# Need an "Avatar" fix? Check out these two books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-avatar-fix-check-out-these-two-books/528077 "2010-02-07T23:10:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-avatar-fix-check-out-these-two-books/528077/1 "2010-02-07T23:10:39Z")
Just finished Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison’s _James Cameron’s Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide_, and Lisa Fitzpatrick’s _The Art of Avatar_. Both are lavishly illustrated, and definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of the movie. The first reads like a field manual to the plants and animals of Pandora, with quite a bit on the Na’vi culture and the RDA’s methods and equipment. There’s a good explanation (as far as it goes) of unobtainium and its uses, as well as a 12-page Na’vi/English dictionary in back, and some interesting concept art of a dark, dreary, overcommercialized Earth that looks very similar to _Blade Runner_. The premise of the book is that it was assembled, at great risk, by an environmental activist who’s an admirer of Dr. Augustine and is strongly opposed to the RDA. There are interesting allusions to several issues not raised in the movie: the introduction of Pandora species on Earth; FTL communications between Pandora and Earth; health problems among the miners on Pandora, etc. The second book is a small coffeetable-style book of the development of the movie’s striking visuals, from the Na’vi, to animals, to equipment, to sets. Cameron was obviously a hands-on guy, judging from all of his sketches. Peter Jackson wrote a flattering preface.