The Rough Guide to His Dark Materials (Rough Guide ... (ISBN 1843539209)

Seductive style masks sloppy scholarship:
At first I thought that this was a great addition to the growing number of books about His Dark Materials. But when I wanted to learn more about an idea, like that "the alethiometer has been likened to the liahona. . . used by the Mormon prophet Lehi" (p. 50), I changed my mind. Who came up with this idea? I found what I think is the source by googling -- but that isn't how it is supposed to work. The source should have been noted in Paul Simpson's book. You give credit where credit is due -- you don't take a bit from this writer and a bit from that, fail to identify your source, and call it writing a book. Another example: Even when Simpson appears to be citing sources, he's sloppy. On page 40 he attributes to David Colbert's book a quotation by Pullman regarding daemons that originally appeared in an interview by Catherine Andronik -- I know this because Colbert did the right thing, and credited his source (Andronik) in his book. But Paul Simpson's Rough Guide makes it appear as if Colbert's book, The Magical Worlds of Philip Pullman, is where this information first appeared. The argument that this Rough Guide isn't for scholars doesn't hold up. Colbert's very rigorously honorable book also isn't for academics. It's all about fairness and respect.

Opened up my world.:
After having read the trilogy and thinking about it a long time, I was curious about this book. To be totally subjective, I loved the format and printing of the book. Then, it also made me think even more about the trilogy. I welcomed the illumination of such a dense work. It brought up many details that I have either forgotten or glossed over. I appreciate this book and have purchased it for other fans of the trilogy.