He may not be a superhero or a secret agent, but archaeologist Indiana Jones is not much different from the many heroes who have saved the world on a regular basis. Be it rescuing children in India or defeating the German Nazis during the Second World War, Indy has been here, there, and everywhere.

Ahead of the release of the fifth and final Indiana Jones movie, you can get to know more about him and his adventures through Indiana Jones — The Ultimate Guide, which covers all his adventures, from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series to the four adult Indiana Jones flicks.

There are two ways to address your Indiana Jones deficiency — one by either watching all four flicks released between 1981 and 2008 or by going through this book to equip yourself with everyone’s favourite archaeologist. Since Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,will be hitting cinemas on June 30, I suggest you do whatever you can find the time for this book, as it is more detailed than the movies, catering to readers of all ages. It unites the young and the old Indiana Jones together on one platform.

Written by James Luceno, Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide allows you to travel around the world with Indiana Jones, be it in his adult days or his younger ones. His escapades aren’t just limited to the four films featuring Harrison Ford as Indy, but also his adventures as a young Indiana Jones, which aired on TV. How the young boy who was never able to impress his father went on to become a daredevil hero who once helped his father escape the Nazis is something this book tackles in an excellent manner.

If you had no clue how Indy got the trademark scar on his chin or why he hated the nickname his father gave him, you need a lot of reading to understand the Indiana Jones phenomenon. This guide takes you from the jungles of South America to the deserts of Egypt, detailing how our favourite professor-turned-archaeologist managed to collect the precious Sankara Stones to get his hands on the Holy Grail, besides explaining how he became interested in lost treasures in the first place.

If you are among the majority of Indiana Jones fans who had never watched an episode of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,then this guide will help you realise that Indiana Jones had the best teachers. Be it being mentored by T. E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), or spending some quality hunting time with US President Theodore Roosevelt, Indy learned the tricks of trade wherever he went.

Featuring stills from all four movies previously released, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which came out 15 years back, as well as some iconic photographs from the TV show The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, this guide is nothing short of a treasure itself, one that Indy would have loved to uncover himself.

Packed with colour photographs from films and TV series, original artworks, and maps of fictional and original places, this book helps you understand the Indiana Jones phenomenon. Not only do you get to meet the professor-turned-archaeologist but also his friends, family and enemies who helped him in his close escapes.

What makes this ultimate guide so good that it will make you watch the movies again if you haven’t watched them already? First of all, there is a timeline at the very beginning detailing everything from the birth of Indy’s parents to their marriage, the birth of their only child, and how that only child went on to make a name for himself in the real world. Indiana Jones might be a fictional character but he existed in the real world and this book makes you believe that he was someone who was part of history when he clearly wasn’t.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 24th, 2023