The Essential Supernatural [Revised and Updated Edition]: On the Road with Sam and Dean Winchester Hardcover – October 28, 2014

I don't want to re-hash what many others have written here, but this book is amazing. I'm a professional bookbinder (fineblankbooks.com) and I make entirely handmade books custom-made to my customers specifications, so it's kinda hard to impress me with a mass-produced book. This one completely impressed me; both as a beautiful book/object and as someone with a probably slightly over-the-top love for this show. I've watched this show since episode 1 and feel I pretty much know it inside and out and this book has so much great info. in it! It's NOT just a book full of beautiful photos of Jared & Jensen (though it has plenty of those too). My favorite parts are the sections that deal with the behind-the scenes stuff and I especially can't wait to read the section about what goes into the creation of the hotel room sets (I've always been a bit fascinated with how they came up with the distinctive look to the hotel rooms which is definitely unique to this show).You've already read (in the other reviews here) about all the stuff that comes with the book that you can pull out. That's all very cool (though when I received the book, the envelope of posters of the Chuck Shurley book covers had already pulled off the page in transit and taken some of the image with it...luckily, I can do book repair! But it's bad for a book - bad for the binding - to have something that thick shoved into it and I'll probably re-attach the envelope to the page, but leave the folded posters out of it when it's stored; just keep them near it instead of in it).From a bookbinder's perspective, this book is actually SEWN together (in folded sections called "signatures") which is a rarity anymore (often, even large coffee-table books that are mass-produced are glued together instead of sewn). This allows the book to lay open flat and is really the best way to make a book. There's nothing I hate more than paying a lot for a book only to get it and find out it was cheaply assembled. This one was not. (And it helped that Amazon's price on this book was $37 when I ordered it instead of the $50 sticker price; though it's worth $50, in my opinion!). There is a lot of attention to detail in the look and content of this book.I mentioned that it was bad for the binding to have stuff attached to the pages (it adds thickness to the book that puts stress on the spine over time), HOWEVER, with the exception of the thick packet of Chuck Shurley posters, the other things that are attached to the pages are spread around; attached in different places on different pages (they aren't all attached to the center of the pages, for example) and if you're going to attach things to the pages, this is the RIGHT way to do it! It means that no one area of the book ends up with excess thickness...this is the kind of attention to details I'm talking about...someone who designed it knew what they were doing!The only negative comment as far as the binding of this book goes is that it seems that the publisher left out the step of adding backing cloth which reinforces the area where the cover "hinges" open. Publishers often skip this step to save money, but it means that the only thing holding the book into the cover are the endpapers glued to the inside of the front & back covers. It's slightly disappointing to see that they skipped this step with they put so much thought into everything else, but it's more important that the book is sewn together than that they skipped the backing cloth, in my opinion.I recommend, if you are a fan of Supernatural, that you should purchase this book immediately while it's still widely available. It's so much more than a book full of glossy photos. Awesome (as Dean would say)!

I received this item on the promised delivery date. It is a very nice coffee table book with lots of extras (book covers, post cards, BTS pics) that covers seasons 1 through 7. While I am a fan of the Winchester brothers, I must admit that I cannot stand Castiel. He was introduced in season 4. Having him around changes the dynamic of the show, and not for the better. Where before there was badass Winchester action on hunts, road trips, brotherly hurt/comfort and scenes of the brothers researching their supernatural quarry before they actually hunt, with bird butt around there is none of that. He heals them, transports them to wherever they want to go, protects them in fights. Usually when this pigeon is around the brothers' IQs drop 50 points in order to make this new premise work. Depending on who you listen to, he's either a fan favorite or the ruination of the show. Naturally, I vote for the second option.Despite his presence I enjoyed this book and I don't regret buying it. Most of it is, thankfully, devoted to Sam and Dean. I mention cassbutt only because I know there are others out here who can't stand him and who might let that stop them from buying this book.To his minions? Don't bother flaming me about this. I'll laugh at you. And don't complain about what I said. This is my review and I can say anything I want to within Amazon's review guidelines.This volume is filled with information about the beloved Impala, the other props on the show, the supporting cast and the various types of fuglies the Winchesters hunt. I do wish there had been more on Jeffrey Dean Morgan and the late Kim Manners. Mr. Manners gets a one page tribute. That was nice, but the man deserves more than just one page. Mr. Morgan gets none. There are photos of him portraying John Winchester.I do hope that there will be a follow-up for seasons 8 through 10. I'd be especially interested in purchasing such a book with the Demon Dean story arc coming up.The one physical flaw of this book? The binding is rather weak, too weak to support that many pages, especially if this book is paged through too many times. When the binding finally gives way better have some long, strong rubber bands ready.