But what of the book itself? Lance was faced with the rather daunting task of assembling literally every reference to dates and times in the entirety of the Doctor TV series, _plus_ the New and Missing Adventures, and somehow weaving a coherent history of the universe from these, with as few contradictions as possible. And, all in all, he does a damned fine job.

One's perspective of the book changes as you read. The earlier sections dealing with events before our time is intriguing because it gives us a look at how close the Doctor Who writers came to reality. Was Nero really present when Rome burned? Could Ian and Barbara actually have encountered Napoleon during the Reign of Terror? It quickly becomes clear that Doctor Who's version of history is not quite in synch with our own, but it's closer than some might expect. Of course, we already knew that Doctor Who is set in a universe similar, but not identical to ours, so these faults are generally excusable.

In the segment dealing with contemporary history, Lance is faced with perhaps the toughest job of all -- reconciling the UNIT dates. Lance does the smart thing and avoids the problem by setting the stories in "the 1970s", rather than specifically in "1971" or "1979", and an entire appendix in the back of the book details the evidence for each potential date. This is a great example of why "History" succeeds where other chronologies, like "The Terrestrial Index" or DWM's "TARDIS Logs" have failed -- Lance is careful to cite all evidence, to point out what is fact and what is his own speculation, and to even mention conflicting theories. This gives the reader the opportunity to make up his own mind about history according to Doctor Who, rather than being left to sort out for himself what the author has made up and what was actually stated in Doctor Who.

As we move into the future, more and more speculation enters the fray. Unlike the historical stories, where dates are easy to pinpoint, many of the future history stories go undated so Lance is forced to make some (at times arbitrary) decisions as to when a story took place. Again, this section is helped by careful indications of why Lance placed the stories when he did, and altogether his decisions make a lot of sense. In some ways, it is remarkable that, mostly by pure coincidence, Doctor Who writers have managed to weave a mostly consistent and logical view of Earth's future, and "History" uses this to great effect. Again, Lance encounters some major continuity blunders, like Bernice's birthday, but again all the evidence is put before the reader and the most sensible dates are chosen.

The final section of the main part of the book deals not with universal history in general but with Gallifrey's. Many fans will probably find this, and the accompanying appendix transcribing most of "Cartmel's Master Plan", the most fascinating segment. What it offers is not just a starightforward chronology of the Doctor's home planet, but also some tantalizing glimmers of what has only been hinted at, both on-screen and in the NAs, since Season 25 -- glimmers which may or may not be expanded upon in the New Adventures in the coming year.

Some readers may be put off by the sheer density of the text. There is a _lot_ packed into "History" between the main text and the accompanying footnotes which line the outermost column of each page in fine print. "History" could probably have been better served if it were illustrated, to give a more complete view of history and to break up the tightly-packed text. As it is, the quotations from various "books" and other reference material do help enormously in this respect.

Above all else, though, "History" is an immensely readable book. Far from being a dry, dull, laundry listof dates and names and events, Lance manages to inject the book with a sense of wonderment and (dare I say it) pacing, leading us from one major event to the next, and filling everything in with enough detail to make it seem real. Even the footnotes are intriguing, albeit from a more scholarly perspective, as Lance shows us the thought processes which lead him to decide on some of dates in the book.

Altogether, fans both die-hard and casual should find something enjoyable in "A History of the Universe". Not only does it allow fans to view old stories in a new and broader context, it also helps to tie everything together into one coherent whole, bringing the disparate stories from 1963 through to 1996 into a single, believable, universe. It should prove an invaluable reference for Doctor Who authors, both of fanfic and of more official works, in the future, preventing glaring continuity errors which have plagued such efforts in the past. And, most of all, "History" is a helluvalot of fun. With my name in it. :-)

9/10.

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