This cracks me up: Several years ago the publishing house Becker & Mayer, having secured the licensing from Lucasfilm, released a series of Star Wars "manuals" that retailed for $100 each (S.R.P., anyway). Before we get to what's in 'em, let's look at how they're packaged:

First off, I'm a little disappointed with the industrial design. I know there's only so much tech you can put into an object at that price point, but I would've preferred they sold them for $250 and made the mechanisms less janky. Cheap, tinny speakers will always sound like cheap, tinny speakers, and making the lights flash on the latter three models renders them cheesy.

But, what did I expect from manuals purporting to reveal the secrets of the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire and that universe's version of Dog the Bounty Hunter, a/k/a Boba Fett? I love that the promo copy of The Jedi Path states "Through wars and rebellion, only a single copy of this manual has survived. It is now passed on to you." To you and anyone who has access to Amazon, that is.

Speaking of Amazon, what's interesting is what's happened to the prices since the books were first launched. While all four were intended to retail for $99.99, The Jedi Path and The Bounty Hunter Code can now be had for $59.99; the Imperial Handbook, for $89.59; but the Book of Sith goes for a whopping $524.99! It seems that when it comes to retail, the Dark Side really is stronger than the Light.