ALT.SF4M

  2 SF encyclopedias

   • m*******e@a****.***u.edu
     06/09/1996 00:00:000 UTC

     I have obtained a copy of The Encyclopedia of Science FIction by John
     Clute

     and Peter Nicholls. This doesn't have much in the way of pictures, but
     it is

     a good reference on SF. This is probably the book people here
     recommended to

     me (thanks).

     Not to be confused with this is the lame, crappy, superficial SF: The

     Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute, which is surprisingly bad given
     the

     quality of the other book. They seem to have eliminated 99% of the text
     to

     make room for the pictures. What bothers me about the Babylon 5 entry is
     not

     that it is insulting but that it indicates a serious lack of research
     effort

     on the part of the author. One might reasonably expect that an entry on
     a

     television show in an SF reference would contain some description of
     what the

     show was about rather than merely naming the creator and making an
     insulting

     (and incorrect) implication that the show was ripped off from another
     show.

     Flipping through the book in Barnes & Noble shows that many entries are

     excessively brief. This is not an encyclopedia; it is a coffee table
     book of

     SF art, and should be labelled as such.

     --- Brian "Windows sucks" McGuinness

     Netscape also sucks -- it crashes all the time. If you want speedy
     response

     and don't care about cutesy pictures, use Lynx.

       • **@***.com
         06/09/1996 00:00:000 UTC

         Brian McGuinness (m*******e@a****.***u.edu) wrote:

         :

         : I have obtained a copy of The Encyclopedia of Science FIction by
         John Clute

         : and Peter Nicholls. This doesn't have much in the way of pictures,
         but it is

         : a good reference on SF. This is probably the book people here
         recommended to

         : me (thanks).

         Note that the curresnt paperback has corrections the hardcover

         lacked(that's why I have both).Not sure what revisions the CD-ROM

         has.

         : --- Brian "Windows sucks" McGuinness

         :

         : Netscape also sucks -- it crashes all the time. If you want speedy
         response

         : and don't care about cutesy pictures, use Lynx.

         Got 2.6 yet??I'm looking for a FreeBSD port.

         http://www.wfbr.edu/dir/lynx if you don't need that.