" I really liked the 'Spice Planet' (Duneworld) novel this book opened with. It wasn't nearly as long or complex (or good) as Dune, but had a lot of similar (and similarly exciting) material, but was set much more like a 50s/60s pulp sci-fi novel in complexity and length. I also enjoyed the letters between Frank Herbert and his agent, editor, and publishers which gave a very interesting insight into his goals in writing and the process of the writing of Dune. After that I thought the quality and cohesiveness of this book started to fall. There were many scenes and chapters edited out of early drafts of Dune (and Dune Messiah), and then several short stories by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, based on outlines and background envisioned by FH. The cut scenes were mildly interesting--especially the ones that had been cut from the later drafts of Dune--some of the early cut scenes didn't make much sense, or add anything to the original novel. I think the short stories would have made more sense in a short story book on their own, or in the writings nearest to which they occur (e.g. BH and KJA's 'Butlerian Jihad'). That being said, they didn't ruin the book... just seemed tacked on (like the excerpt of the then-forthcoming 'Hunters of Dune') in my opinion. I'm under the impression that there were other short story precursors to Dune that FH wrote... I think they would have fit marvelously in this collection. This book has piqued my interest in reading the FH biography, which I'll have to pick up at a used book store. "
— Andrewcharles420, 1/27/2014