Indiana Jones The Ultimate Guide

Indiana Jones, The Ultimate Guide (UK / US) is a book which follows the same formula as Star Wars The Ultimate Visual Guide Special Edition and that's no bad thing. Like all the DK books of this ilk it's big, hardback, slick and full of pictures. There's also a good chunk of text to read too.

Like the Star War book it reads in chronological order, this time along the life of Indiana Jones, from as small child to his latest adventure. There's a double page spread of the whole time-line mapped out, from 1872 up until 1952, and filling in all the gaps between the films.

There a big sections on each of the four films, with stills and descriptions and background snippets, including hand drawn cross sections of the Temple Of Doom, the Lost City Of Tanis, the church in the Piazza San Marco, the resting place of The Holy Grail etc.

Also, surprisingly, there are plenty of frames from Indiana Jones comics, including some of the film adaptations that I remember from my old Star Wars comics, and some adventures I didn't recognise.

Finally at the rear of the book is the "making of" section, including insights into the writing design and special effects. Oh, and groovy photo of Spielberg, Ford and Lucas (George looks the coolest!). And of course a look at merchandising, comics and video games, with screenshots that include the Atari 2600 game...nostalgia.

Finally the whole book finishes with a real-world time-line of the creation of Indiana Jones, starting with George Lucas scribbling ideas during the writing of Star Wars, up to the release of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

One word of warning if you're buying it for kids there's not only a still of a melting nazi (in the SFX section) but also some pictures from a comic story which shows Nazi Zombies in a decomposed state, so you might want to check out whether you think it's suitable.

All in all, another slick book from DK to keep on your coffee table and flick through. It's probably of more interest to the casual Indiana Jones fan, as hardcore fans may well know it all, although they may appreciate the presentation and large photos.