An amazing resource for those who love the Lord of the Rings. I found myself constantly referencing it to look up more information about a place or character that is briefly mentioned. So many things in Middle Earth are called by different names. At one point they're going to see the Wizard's Vale, which when you look it up in the concordance you learn that it's also called valley of Saruman and Nan Curunír in other sections. There are a dozen more examples of the same thing and so the concordance was really helpful. Aragorn alone goes by a dozen different names in the series: Strider, Estel, Elessar, Elfstone, Isildur's Heir, Quenya, The Renewer, Longshanks, Wingfoot, King of Gondor, Chieftain of the Dunedain, and Thorongil. ( )

If you're looking for a thorough glossary of all things Legendarium, then this work is definitely one you should get for your shelf of non-Tolkien books on Tolkien.

It provides an alphabetical list of all the major terms and concepts presented in the Legendarium (for the uninitiated, that's the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, and some other stuff set in Middle Earth written by Tolkien).

Though written as if it were notes on the "historian, Professor Tolkien," it still provides a lot of useful information that may have been missed during that first, second, third, or fourth reading of Tolkien's work.

These days, there are so many books about Tolkien and the Legendarium that there are probably even books about these books. If you're looking for material that will be the most helpful, though, I'd recommend stuff that was written while Tolkien was still alive (this book was published in 1971). It's certainly more likely to have been read by Tolkien, and at least commented upon by him.

This book appeals to those who have a yearning to learn more about Tolkien's writings, but will probably not appeal to fans of Tolkienian hermeneutics. ( )