Like many, I am not a huge Star Wars geek. I've seen (and own) all of the films, but couldn't tell you half of the characters names, or get into a deep, nerdy converstation about them. However, I want to learn, so I picked this book up (after giving it a quick thumb through) assuming that it would be a Star Wars encyclopedia of sorts.
Well it is. Sort of.
While it covers many, many aspects of the Star Wars universe, it seems geared towards those hardcore fans that already know the basic stuff. Have you ever seen those foreign language audio courses, that have a "Step 1", then a "Step 2", "Step 3", and so on? Well, this book would be "Step 2" in the Star Wars learning course. I highly recommend picking up the "Complete Visual Dictionary" (which I have also reviewed), as it examines the more basic things Star Wars, such as the characters, weapons, and so forth. This book, while very thorough and informing, covers some of the deeper stuff, like conficts between galaxies, emotions, stuff like that.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book, but only if you are either already a major Star Wars geek, or if you buy it along with the "Visual Dictionary".