Customer Reviews

The Chambers Encyclopedia

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I just bought this book today at a bookstore. It was on clearance for $7.99.

This book is pretty hefty, but nowhere near the size of the encyclopedias we all remember in the libraries at school, as it is a single volume. This volume has a wide variety of facts and figures from the beginning, which as information on space (things like constellations and shuttle launch dates), on to geology, information on the countries of the world, famous actors, proverbs, rules of sports games, etc.

The book contains a large number of charts, lists, graphs, and small dictionary sized definitions. Not very many large detailed entries that one would expect in an encyclopedia.

This would be an ideal thing to study if one were trying to practice for a scholastic bowl or a trivia contest. Unfortunately that's about the extent of its usefulness.

With the advent of computers, and the internet in particular, the hardbound giant shelf-breaking books of strewn together information are becomming less important. There is nothing in here that cannot be found in seconds with the cunning use of a search engine (although that is a common thread amongst almost all reference books these days).

But unfortunately this book doesn't have anything special to make it worth buying. The "encyclopedia of gemstones" or something like that is going to appeal to a certain type, due to the fact that it is highly specialized, and would be consulted for a specific purpose. That "purpose" is lost here. Because this encyclopedia is like a jack of all trades, and a master of none. It will serve little purpose other than as a line in a "works cited" page for students to meet the minimum number of references used in a Jr. High essay.

While I think this book may come in handy one day during a power outage if I need to find a conversion chart, that's about it. Worth the 8 bucks on the clearance rack at the bookstore. Not worth the 48 listed on the dust jacket.