Rating: 
Summary: Legends/history behind the Ferengi rules of acquisition
Review: One of the best new ideas to be introduced in Star Trek, the Next Generation, was the Ferengi Alliance. While they are rapacious like the Klingons and Romulans, they are not warlike, unless you consider the practice of business to be war by other means. Given the seriousness with which the Ferengi conduct their business, their rules of acquisition can be considered the equivalent of a combination of Machiavelli's "The Prince" and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War."
While this book covers some of the rules of acquisition, the main focus is on the legends/history behind the development of the rules. As is the case with the stories that make up human religious foundations, the stories are a combination of fact, fable, embellishment and occasional outright lie. Nevertheless, they are fun to read, they are meant to be humorous and entertaining, rather than to be taken seriously. The premise is that Quark, the Ferengi barkeep in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, is narrating the tales to two human scribes. Once complete, the humans will then collect and edit them into the book. If you are not familiar with the Deep Space Nine series, then very little of the contents will make sense to you. However, if you watch the show, it will all make sense.
Creating a fictional society, complete with centuries of customs and folklore, is very hard. The authors do a good job of describing the greedy Ferengi, once you read the rules, you will understand that hew-mons and Ferengi are really not all that different.
Rating: 
Summary: Great spoof on folklore anthologies
Review: "Legends of the Ferengi" is a hilarious spoof on fairy tales and folklore anthologies. As a folklorist myself, I found dozens of in-jokes that had me literally doubled over with laughter. In the DS9 episode "Rules of Aquisition," the Ferengi Pel claims to know all 285 Rules of Aquisition plus the commentaries. This book gives you some of those commentaries --- at least, for the 70 Rules that were actually revealed on the series. The authors, Ira Behr and Robert Wolfe, wrote most of the DS9 Ferengi episodes. Now they give you the story behind each of the Rules, including #113, the "Rule that dare not speak its name." You will also learn the first two words that any Ferengi learns in the Hew-Mon language ("No refunds"), The ten most famous insults in Ferengi history (see p.32) and the story of the infamous villain Drek, M.H.N.L.I.I. (May His Name Live In Infamy), who actually cut his prices and gave his customers BARGAINS, thereby causing the Ferengi economy to crash. Which is one reason why every Ferengi child is duly warned about the dangers of Real Life through supernatural horror stories about that bogeyman of bogeymen -- the Smiling Partner! And so on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which has lots of great B&W stills from the series, too. Drek was right --- some things really ARE bargains!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: "Legends of the Ferengi" is a much more thought out and fun book than it's previously released cousin "The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition." Every known rule from the series is listed with an excellent backstory, or history if you will, of each rule. The authors did a wonderful job with book and you can tell they had fun making the stories up. This is one of those rare trek extras where even a non hard core fan will get a kick out of it. Thank you to author's for some of the best laughs in trek fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Great spoof on folklore anthologies
Review: "Legends of the Ferengi" is a hilarious spoof on fairy tales and folklore anthologies. As a folklorist myself, I found dozens of in-jokes that had me literally doubled over with laughter. In the DS9 episode "Rules of Aquisition," the Ferengi Pel claims to know all 285 Rules of Aquisition plus the commentaries. This book gives you some of those commentaries --- at least, for the 70 Rules that were actually revealed on the series. The authors, Ira Behr and Robert Wolfe, wrote most of the DS9 Ferengi episodes. Now they give you the story behind each of the Rules, including #113, the "Rule that dare not speak its name." You will also learn the first two words that any Ferengi learns in the Hew-Mon language ("No refunds"), The ten most famous insults in Ferengi history (see p.32) and the story of the infamous villain Drek, M.H.N.L.I.I. (May His Name Live In Infamy), who actually cut his prices and gave his customers BARGAINS, thereby causing the Ferengi economy to crash. Which is one reason why every Ferengi child is duly warned about the dangers of Real Life through supernatural horror stories about that bogeyman of bogeymen -- the Smiling Partner! And so on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which has lots of great B&W stills from the series, too. Drek was right --- some things really ARE bargains!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: "Legends of the Ferengi" is a much more thought out and fun book than it's previously released cousin "The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition." Every known rule from the series is listed with an excellent backstory, or history if you will, of each rule. The authors did a wonderful job with book and you can tell they had fun making the stories up. This is one of those rare trek extras where even a non hard core fan will get a kick out of it. Thank you to author's for some of the best laughs in trek fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: "Legends of the Ferengi" is a much more thought out and fun book than it's previously released cousin "The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition." Every known rule from the series is listed with an excellent backstory, or history if you will, of each rule. The authors did a wonderful job with book and you can tell they had fun making the stories up. This is one of those rare trek extras where even a non hard core fan will get a kick out of it. Thank you to author's for some of the best laughs in trek fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Sucker!
Review: As a warning to potential buyers: if you bought the Rules of Acquistion book and then buy this one, Quark reminds you at one point that you were suckered into buying the same stuff twice. But besides that, this is a hilarious book with tons of Star Trek inside references. Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe wrote nearly all the "Ferengi episodes" of DS9 so this book is a real treat. So line Quark's pockets with latinum and get both.
Rating:
Summary: Sucker!
Review: As a warning to potential buyers: if you bought the Rules of Acquistion book and then buy this one, Quark reminds you at one point that you were suckered into buying the same stuff twice. But besides that, this is a hilarious book with tons of Star Trek inside references. Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe wrote nearly all the "Ferengi episodes" of DS9 so this book is a real treat. So line Quark's pockets with latinum and get both.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic set of tales of the Rules of Acquisition origins.
Review: I don't give ratings of "10" frivolously. LEGENDS OF THE FERENGI tells how the infamous Ferengi Rules of Acquisition originated. There's lots of humor and good sense to learn. I loved it from beginning to end. One Note: This book is now in audiobook form, a bit different from the book, but just as entertaining. It is read by Quark himself, Armin Shimerman.
Rating:
Summary: Learn more than any hew-mon needs to know about the Ferengi
Review: Not since Deanna Troi used the word "Imzadi" in a telepathic welcome to Commander Riker has anything caused such consternation over continuity and meaning than the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. Fortunately, someone in the Star Trek universe was keeping track of those babies and the result is this rather enjoyable little volume, "Legends of the Ferengi." Ostensibly told by Quark to Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, within are contained the quarter of the 285 guiding principles that form the basis of Ferengi business philosophy revealed during the run of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." But instead of merely listing them or referencing which rules popped up in which episodes in whatever context, "Quark" passes along stories, fables, folk songs, philosophical meditations and other outright lies so that the rules come out as "morals," although maybe "punch lines" is a better label. The result is a change of pace order to the book accompanied by probably every still shot ever taken of the Ferengi is the history of DS9. Some of these efforts are hits and others are misses, but there is always another one (until you get to the end of the book) and the entire effort shows a hearty respect for not only the Star Trek universe but the idea of having big time fun while making stuff up. My favorite is the story of Oblix, son of Sner (Rule #263), who sold nothing to everyone and got away with it. The best thing I can say about this book is that I learned way more about the Ferengi culture from "Legends of the Ferengi" than I ever did from watch DS9. Besides, I already knew Quark was a fictional character. Do not let the person talk fool you; this volume is way better than Quark's previous effort, "The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition."
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