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Rating: 
Summary: Colorful behind-the-scenes Trek design history
Review: As a very long-time Trek fan, I'm very pleased and surprised at this book: pleased because it's a solid, colorful, heavily illustrated survey of set, ship, costume, makeup, and prop design for the original Star Trek series. Surprised, because even with the large number of Trek books I've collected, I've actually seen very few of these illustrations before (some of the original Enterprise designs were printed in the early Trek book "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen E. Whitfield). That a design book on a thirty-five year old TV series presents 'new' illustrations I haven't seen before is a definite plus.This book is by no means complete--the designs are heavily weighted towards those of the series' third season (during which the scripts were definitely sub-par but the designs and effects were often as strong as ever). Focusing on the works of the four Trek design "pioneers": Matt Jefferies, William Ware Theiss, Fred Phillips, and Wah Min Chang comprehensively covers a wide range of ships (checks out the early Enterprise design that looks like a duck!), sets, makeup, and those oh-so-revealing alien woman costumes (including one design candidly labeled "Space Hooker.") Lots of color illustrations in extensive detail show the wide range of designing for the future on a 1960s budget. Even the many black-and-white illustrations are made more vibrant by adding a color background...less than authentic, but adds to an attractive design. A lot of interesting background text and images adds to my appreciation of Trek's design (did you know the same man who designed the communicator designed the Pillsbury Doughboy?) A great piece of behind-the-scenes design history of a classic show.
Rating: 
Summary: R.I.P., Matt Jeffries
Review: Got to love this man's work -- the book, a collection from the entire staff, not just Mr. Jeffries, but Matt passed away on Friday, July 26, 2003, at age 82. If you're a fan of the series, of TV production, or just good sketchwork, it's well worth a look. If you're a fan of the original ENTERPRISE and the look and feel of a classic TV show, it's a must-own.
Rating:
Summary: The second best Star Trek book ever written
Review: Herb Solow's 'Star Trek Sketchbook' is the second best Star Trek book ever written! The first being 'Inside Star Trek' by Robert H. Justman and Heb Solow. Great pictures and sketch's-the pictures of the model of the sets that Matt Jefferies created is worth the price of the book alone! All in all a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: The second best Star Trek book ever written
Review: Herb Solow's 'Star Trek Sketchbook' is the second best Star Trek book ever written! The first being 'Inside Star Trek' by Robert H. Justman and Heb Solow. Great pictures and sketch's-the pictures of the model of the sets that Matt Jefferies created is worth the price of the book alone! All in all a very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good idea but disappointing
Review: If there has been a book on the visual designers of the original Star Trek, I have not seen it, so I commend the authors on paying tribute to these underappreciated people. I must say, though, that I am disappointed with the materials collected for this book. As, there is an emphasis on the third season of the show, which is universally considered the lowest quality. I don't care to see anything about bad episodes. Also, the book has a tendency to waste space. One example is in often using images that are much larger than necessary. Another is in devoting too much attention to a subject, particularly the 18 pages of photos showing every detail of a model Matt Jeffries made of the Enterprise sets. Absurd! And I can understand the authors stated desire to use mainly pictures to convey the work of visual designers, but I think more written explanations would have been helpful. There is very little. Probably the best section is the extensive drawings by Matt Jeffries of the show's sets and spacecraft, but again the overemphasis on the third season hurts a lot. So, overall I believe this is a fun book to occasionally look at, but I would not buy it.
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