Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Dune Encyclopedia” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Dune Encyclopedia

(Dune)

Willis Everett McNelly (Editor)

4.10 · Rating details · 4,086 ratings · 57 reviews

Eight years in the making, the work of painstakung scholarship and research, containing thousands of entries and cross-references...

Futurist, journalist, bestselling author, world-maker Frank Herbert's magnificent future history, The Dune Chronicles, has proven itself the most popular and enduring work of speculative fiction of our age—not only for the grandeur of its epic ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 526 pages

Published June 1st 1984 by Berkley

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Dune Encyclopedia, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Classics of Frank Herbert

38 books — 55 voters

Complete Works by and related to Frank (not Brian) Herbert

45 books — 8 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.10 ·

Rating details

· 4,086 ratings · 57 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Dune Encyclopedia

May 28, 2008 Terence rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Dune purists (i.e., fans of Frank not Brian Herbert)

Shelves: sf-fantasy, reference-works

Fortunately, this work was compiled before Brian Herbert began that truly awful continuation of his father's masterpiece (overall, there were some pretty weak entries in Herbert pere's oeuvre, let's be honest).

It pretends to be a collection of select finds from the Rakis Hoard, discovered 2 millennia after Leto II's death, and there's a wealth of fascinating material that brings a richness and depth to the Corrino and Atreides Imperia. For example, there are biographical entries for all of the m ...more

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Oct 31, 2016 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a fascinating addition to the original Dune series - (it was published long before the additional volumes were even thought about). As such its entries really only cover those books from Frank Herbert (Okay I know that the later books are taken from notes and ideas discovered years after his death but we can argue over those all night).

The book is presented like a true encyclopaedia which does mean at times it gets a little dry but once you start the usual hop-scotching through the vario ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2021 Terry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, space-opera, this-may-take-awhile

4 - 4.5 stars

This book makes me both happy and sad. Happy because it is a truly excellent resource for the world of Dune which is itself, in my mind at least, a seminal work in the science fiction genre; sad because not only is this considered non-canon, but it throws into sharp relief the utter turpitude of the works that have instead become canon for this world: namely the crapulous products extruded by Herbert’s son and his accomplice Kevin Anderson in the never-ending string of sequels and p 4 - 4.5 stars

This book makes me both happy and sad. Happy because it is a truly excellent resource for the world of Dune which is itself, in my mind at least, a seminal work in the science fiction genre; sad because not only is this considered non-canon, but it throws into sharp relief the utter turpitude of the works that have instead become canon for this world: namely the crapulous products extruded by Herbert’s son and his accomplice Kevin Anderson in the never-ending string of sequels and prequels that clog the bookstore shelves. So be warned, you know where I stand and what axe I have to grind when I look at this book.

Presented as the product of scholars from within the fictional world of Dune itself millenia after the fall of Leto II and his ‘Golden Path’ for humanity, the varied entries present the reader with an informative and entertaining expansion of the universe as initially set up by Herbert père. In many ways this could be seen as a loving work of fan-fiction as compiled by a troupe of ardent admirers, though that makes the work sound like much less than I think it is. Whether it’s in the creation of figures like Harq al-Harba (the mysterious and much lauded ‘Shakespeare’ of the Atreides imperium), the explication of the history (or histories) and development of the Bene Gesserit Order, or the scientific explanation of the ubiquitous holtzman effect, a scientific discovery that ultimately made the imperium possible, this book is a fascinating and entertaining experience.

The encyclopedia is very much more than the sum of its parts and is not so much (or only) an explication of the canonical people, places, and events of Herbert’s Dune universe as it is a creative imagining of the various nooks, crannies, and corners of that universe as envisioned by people that were enamoured of it and who used the information they had available, as well as their own creative impulses, to create something remarkable. As we read the words attributed to fictional scholars from the very universe they are investigating we are presented with a uniquely thought-provoking amalgamation of fiction and nonfiction. It is a reference work that is also a story in its own right. I like to imagine that this is perhaps one of the many universes that Mua’Dib himself saw in one of his spice dreams even if it is not officially canon (though at the time of its publication it did receive the implicit approval of Frank Herbert). Indeed, it seems to me that it paints a far more interesting picture (and one I think more true to both the spirit and the letter of Frank Herbert’s original series) than anything currently stamped with the Herbert estate seal of approval.

One interesting element of the book is the fact that some of the entries seem to contradict each other (though usually only in small points or in off-handed ways) and I was a little bit thrown by this at first when I detected an apparent ‘error’ until I realized how much it added to the verisimilitude of the work overall and granted to its conceit of authorship (namely that that it was written by different scholars based primarily on newly unearthed material from the ‘Rakis Horde’ discovered millenia after the hey-day of Mua’dib and his jihad) a very deft mark of authenticity. I’d have to say that I now think of it as a feature, not a bug.

I was also intrigued by the way in which the encyclopedia points out the ambivalence inherent in the central heroes of Herbert’s series. It would seem a truism to a reader of these books that the Harkonnens are simply evil while the Atreides represent all that is just and good: a voice of resistance against the unjust forces arrayed against them, both noble and imperial. But we see through this book, and its supposed authors of post-Atreides scholars, an ultimate sense of ambivalence towards the Atreides’ place in human history. The book seems to go out of its way, through the supposed collective voice of subsequent scholars, to show how ultimately destructive were the Atreides, the supposed heroes of the story, not only to the human ecumene in general, but especially to the Fremen, for whom they were supposed to be literal saviours. In the end Leto II’s harsh path for humanity may have been necessary (though only to break them out of the trap his father had apparently put them in), but I’m not sure if it can be argued that in the end the Atreides did anything other than destroy the Fremen at the same time as they fulfilled their hopes…a powerful message in itself: be careful what you wish for, especially if it is a saviour. The Atreides may have been necessary for the ultimate survival of humanity in their universe, but if so they were perhaps a necessary evil.

A great and immersive read that I'd recommend to any fans of the original series (and yes, I'm one of the weird ones that actually likes all six of the original books). ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 05, 2015 Marlene Waldron rated it it was amazing

I hunted for this book for years and ended up just giving up ever reading it. Then one day, at a yard sale, I found it wedged between 2 Danielle Steel pieces of crap. I grabbed it and it was like pulling Excalibur from the stone, it shone in the light as I lifted it up above my head and laughed. It was in great condition and looked like it had never been opened in its 30 years. Secretly I smiled as I went to the owner with my precious and other items when she said, "Oh, just take whatever books ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2007 Teggan rated it it was amazing

Yes I am a big enough dork to give the Dune Encyclopedia a fifth star. This is also the only book that I've ever stolen in my life. I stole it from my high school library. This is still the only thing that I've done that I feel deeply ashamed of. I know that I’m not a terribly good person so I believe that means that I have one seriously screwed up conscience. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2012 M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, anthology

I just love this book. The entries are fascinating and far better than the tripe that Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson wrote to "add" to the Dune universe. As far as I am concerned, this and the 6 Dune books by Frank are the only Dune canon. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2013 Phillip Lozano rated it really liked it

Fun and mostly rewarding set of articles, stories and extrapolations based on Frank Herbert's first four (five?) 'Dune' novels. This really needs a reprint, as it completely blows away anything that Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have crapped out in the guise of prequels and sequels in intelligence, imagination, skill and taste. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2014 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, society-and-culture, philosophy, 5-stars, science, politics, science-fiction, metafiction, economics, linguistics

This is probably the nerdiest book I've ever reviewed for Goodreads, despite all the RPG books I've reviewed since I started using this website.

The Dune Encyclopedia is, as the name might imply, a chronicle of the events, places, people, and things in the Dune series, from Dune through to God Emperor of Dune, the latest novel in the series at the point it was published, though Heretics of Dune came out later that same year. That would make it interesting enough for someone who loves world-buildi ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Simon Mcleish rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in March 1999.

If you look at the back cover, The Dune Encyclopedia may seem to have been the ultimate accessory for the fan of Frank Herbert's Dune series. What is written there makes it sound as though it contains systematically ordered material from the archive of Herbert's own background notes to the series. It lists specific items, which are mostly exaggerated descriptions of articles in the encyclopedia itself ("complete guide to the art of kanly", for e Originally published on my blog here in March 1999.

If you look at the back cover, The Dune Encyclopedia may seem to have been the ultimate accessory for the fan of Frank Herbert's Dune series. What is written there makes it sound as though it contains systematically ordered material from the archive of Herbert's own background notes to the series. It lists specific items, which are mostly exaggerated descriptions of articles in the encyclopedia itself ("complete guide to the art of kanly", for example, just means a description of a few of the more common methods of assassination). It is endorsed by Herbert, so it can nevertheless, so it can lay some claim to being authoritative. (He explicitly reserves the right to change the ideas in any later books written in the series, and certainly did so: both Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune contradict the Encyclopedia.)

The Encyclopedia is not, however, a systematic collection of Herbert's background materials. I am sure that these existed (given the complexity of Herbert's imagined setting for these novels), and they may well have been used to produce much of the material here. The individual articles vary wildly in interest (the one on the geology of Arrakis is particularly yawn inducing) and quality. There is little consistency in coverage; for example, the biographical studies of the major characters are too variable in type and depth to be permitted in a real encyclopedia (which this pretends to be; it uses the conceit that it is a reference work of the far future). The one to avoid is the account of Jessica, mother of Paul Atreides, as the fulfilment of each of Jung's list of human archetypes - male as well as female - and particularly what it has to say about the archetype of "Mother".

Characters are invented for no apparent reason - a playwright, who is basically Shakespeare, right down to the details of the authorship controversy, for example. Some of the articles are distinctly ill advised - whoever wrote the Imperial Poetry account and included quotations from the best poetry of the period must have a very high opinion of their own writing.

There are interesting articles among them; these are mainly the ones to do with people from before the date of the first book, such as the early emperors, the founders of the Spacing Guild and so on.

The conclusion is that this book could certainly have done with a firmer editorial hand. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 D.A. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

After many years of reading and re-reading the Dune series (through God Emperor) I've concluded this: the Dune Encyclopedia is the best reason to have read these novels which, while variously awesome, excellent, and interesting, are never quite as magnificent and fun as this. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2012 Mike rated it really liked it

Not canon, but interesting as all get out. Works best if the reader "picks and chooses" what they consider canon out of it. Some of the entries you'll like, others you'll think "that's not how I picture the universe working." ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 06, 2017 Lois rated it really liked it

Shelves: space-opera, books-i-read-in-2017, sci-fi, books-i-own-digital-copy

Interesting and detailed. I quite enjoyed this.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 16, 2019 Chris Musselman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The reviews by Terence, Andrew and Teggan say much better than I can how great the Dune Encylopedia is. There are some factual errors that unfortunately have gained traction, and were perpetuated by Brian Herbert. [Simon's premise is wrong. The DE is obviously fan fiction, not a collection of Frank Herbert's notes and compiled into a 'source document.'] I also like that T, A and T recognize Brian Herbert's prequels and sequels as tripe. I would go further and say they are a betrayal of his fathe ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 22, 2008 Ericthehamster added it · review of another edition

"A must for every Dune fanatic. Some great speculative back story for the Dune Universe. I was disappointed Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson didn't follow it more closely in their ""preludes"" to Dune. " ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 01, 2012 Tim Clouse rated it it was amazing

Wonderful background material that is consistent with Herbert's work. Brian Herbert's failure to use it is an tremendous blunder.

Glad I have kept it all these years. Looks to be a collector's item. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2007 Jennifer Lizcano rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Yeah you WISH you had a copy. Bwahahahaaa! My most prized book in my collection! Just try to find a hardcover copy, I dare you!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2008 Mason rated it liked it

The information was written (and it is most certainly not canonical) before God Emperor was complete. I liked it well enough, but its rarity makes it worth owning.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2011 fourtriplezed rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

One for the purists and good fun.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2020 Brian Cary rated it it was amazing

Like many have said, it preceeds the books by Brian Herbert and thus an argument about "is this cannon or are Brian Herbert's stories cannon?" begins with a desire to declare some sort of supremacy. Honestly it is a matter of what you are looking for in a story.
What this encyclopedia does is make the world of Dune come alive by giving us an understanding of Frank Herbert's universe. His son can write stories about the universe of Dune, but this Encyclopedia fills in all the little minute detail ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 05, 2019 McKenzie rated it it was amazing

Worth it if only for the list of Duncans, but contains so much more beside...

This material *could* have been the grounding for an epic continuation of the original books, but, instead, The Ungrateful Son and The Hack chose to make an ersatz, McDonald's version with water worms and ultraspice and stupid (*literally* stupid, as in unable-to-detect-blatant-clues) characters and Star Wars robots. ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 01, 2018 E.B. Brooks rated it really liked it

I remember checking this out at the library many, MANY times in my childhood. I probably read it as often as I read the Dune Chronicles!

flag Like · see review

Dec 22, 2019 Lori Upman added it

OMG. That is all I have to say.

flag Like · see review

Jan 12, 2021 jody smith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a fun compendium to go with the dune Chronicles.

flag Like · see review

Jan 13, 2021 श्रेया (Shreya) rated it it was amazing

Intense.

flag Like · see review

Oct 28, 2021 Lloyd elsalmon rated it really liked it

Shelves: dune-sci-fi

The Complete Authorized Guide and Companion to Frank Herbert's Masterpieces Only.
...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 18, 2019 Kristina rated it it was amazing

little confused but need of time is I should say something about this book. No doubt it is not a master peice but rather than an enjoyable topic-oriented book. Love the plot and the rest.

flag Like · see review

Aug 09, 2019 Caguto rated it it was amazing

The book is totally cool.

flag Like · see review

Sep 23, 2014 Eli Bishop rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-sff, nonfiction-general

This is the greatest fan project ever, and it's too bad it's so hard to find in book form(*). If you like Frank Herbert more than a little bit, read it. It's not the kind of thing to read straight through; just start somewhere and wander around.

I can't imagine a better fit of form and subject. Dune was a not-actually-all-that-complicated fantasy-adventure story made unique by tons of atmosphere and a million little sketch lines of allusive background, giving the illusion that Herbert had act This is the greatest fan project ever, and it's too bad it's so hard to find in book form(*). If you like Frank Herbert more than a little bit, read it. It's not the kind of thing to read straight through; just start somewhere and wander around.

I can't imagine a better fit of form and subject. Dune was a not-actually-all-that-complicated fantasy-adventure story made unique by tons of atmosphere and a million little sketch lines of allusive background, giving the illusion that Herbert had actually written 20,000 years of future history. The Dune Encyclopedia turns this around and fills so much of the backstory that the plot of Dune almost disappears (or, in some cases, is contradicted: the encyclopedia is supposed to have been written thousands of years later, and they can't agree on what happened), and adds even more tons of atmosphere with a perfect imitation of Herbert's faux-scholarly epigrams. Some of it is just geeky world-polishing, and some of it is really narrative fiction in a different form (and some of it is both: the story of I.V. Holtzmann is a pretty good story, and the article on the Holtzmann Effect is such good fake science that I'm desperate for those things to be invented in just that way). There are several dozen contributors, and the fictional authors of the encyclopedia articles have unique voices too.

Besides being pretty faithful in its prose style, the encyclopedia also preserves a good sense of the feeling of Herbert's universe, which I would describe as textured, dry, savory, and kind of unpleasant. Nothing's shiny, not even in the so-grungy-it's-shiny mode. You wouldn't want to live there, but you'd really love to visit.

There's much too much of everything, and that's as it should be. Something I love about Dune is that as much as it plays up the Muad'Dib story as the biggest thing that's ever happened, it still (especially in the second and third books, which I like a lot more than most people do) acknowledges that none of these people really have any ultimate perspective, even if they live 3500 years; and that even though the people matter a lot to each other, eventually all their dreams and schemes will be misremembered, embellished or buried in trivia.

(* You can also probably find it online if you search for the title. It looks like the online version was scanned and then run through OCR with no editing, so it has some amusing typos of the kind you get with OCR. My favorites are in the entry on "House of Harkonnen": one guy was "murdered by his wife... when be left her for one of his male stoves", and another was "kilted by gladiators".) ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 09, 2018 Todd rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

This was published fairly soon after "God Emperor of Dune", and as such only covers the first four core Dune books. It's utility waned when "Heretics of Dune" and "Chapterhouse of Dune" were published..., and officially became non-canon once Brian Herbert started spamming the sci-fi world with seemingly infinite amounts of "Dune Lite" material.

As such, this book is now a bit of an anachronism, and perhaps best read/consulted as an after diner snack after feasting on the main course of the first ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 27, 2015 Augusto Delgado rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Dune heads

Shelves: classic-sf

Unfortunately this masterpiece was compiled before Frank Herbert published his last two books of the series: Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse.

Perhaps the additional body of knowledge would've grown exponentially for the Editors to include and summarise the new entries in this single tome, making it worthwhile to expand it to a second volume.
But, alas, Franks's greedy son and his sidekick entered stage right and blocked everything to fit the ulterior narrative within their fanfic "canon".

Anywa ...more

flag Like · see review

« previous 1 2 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Science Fiction

87 users

Fiction

26 users

Reference

22 users

Fantasy

12 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

6 users

Space > Space Opera

3 users

Speculative Fiction

3 users

Classics

2 users

See top shelves…

About Willis Everett McNelly

Willis Everett McNelly

9 followers

Willis Everett McNelly was a professor and writer best known for The Dune Encyclopedia, the 1984 companion to Frank Herbert's classic Dune series of science fiction novels.

The son of an avid science fiction reader of the same name, McNelly grew up immersed in science fiction, which he later preferred to call "speculative fiction". Securing a doctorate in English literature from Northwestern Univer ...more

Other books in the series

Dune (8 books)

Books by Willis Everett McNelly

Der Wüstenplanet 2. Autorisierter Führer. Die Dune-Enzyklopädie

Above the Human Landscape: A Social Science Fiction Anthology

Ray Bradbury (Writers of the 21st Century)

More…

48 Reader Recommendations for Perfect Autumn Books

For those of us north of the equator, it's time for chilly days, long nights, and plenty of time to cozy up with a new book–or book...

Trivia About The Dune Encyclop...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Dune Encyclop...

“Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, `I am not the kind of person I want to be.' It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.” — 2 likes

More quotes…