The Completely Useless Encyclopedia:

by Chris Howarth, Steve Lyons

Book by Howarth, Chris, Lyons, Steve

Genres: Doctor Who, Nonfiction, Humor, Reference

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 1997

About the author

Chris Howarth was a writer for Doctor Who Magazine.

Howarth co-wrote The Completely Useless Encyclopedia with Steve Lyons in 1997. Howarth and Lyons updated the book in 2006 as The Completely Unofficial Encyclopedia.

Reviews

[Jazza1971 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing in its way, but some of the humour is rather dated. The crass frequent comments about breasts (Peri's in particular) comes across as being rather laddish and shows how far sexual equality has moved on in the past 25 years.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit dated by its era of release, and its jokes occasionally fall flat. But when they DON'T...they're bloody hilarious. Doctor Who fans have always been able to laugh with -- and at -- themselves. At its best, this book is a pefect example of how it should be done...and why it can be so enjoyable. :)

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny pastiche of television reference books. The author's have a great love of arcane Who knowledge which is then mined for comic effect. Out of print, and of it's time (published in 1996) but interesting to read then (for big laughs) and now (for a marker of the opinions of the fans at that TV Movie time, before the big comeback). Track it down...

[Jeff Szpirglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what it says that this is among the most well-thumbed of my DW collection, but there you have it. Probably because it features a TOM-TIT joke.

[Nicholas Kaufmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic DOCTOR WHO fans' required bathroom reading.

[Richie The Collector · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read in 2016 (20 years after the first reading...)