obviously, there are NO non-fiction SW books in the truest sense of the world but as someone that tried (and eschewed) the EU years ago, I love many of the other Star Wars books and was curious which ones others had enjoyed that I might have missed out on.

I have currently been re-reading this little gem below - a very cute but delightfully insightful guide to everyone's favorite YT-1300.

This was an absolutely joy to immerse myself into the TFA ethos around the time of the movie release.

And this was an delightful surprise (my wife got it for me on a whim) - hadn't expected much from it but it was remarkably cute and filled with very well thought out graphics.

What did you guys love that I should be getting?

I'd say that my absolute favourite 'non-fiction' Star Wars book would be The Essential Atlas by Danial Wallace & Jason Fry. Highly informative book covering a huge range of eras and locations. I GM a Star Wars RPG group and I've found it invaluable.

The incredible cross section ones are always neat. Great and very creative illustrations of ships/vehicles/locations/etc.

Love the visual dictionaries for each movie as well.

That's tough, I'd have to say my WEG library of sourcebooks. The stories, fleshed out characters, world descriptions etc.

The Cross sections and the visual dictionaries are excellent resources. But my Chronicles book that covers in absolute depth the making of the first three films with tons of behind the scenes and model images. even down to the Ewok movies and the dubious christmas special has to be my favourite. Sadly while ti was never cheap it has shot up in price but definitely worth every penny if you have the means.

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Chronicles-Deborah-Fine/dp/081181498X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472788322&sr=1-2&keywords=chronicle+star+wars

I have the prequels one but even though it goes into immense depth all that really does is show how inferior they were. Hmmm. The edition on Amazon is the reissue which evidently doesnt go into the specials etc. But still worth it i think as how many of us were inspired by Ewoks Battle or Endor instead of Empire strikes Back.

The Sculpting a galaxy book is also excellent if you like to build or want to have the right feel to your creations. In depth look at the modelling for all the movies.

https://www.amazon.com/Sculpting-Galaxy-Inside-Star-Model/dp/1933784032/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472788662&sr=1-1&keywords=sculpting+a+galaxy+star+wars

The 'Art of'' books are an invaluable resource as well. the design process is always interesting to me

Favourite - second edition a present Xmas 1978, I think:

I rank Johnston just behind McQuarrie as a creative 'engineering' genius

Most treasured, first edition import from the US, bought with one of my first monthly paychecks in 1981 [just before one of my most valuable lenses]:

Still have both, together with the other 'Art of's and sketchbooks for the OT bought asap, and many later ones including the cross-sections & MF Haynes manual mentioned above...

...I'd have more, but I just don't have the room to store many large books these days

"I rank Johnston just behind McQuarrie as a creative 'engineering' genius" As do i which is why it confuses me that despite, with Rocketeer Captain America and The Wolfman showing his skill and experience as a director as well as being one of the original visionaries . They have not tapped him to direct one of the new Star Wars films

Never cared for them, but landed one of the ship atluses and the timeline encyclopedia when I was younger.

There were still ships that could have used better interpretations like the Gand Starfighter or Invid Clutch.

I'd say that my absolute favourite 'non-fiction' Star Wars book would be The Essential Atlas by Danial Wallace & Jason Fry. Highly informative book covering a huge range of eras and locations. I GM a Star Wars RPG group and I've found it invaluable.

Do not have and was not aware, added to my Amazon cart - thank you!

The incredible cross section ones are always neat. Great and very creative illustrations of ships/vehicles/locations/etc.

Love the visual dictionaries for each movie as well.

Agreed completely, love those books.

That's tough, I'd have to say my WEG library of sourcebooks. The stories, fleshed out characters, world descriptions etc.

Funny, but I hadn't even really been thinking about RPG's - I now have 3 generations of SW RPG's but haven't played a game since the WEG books in the 80's, with the exception of one game of this with my daughter when she was younger, but she didn't really get into it like I had expected.

The Cross sections and the visual dictionaries are excellent resources. But my Chronicles book that covers in absolute depth the making of the first three films with tons of behind the scenes and model images. even down to the Ewok movies and the dubious christmas special has to be my favourite. Sadly while ti was never cheap it has shot up in price but definitely worth every penny if you have the means.

The Sculpting a galaxy book is also excellent if you like to build or want to have the right feel to your creations. In depth look at the modelling for all the movies.

The 'Art of'' books are an invaluable resource as well. the design process is always interesting to me

Wasn't aware of either of those, thank you. And yes, love the "Art of" books. I had resisted the TFA for a month or so and then saw it at CostCo. How could I resist at those silly, low prices?

Favourite - second edition a present Xmas 1978, I think:

I rank Johnston just behind McQuarrie as a creative 'engineering' genius

Most treasured, first edition import from the US, bought with one of my first monthly paychecks in 1981 [just before one of my most valuable lenses]:

Still have both, together with the other 'Art of's and sketchbooks for the OT bought asap, and many later ones including the cross-sections & MF Haynes manual mentioned above...

...I'd have more, but I just don't have the room to store many large books these days

Lovely stuff. Thank you for the recommendation!

Never cared for them, but landed one of the ship atluses and the timeline encyclopedia when I was younger.

There were still ships that could have used better interpretations like the Gand Starfighter or Invid Clutch.

Why didn't you care for them?

The WEG "imperial sourcebook" us probably my favorite. Lots of good info on the organization of the empire and the various institutions.

Also, the "Death Star Technical Manual" was surprisingly interesting, given its narrow focus.

The sketchbooks for the original trilogy are awesome as well.

Never been at all fond of cross-section books. Too difficult to be certain scale is correct and there always seems to be something I want to see behind what is shown in the drawing.

The Falcon Owners Manual... Was that the first place that particular deckplan was presented? Because it seems to be getting settled on as the standard, and it always bugs me that it contradicts the interior scenes in empire.

The Falcon Owners Manual... Was that the first place that particular deckplan was presented? Because it seems to be getting settled on as the standard, and it always bugs me that it contradicts the interior scenes in empire.

I think it was: Star Wars: Millennium Falcon- A 3-D Owner's Guide that did it first - but it was, itself, based on the Incredible Cross Sections Falcon depiction - with a significant size change - from just over 26m to 34.75m (Owner's Workshop Manual reduced it to 34.37m).

How does it contradict interior scenes? Surely much less than WEG's Falcon interior contradicted them. I believe the Owner's Workshop Manual and predecessors were themselves based on that website that tried to fix the Falcon's size and interior as best it could - Robert Brown's:

http://www.synicon.info/SW/mf/falcon.htm

The WEG "imperial sourcebook" us probably my favorite. Lots of good info on the organization of the empire and the various institutions.

Also, the "Death Star Technical Manual" was surprisingly interesting, given its narrow focus.

The sketchbooks for the original trilogy are awesome as well.

Never been at all fond of cross-section books. Too difficult to be certain scale is correct and there always seems to be something I want to see behind what is shown in the drawing.

The Falcon Owners Manual... Was that the first place that particular deckplan was presented? Because it seems to be getting settled on as the standard, and it always bugs me that it contradicts the interior scenes in empire.

I have the pdf to the Sourcebook and the collectors version to The Commander's guide. Quite nice.

One of the things in it that I thought was particularly amusing....

It has a 2 page spread of various imperial ships in scale with each other (at least, WEG scale), including the Death Star as just a slight arc on the side of the page. Also including the executer. Now, the executer of course can't fit on 2 pages that also show lancers and such, so it is just the rear portion to show scale.

Then you turn the page and there is a faded, background silhouette of the SSD that continues for 2 more pages. And 2 more. And I think 2 more.

It was really funny the first time I noticed that.

It's hilarious.

The encyclopiae (2008 ed.) and Jason Fry's Guide to Warfare. I love how the latter puts so little focus on the Skywalkers and the main characters (Obi Wan, Han, Chewbacca, Mace Windu, Ahsoka, etc.).

The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski.

Read, and understand you will.

How do we know that Star Wars is fiction? Lucas could be a Force clairvoyant telling a long forgotten history from M87.

If Star Wars was real, we wouldn't have Rebels! Yuck!

Jason Fry's Guide to Warfare. I love how the latter puts so little focus on the Skywalkers and the main characters (Obi Wan, Han, Chewbacca, Mace Windu, Ahsoka, etc.).

This was awesome, thank you for the recommendation.

the jedi masters quizbook. written by rusty miller.....

http://akapayton.blogspot.com/2008/02/in-search-of-rusty-miller.html

DROP MIKE.

I'm only half way through this but this is arguably the best "Visual Guide" Star Wars book I've yet seen. What a gem.

I'm only a few pages into this one, but it's got some lovely imagery in it so far.

If Star Wars was real, we wouldn't have Rebels! Yuck!

That'd be a good thing. Honestly haven't looked at the Commanders guide since, the Rebel scribble everywhere ruined it for me.

This is a real treat. Lots of stuff I've seen elsewhere but a veritable treasure trove of new stuff. Lovely.