big white book

[URUban]

First of all i'd like to ask what is the BWB. Second of all where can I find it on this site or if not where can I find it.

 

That would be much appreciated.

[Barmacral]

It is the World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Its a book that was released after book 8 that basically is a fact book about the series up until that point. The book is not all-knowing, and some facts are wrong. For the most part its a very good guide to the series. You can generally find it at the large chain bookstores.

[Kadere]

RJ wrote it with the intention that it was a history book written after the Third Age ended, thus why a lot of the "facts" in it are intentionally inaccurate. It's also critisized for having terrible paintings of the characters, though I guess that's a matter of taste.

 

But it does have a lengthy and interesting history of the Second Age and all of the Forsaken which I like to read from time to time to get a linear understanding of what was going on. None of the information in the book is new, you can find all of it stretched throughout the series and in a lot of cases more accurate in the series. But die hard WoT fans might enjoy it.

[Barmacral]

RJ did not in fact write the book. I don't recall the name of the person who did though... they did do it with his permission though.

[Werthead]

The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time was published in late 1997, between Books 7 and 8. It was written by Teresa Patterson based on extensive notes by Robert Jordan. Jordan approved everything in the book and edited it. He also wrote the section on the strike on Shayol Ghul himself. So whilst someone else wrote most of the book, Jordan approved everything in it.

 

The book was originally published with a plain white cover as a 'coffee-table' book (hence it's named as the Big White Book). It was quickly re-issued with a different cover (one of the maps of the main continent, IIRC). Later on it was reissued as a standard-sized paperback with all of the illustrations removed (but the maps left in). I think the standard paperback edition was only released in the UK though.

 

The book features a history stretching back into the Age of Legends, depicting the War of the Shadow, the Breaking of the World, the Trolloc Wars, the War of the Second Dragon, Hawkwing's Empire, the invasion of Seanchan, the War of the Hundred Years and the Aiel War. The book also features detailed information on the geography, politics and customs of different countries and cultures. The book has maps of the whole world, a map of the Seanchan continent, a map of Shara and so on. Contrary to what some have said, there's actually a lot of information that is not revealed in the novels (the details on the war between Artur Hawkwing and Guaire Amalasan are especially intriguing, as are the bits on the Age of Legends).

 

The book also has appalling artwork. This is because the main artist was initially told he had to produce a small number of black-and-white illustrations but suddenly this was increased to tons of full-colour drawings but in the same timeframe. The art is shoddy because the artist had to churn it all out in a month or two.

 

Teresa Patterson went on to co-write The World of Terry Brooks' Shannara (which apparently she enjoyed more as she was given a free hand in many areas). There is a World of Ice and Fire book currently in production for George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series which is similar to the Big White Book, but they're very deliberately not making the same mistakes with regards to artwork (for example, they've hired several artists, one of whom is renowned Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith, and given them about a year to produce their work for the book).

[Liitha]

if you mean the lil black book, then no i been able to get my hands of it in norway as well, so think it would be more of a european thing ;)

 

it was in fact easier to find then the BWB version, hence why i have both as i later found the BWB and then bougth that one as well

[Doyn]

I think the BWB is a must for WoT fans. Even more so if they do any kind of roleplaying as the book gives a lot of information in one place and even contains a little here and there that you may not be able to track down in the series.

[Werthead]

It's worth pointing out that the Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game from Wizards of the Coast expands on the content of the Big White Book in many areas, with maps of the cities of Tear, Illian and Far Madding not found anywhere else and detailed info on the histories of the individual nations.

[Kaznen]

The BWB also has historical info on the WT, Trolloc Wars, and time before Hawkwing that aren't found in the series.