Title: SHIPS OF THE LINE
Editors: Doug Drexler and Margaret Clark
ISBN: 1416532439
Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 176
Reviewed By: Adam Donnison

SHIPS OF THE LINE celebrates 40 years of the Star Trek phenomenon by reprising the artwork from the popular Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars. Each page is a superb rendering of calendar art, accompanied by a short piece of text by Michael Okuda (The Star Trek Encyclopedia). Each chapter is introduced by a quotation from luminaries including Leonardo da Vinci and John F. Kennedy.

This book will please many Trekkies, with its themes, artwork and its history. Rather than the traditional bulky coffee-table sized book, SHIPS OF THE LINE will fit neatly next to your laptop, but it packs 87 full page images from the calendar series. The accompanying text serves to set each scene rather than explain or detail the image, which works on a number of levels.

Many Trekkies will be disappointed with the lack of technical details of each ship, however the artwork stands by itself. Surely a conversation starter at the very least.