I suspect this is not the sort of book intended to be read as a whole - indeed it is more of a reference type book that you would likely dive into on occasion to find out specific bits of information.

In this sense it has its good and bad points - there is a mass of information on where to find all sorts of Tolkien based products etc. however if you're in any country other than America then you may find it a bit frustrating. This book was published for an American market - prices are quote in dollars and items eg. book editions published for markets in other countries, such as England, are often largely overlooked.

You'll also find that being published in 2005 much of the information will be somewhat out of date - many products may no longer be in production, there will be a great many new items on the market (especially with the recent release of the first Hobbit movie) and prices on some things will have changed dramatically.

I did read this as a normal book, but I just skimmed over the pages where individual items were discussed in specific detail eg. a CD of the movie score or the size and cost of a Gandalf model from Weta. The bits that interested me were some nuggets of background information on Tolkien himself and the like.

There are numerous illustrations throughout, but all black and white, the cover also seems a bit poor, boring and cheap to me.

Overall - useful for reference to a certain extent, but a bit outdated.

Truly nothing but a compilation of merchandise and other people's thoughts. I know the book is older but I find it hard to believe that Google and Amazon weren't at a point where this information could be found. This book is only 10 years old but it actually spent time discussing the potential decline of VHS in favor of DVD...even though Blu-Ray players were already on the market and DVD was available almost a decade earlier. Very disappointng.