Star Trek 101 is an excellent reference book for star trek fans or those that are intersted in star trek. It includes a brief overview of series episode (including the animated series which is considered by many to not be canon), descriptions and key points of each movie (except star trek 2009), and the key characters in each series. For fans that have questions such as: exactly what episode did kirk say scotty beam me up?, what is subspace, exactly?, and why do the comand uniforms in TNG have red on them instead of yellow, the book gives brief answers some serious, others obviously intended as a joke.

Star Trek 101 for all it's good points is lacking in a few areas. For the star trek fan that is interested in a detailed look at the star trek universe, they would be better suited finding another book. While breif episodes descriptions are included, that is just what they are: breif! Characters that many fans are immensly familar with and very important to the show are given little to know spotlight and many of the characters that are included, have generic facts that a newbie star trek fan could tell you. In some cases the authors come across as having gotten their information from "research" rather than actually taking an interest in the star trek universe that they are writing about.

Why the four stars, then? Because for all of it's flaws this is a good book. I found out a few things that I didn't know. It's great when you are trying to reference a particular episode and the book is well organized with several excellent photos of the book. The book is well worth it's money, just don't pay to much!!