would have had only the crudest understanding of their local system, when in fact they would have had warp drive and interplanetary travel for some time by then.-There are too few systems, period. There are hundreds of Goldilocks-zone (potentially Earth-like) planets within 60 light years of us right now, so it's strange to see these vast interstellar states spanning hundreds of light years contain so few claimed systems. I guess we can assume that only the MAJOR population centers are mapped here, but if that's the case, there should still have been some indicator of systems that were claimed/settled, but not major--like little stars with colored circles around them or icons, or something like that.-The written content in the book is exceedingly sparse and provides zero insight into the setting. It's double-spaced, so it's there's even less per page than you'd expect. What's worse, the content takes the profoundly stupid plot of J.J.Abrams' 2009 Star Trek as gospel writ, with multiple references to Romulus being destroyed by a magic (ulgh) supernova. Sure, this is a much more subjective thing, but in my opinion J.J.'s s***e should be kept out of the "prime universe" stuff as much as possible. Even acknowledging that garbage is a slap in the face.Another issue is a map of the various exploratory voyages from the series, which (as you'd expect) completely fails due to trying to reconcile so many contradictory things. The dotted lines showing one Enterprise making a tiny little five-year mission in a narrow arc along the frontier of known space was laughable next to a giant-ass straight line depicting another Enterprise' voyages to the galactic core and rim, respectively, in even less time. Yikes.The simple fact of the matter is that no one can create a single cohesive continuity out of Star Trek, due in no small part to the fact that for much of its history the producers of Star Trek were actively AGAINST the very notion of continuity in the first place. If a book like this is to be written, it needs to be prepared to play with the setting a little to make it cohere. You can't just toss everything in and hope it all lines up--it won't.[ What Could Have Been ]The real kicker here is just how much wasted potential there is in Stellar Cartography. Basically, the maps fail to elaborate (at all) on the setting. There was so much potential here!All of the maps are drawn from the same top-down perspective--why no lateral view of the galactic disc demonstrating the "vertical" height of the individual territories?Why only political maps? Some population density maps would have been cool, or subspace maps (we know, for example, that subspace has its own "geography" that determines how easily ships can go to warp--this could go a long way to explaining various incongruities, like the ease of travel between Bajor and Cardassia, for example). Any why not a map of population density--or the density of habitable worlds?Or maps of local space at various times in the Federation's history? The "local space" of the ENT-era was very different from the TOS-era, which would be different from the TNG era--so much potential here. And then there's other stuff: why not "Vertical slice" maps that show the political entities and their approximate location encountered by the USS Voyager? Or the route of the Romulan exodus from Vulcan showing where they went, and where they split off to found other states?And why no map of the gamma quadrant? We know nothing about it, but presumably it would have been mapped a little bit--as there were several colonies and trade agreements established prior the the Dominion War--not to mention the fact that a map of the Dominion itself would have been AWESOME.....Ultimately, Stellar Cartography ought to have made the Star Trek setting feel BIG. The shows may deal only with a small section of the galaxy, but even that small section of the galaxy is HUGE. Yet this book produces the opposite effect: it makes the galaxy feel oppressively small. The territory of the Federation is depicted as too big, too spindly and too thinly-stretched to be even remotely defensible, and the territories of most of the Federation's foes (everyone sans Klingons) so small in comparison that they don't make credible threats--particularly with their homeworlds pressed up so close to Earth itself. Yikes.Overall, in spite of the fantastic production values, this book is a major disappointment. Stellar Cartography does not have much content, and what's there is very much a mixed-bag--and what's not there is a conspicuous in its absence. Honestly, I was very disappointed in this product, and if not for the fact that I got it at a discounted price or the fact that the artistic quality of some of the poster-maps is very good, I would probably have returned it within an hour of first cracking it open.5/5 for production value.3/5 for map quality.1/5 for content.

OMG. I am so exited I can hardly sit straight. I finally received my copy of Star Trek Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library" and I feel obligated to share my thoughts about it with everyone. As I am from Estonia English is not my native language, so I am apologizing in advance for spelling errors and general clumsiness of my review. WARNING!!! Following text contains some spoilers.Clamshell: Seems durable and probably can withstand the test of time.Booklet about maps: Offers succinct yet good overview about maps. Basic facts about regions of space and great powers of our Galaxy are all concentrated in one place.Maps (and corresponding section in booklet):1. Known space in the year 2386 - Work of art that is known to every Federation citizen. First clue (about supernova that destroyed Romulus) that relaunch of Star Trek franchise in 2009 with 11th motion picture and subsequent alteration of timeline in the year 2233 kept the original timeline intact.2. Alpha Quadrant in the year 2386 - there are some additions to map like location of star base 375. I also noticed something funny. SECTOR (GRID) SIZE APPEARS TO BE 15 NOT 20 LIGHTYEARS ACROSS.(Sorry for yelling). Measuring the map and comparing results with known distances (Sol from Kronos and Sol from Berengaria) revealed that this is not a typo. Sector size in maps 2 and 3 are in fact really 15 light years.3. Beta Quadrant in the year 2386 - We can see Bassen rift ("Star Trek: Nemesis") that is missing from old maps, also there are star base 39 and some planets from former Delphic Expanse.4. Cardassian Union in the year 2364 - Cardassian propaganda. I have no further comments.5. The Vulcan System in the 4th century - Work of art from period of Vulcan's bloody civil war. Also there are clues about the fact that people are in year 2386 completely oblivious about the alternate timeline.6. Imperial Klingon Empire in the year 2366 - "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." Same is true about that map. In booklet there is also a smaller version that is translated to English.7. Romulan Star Empire in the year 2366 -Romulan propaganda in the form of masterfully painted map, that illustrates bitterness of losing war against Earth in the middle of 22nd century. Infamous Tomed Incident is mentioned, but still there is no more information about it.8. The Romulan War in the year 2162 - Information about all three major engagements of this war.9. The Dominion War in the year 2379 - Major battles and yes AR-558 is finally in its right place. GRID (SECTOR) SIZE IS BACK TO 20 LIGHTYEARS IN MAPS 9 AND 10. I am baffled. I can see no reasonable explanation for this. Authors of this reference library have lots of explaining to do.10. Federation Historical Highlights in the year 2386 - Finally, location of Delphic Expanse and confusion about its size is cleared. According new maps Delphic Expanse is located in Beta Quadrant halfway between Sol and Klingon Empire.Omissions and errors: There are some typos in booklet, but not many. For example name of the asteroid Ceres in misspelt.Durability: Map are printed on relatively thick paper. But is this enough for heavy users? Probably not. I imagine that maps could not be laminated because they must be folded together. Solution would be to frame maps, by doing so you could also decorate several rooms in your home.What you won't find in this collection: Route of Voyager" is displayed - briefly. You still need something like Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek", if you want the complete collection of maps of our Galaxy. I also hoped that there would be previously unknown planets from book series "Star Trek: The Fall" but no. Apparently this reference library is limited to TV-series and movies only. Events, like the third Borg invasion are not mentioned.In conclusion: this reference library is an absolute must for every trekkie and if you are already on this webpage you should definitely buy it.

Super quality Product at a Reasonable Price. Highly Recommended.

It a very good buy for Star Trek Stellar Cartography book.

Very good book for a Star Trek fan very happy

can't go wrong with this amazing set of maps. beautiful artwork, beautifully presented, huge volume, an amazing display piece and collectible.

Love it