National Geographic Answer Book: Fast Facts About Our World [Hardcover]

National Geographic (Author), Kathryn Thornton (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2010

A multifaceted reference book for the 21st century, the Answer Book will fascinate with up-to-date, authoritative, and endlessly interesting information about the world today. From earth sciences to astronomy, from climate and habitats to human arts and cultures, from ancient history to cutting-edge technology, and including brief descriptions, flags, and statistics of all the countries of the world, it delivers exactly the kind of quick-dip information that modern readers crave. Maps, charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, illustrations—some 600 pictures in all—combine with hundreds of fast facts and short pieces on the people, places, wildlife, weather, history, and current events that matter in our world today. National Geographic Answer Book is a vital reference for school, a handy resource at the office, and a fabulous pick-up-and browse companion at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

National Geographic magazine has always delighted its readers with wonderful photos and fascinating information about all parts of the world. No surprise that this title combines that with today�s expectation of quick, specific facts. As the cover material claims, �Designed for enjoyable browsing, the Answer Book is a treat for the inquiring mind.� Two-page spreads are organized into nine thematic chapters (�Maps and Globes,� �The Universe,� �Planet Earth,� �Life on Earth,� �Climates and Habitats,� �The Human World,� �World History,� �Science and Technology,� and �Countries of the World�). The main contributors are National Geographic and Washington Post writers and editors. Illustrations are credited to a variety of sources, including National Geographic, Getty Images, and Encyclopedia Britannica. The illustrations aren�t just decorative�for example, on the Fish spread are a color close-up photo of a New Guinea fairy basslet, a diagram of a fish respiratory system, and a photo of leaping sockeye salmon. Other features include �Fast Fact� boxes on nearly every page (for example, by 2050, India will be the world�s most populous country); �Click It� boxes with links to a variety of excellent web sites; page tabs to distinguish chapters; cross-references, with page numbers, to other articles; and a glossary defining 190 terms. Treatment tends to be broad; the two-page Monotheism entry encompasses Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Countries are treated almanac-style, each given only a flag, a statistical summary, and a single paragraph. Recommended as a ready-reference tool for most school and library collections�wonderful to suggest for home libraries, too. --Susan Gooden

About the Author

Kathryn Thornton, who wrote the foreword to this book, was a NASA astronaut from 1985 to 1996, flying four space missions including the first Hubble Space Telescope service mission and logging 21 extravehicular hours and 975 total hours in space. She is now a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (September 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426203454
• ISBN-13: 978-1426203459
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.2 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Questions & Answers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!, October 11, 2010

By 

klcraft - See all my reviews

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This review is from: National Geographic Answer Book: Fast Facts About Our World (Hardcover)

This book is an invaluable resource for anyone, with or without children. I purchased it for my daughter, but found it so interesting, I began going through it!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Answer Book????, February 13, 2011

By 

Alberto Mancinelli - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: National Geographic Answer Book: Fast Facts About Our World (Hardcover)

National Geographic Answer Book: Fast Facts About Our World
Correct information is a primary concern in an "Answer Book", even when the answers are fast facts. From this point of view, the book is not as good as the advertisement would have us believe; the book might be useful, but be ready to check the answers using other sources. A few examples.

Picture (photograph) on page 310: "Charles Lindbergh lands at Croydon Airport, London, completing his historic transatlantic one-man flight on April 20, 1927 ......." (Croydon Airport?? April 20 1927???).

The TRUE FACTS: Lindbergh started his one-man transatlantic flight taking off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York at 7:52am on MAY 20, 1927. He landed his plane (Spirit of St. Louis) at the Le Bourget Airdrome, Paris, France at 10:22pm (Paris time) on May 21, 1927.

"How does a flower work?" See picture of the PARTS OF A FLOWER on page 139:
the ovules are indicated as egg cells. Again, this is not a true fact: the ovule is a complex multicellular structure containing one egg cell.

The short description of plant responses to light signals (p.139) is on the short side and, as it is, does not tell the complete story; perhaps, photoperiodism should have been mentioned in addition to phototropism; and it would also have been nice to mention that there are other plant hormones
(gibberellins, cytokinis, etc) in addition to auxins.

All considered, one cannot give more than one star to this book, and if used to satisfy children's curiosity, the parents should make sure of confirming the information using other sources.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference Book, But There Are Mistakes, February 15, 2011

By 

tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: National Geographic Answer Book: Fast Facts About Our World (Hardcover)

THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANSWER BOOK is an attempt by the editors of National Geographic to provide the modern reader with a concise and relevant reference book about Planet Earth. In the days before the Internet (pre-1994) was common, encyclopedias and the like were necessary tools for the professional and amateur scholar alike. However, in the age of Wikipedia and Google, reference books have largely been regulated to the dustbins of history. Still, they have their place and THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANSWER BOOK is a good one.

The book is divided into nine chapters and attempts to provide a go-to source for basic questions about geography, geology, astronomy, anthropology, world history, and basic science. The chapters are Maps & Globes, The Universe, Planet Earth, Life on Earth, Climates & Habitats, The Human World, World History, Science & Technology, and Countries of the World. My favorite section of the book is Chapter Nine: Countries of the World. This section provides a profile of all 194 countries of the world. The countries are divided into the six continents they can be found upon. For each country there is a small picture of the nations national flag, the complete name of the country, basic information about the country (land area, population, capital, etc.), and a short paragraph about the country. I also liked how colorful the book is. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC is known for there breathtaking photos and they don't disappoint in this book. There are over 500 colored photographs and illustrations as well as more than 100 modern and archival maps.

I enjoy THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANSWER BOOK and believe it will be a reference book I refer to often. However, it's not flawless. For instance, on page 310 there is a photograph of Charles Lindbergh with the caption "Charles Lindbergh lands at Croydon Airport, London, completing his historic transatlantic one-man flight on April 20, 1927." Lindbergh completed his solo transatlantic flight on May 20, 1927 in Paris. The picture could be of him flying into Croydon because he visited there shortly after his stop in Paris, but his visit to Croydon wasn't on April 20, 1927. I understand how such an error could happen, but for a book such as this, there shouldn't be errors like that and is the reason why I can't give this book as high a recommendation as I would like. That's why you shouldn't use Wikipedia and Google to do your research for a book like this.