With another God-awful post-Dune book due soon, it seems as if the blasphemers (who shall remain nameless) continue to cash in on Frank Herbert's legacy. And that's the fault of anyone who continues to buy them. It only feeds the greed.
And yet this tome, the only Dune book not written by Herbert yet endorsed by him, is out of print!
I got hooked on Dune many years ago as a teenager, right around the time Lynch's movie was coming out, and I remember flipping through the Dune Encyclopedia in a bookstore before I read the books. Something in its near-scientific comprehensiveness, it's meticulous faith to the Herbert's vision really mezmerized me.
When I finally got around to reading the first three Dune novels, I went right to that store and picked up my copy of Dune Encyclopedia. My thirst to know more about Herbert's universe was insatiable. How did the Sardaukar develop into the most fearsome tool of Corrino power? What are the other worlds of the Imperium like? How was the Guild founded? Here I found a wealth of information that made Dune much more complete and inspiring.
What's more astonishing is that the contributers are faithful Dune-thinkers. Yes this is a work of fiction, but the articles are written in the style and manner of scholarly works. In a way, this style also serves as it's own contribution to the original Dune saga: that regardless of the legendary feats of the great, the historian always has the final word.
Dune Encyclopedia is an incredible, valuable companion to Herbert's work. Find a copy and keep it safe. I still have mine, which I read regularly, with its well-worn pages and torn cover that I've mended with packing tape several times.
[If you're the publisher, please reprint it, and try to prevent another post-Dune abomination from being published while you're at it. Thanks.]