Star Trek 101

Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, and Why is a reference work published by Pocket Books, intended to serve as an introduction to the Star Trek universe. The book features episode guides for each series and the Star Trek movies, as well as descriptions of notable ships, species, places and characters in the Star Trek universe. (Though the book was reported to contain information about "every single" entry into these categories, this is far from being strictly true.)

The title was first announced at the Creation Las Vegas Convention in. Co-writer Terry Erdmann noted at the convention that he had been working on the title for over two years at that point.

Further details were revealed at the New York Comic-Con in, including that the book would feature "a list of the 10 essential episodes of each live-action series, as well as a award for each series". 

The cover art was revealed at the Shore Leave convention on.

The book is dedicated to "the fans - past, present and future".

The "Spock's Brain" Awards for each series go to, , , , and.

"Ten Essential Episodes" feature
Although the feature on the "Ten Essential Episodes" of each series is not available for Star Trek: The Animated Series, the episode is especially cited (in a similar feature) as "The Best Episode". The DS9 episode is also given special mention, outwith the list of that series' "Ten Essential Episodes"; in an info-box about that installment, the writers state the episode "is so special that we didn't want to hide it in the Top 10 list." The selected "Ten Essential Episodes" from each series are as follows: