The Rough Guide to the Lord of the Rings: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Middle-Earth

By: Simpson, Paul

Book Overview

This guide to the Lord of the Rings provides an entertaining and informative insight into the books, the films and their creator, J.R.R. Tolkien. It serves as an introduction to those who have seen... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843532751
• ISBN13: 9781843532750
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.6" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Don't Let The Size of this Book Fool You

This book is an excellent source of information about both the books and the movies of Lord of the Rings, and contains a very large amount of information in spite of its small size. My only complaint about this book is a list of things in the book "that you might want to skip". It lists all of the long poems, such as "Earendil was a Mariner", "The Stone Troll" and such. If you're going to read the book, you might as well read the whole thing, and it is easy to motice that a poem is long without a list of the "long, boring poems". Aside from this, it is an excellent little book, with many illustrations (most from the movie).

No Lord of the Rings collection is complete without this book!

This guide includes everything anyone could ever possibly want to know about the Lord of the Rings. It has a summary of the books, movies, characters, creatures, plus behind the scenes regarding the books and movies. It is wonderful and fun to read!

Rough and ready

There's been a boom of "Lord of the Rings" reading in recent years, but there are still quite a few fans who haven't made it past Bree. For fans such as that, there's "The Rough Guide to Lord of the Rings," a little book full of "Lord of the Rings" facts, trivia, and basic outlines. After a series of movie stills, this extensive little guide plunges into the biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, studies of his family, his friendship with C.S. Lewis and the origins of his writings. The editors give detailed descriptions of each of Tolkien's novels, and authors (Stephen King, Ursula Le Guin, J.K. Rowling) who have been influenced by Tolkien. But they also break the rosy picture by including the comments about the books, ranging from obnoxious (Edward Wilson's blustering remarks about "juvenile balderdash") to adoring (W.H. Auden's "No fiction I have read in the last five years has given me more joy." I knew there was a reason I liked Auden). Then the editors turn their attention to the late 1990s, when New Zealand director Peter Jackson began turning the wheels of a big-screen "Lord of the Rings" production. There's a study of Ralph Bakshi's disastrous cartoon, a biography of the director, movie legend Christopher Lee, and well-known trivia like how the cast got tattoos, or that Jackson got rugby fans to do Uruk-hai chants. Even a few tidbits of more obscure trivia come through, like Ian McKellen being begged by a fan not to let Gandalf wear "pointy boots." But this isn't a movie guide: There are plenty of books that detail the movies. And so the editors switch tracks to include character bios, a humorous "travel guide" to Middle Earth, as well as one to New Zealand's "Rings" landmarks. Finally, there's a mixed condemnation/ad for various Tolkien merchandise, and even a subchapter about the history of "Lord of the Rings" and rock music. Obviously there's Marc Bolan and Led Zeppelin, but also Marillion (originally "Silmarillion") and various mediocre metal bands. What IS it about metal bands and Tolkien? Overall, this is a good little book, packed full of good information and useful trivia bits. There are some "dead" moments in this book, where it seems like filler sidenotes have been included. I mean, really, what is up with that essay on "Lord of the Rings" and old westerns? But fortunately, they tend to informative more often than not. "The Rough Guide to the Lord of the Rings" is an excellent read for people who want to get a handle on the history and substance of the movies, the books, or both. Definitely a good read.

Excellant little pocket LOTR 's book

Don't let the size fool you, it is filled with tons of goodies and very interesting things regarding Lord of the Rings, kind of small type but readable, it is a book that any Tolkien lover needs to have in their library. Very enjoyable, a must!

A great all round trivia book for LOTR fans

I must admit I was apprehensive about buying this book sight unseen. So I went to my local Borders and boy am I glad I did. This well thought out guide tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the books, movies, memorabilia for sale, authors who have been inspired by Tolkien, even Tolkien himself. There is all kinds of LOTR trilogy trivia to make even the most grumpy dwarf smile. The front, back and inside covers are beautiful color photographs from the films. My only quibble is that even though the book is packed with photographs from the trilogy, they are all in black and white. I highly recommend this book to loyal LOTR fans everywhere.