It's Doctor Who. Enough said. Facts aplenty, episodes and trivia and characters, and all sorts of interesting Whovian lore. ( )

As Doctor Who fans — known as Whovians — prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of this venerable science fantasy series on November 23rd, 2013, the publishing world is being flooded with a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction titles related to the world of this time traveling Timelord. One of the best of the non-fiction books is Who-ology: The Official Miscellany. The Doctor is a member of a long-lived species, the Gallifreyans, which have the ability to “regenerate” when they reach the end of a lifespan, whether by natural or unnatural causes. As a television series, this gives the writers/producers the ability to continue the series when the lead actor chooses the exit the role. Thus, as Whovians celebrate the 50th anniversary of the start of their series, we are enjoying the final few adventures of the 11th actor to play The Doctor, and looking forward his regeneration into the 12th Doctor in late December. In the meantime, whether you’re a hardcore Whovian who can quote every last bit of time traveling trivia, or you’re relatively new to the fandom and want to know what everybody else is so all-fired-up about, this volume has a little of everything any Doctor Who fan might want to see. How many different places on planet Earth have the Doctor and his various companions visited? Check out the map on page 224. How many times has a duplicate of The Doctor appeared on the show? Check page 54. How many different companions, both human and otherwise, have traveled with the Doctor in his 50 years of adventures? You’ll find that here. To be honest, this is the Doctor Who trivia fans’ ultimate source of useful information. My only complaint about this book is that I wished there were photographic illustrations — there’s a lot of line art here, but no photos of any of the Doctors, companions, monsters, planets, etc.

Originally reviewed for my local library's website in November 2013: http://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/staff-recommendations/staff-recommendation... ( )

This book bills itself as a Doctor Who "miscellany." That's a marvelous word for it, as it contains a weird, eclectic mix of lists and trivia, including both in-universe and behind-the-scenes information. And while it primarily focuses on the TV series (in both its classic and current incarnations), it often also includes references to various books, comics, audio dramas, stage plays, webisodes, charity specials, and probably several other sources I'm forgetting at the moment. The content includes some obvious and expected stuff, such as the mini-bios of each of the Doctor's companions and the actors who played them. Then there's some stuff that's just insane levels of trivial, such as the list of every actor who ever stuffed himself into a Dalek casing. Some of it's scary/impressive in its obsessiveness, like the complete list of every planet the Daleks ever attacked, in any medium, or of everything we've ever seen a sonic screwdriver used for. (Those are long lists.) Some of it is just entertaining, like the list of all the times Rory Williams has died, or interesting, like the complete, chronological-from-her-point-of-view timeline of River Song. In a few cases, the authors seems to be having way too much fun, such as when they list all the Master's evil schemes and rate each one by how nuts they were.

Yeah, OK, it's all the sort of thing that you have to be a crazy Who nerd to enjoy, but, crazy Who nerd that I am, I enjoyed it a lot. It's clearly a labor of crazy Who nerd love, and it's different enough from similar books I've read in the past that it's definitely worth adding to the already crowded Whovian bookshelf. It's got some very nice, stylized black-and-white drawings, too.

My only complaint, really, is that they published this a couple of years too soon. It came out in 2013, and thus only covers up through "The Snowmen," the 2012 Christmas special. Which, given all the developments and revelations there have been in the show since then, means a surprising amount of it is already out of date! ( )

Contains some interesting trivia, even for someone who has been following the show since the 1980s. ( )

If you're into Doctor Who and trivia then this is THE book for you. Basically a list of lists, or short bios/summaries, Who-ology includes info such as: Which episodes was the Doctor seen fencing? Each Doctor's first and last words, abilities of the Doctor, details of every companion, every style of Dalek, every UNIT member ever mentioned and so on.

If this has you nodding off, pass on this book. Alternatively, if you're wondering if the authors left out this or that then get this book. ( )