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From the future to your coffee table, Federation: The First 150 Years is an in-universe recap of the Trek universe’s origins, covering everything from Zephram C🦩ochrane’s pioneering warp drive test flight 💟through to the death of James T Kirk.

Originally available in the States with a pedestal featuring electronic lights and sounds (for an eyewatering RRP of £75), it’s a well presented book, especially in its use of illustrations over cast photos, and one that plays things c🦂ompletely straight. When talking about Cochrane for instance, it’s the official version that takes point — no Enterprise crew, no Borg. Later, the Temporal Cold War is mentioned, but only in passing, and with extreme skepticism over Archer’s claims.

The result is very believable as a book the🅷 Federation Council could put its stamp on, and one that wins bonus points for focusing on filling the series’ historical gaps rather than just rehashing original series/Enterprise episodes.

The catch is that in being so official, the tone is bone-dry, with the timeframe meaning that civilisation-defining moments like the Xindi attack on Earth barely warrant a couple of pages. There are smaller-scale moments of levity, like a tale of Cochrane having to fix Archer’s fridge, and a Klingon’s post-Tribble hunt report. They’re few and far between though, and while the academic tone works to give the book both its artifact-from-the-future ๊vibe and keep things respectful, it’s hard not to wonder how, say, a Bill Bryson of the future might handle the same material.

Richard Cobbett

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