Customer Reviews

The Old Farmer's Almanac 2011

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Published since 1792, one of the oldest periodicals in the country is still available. I like to keep two of these on hand, this year's and the edition for next. As always, great information and entertainment. The usual holiday and observance times, astronomy guide, monthly breakdowns, a very interesting article on scything, a table of measure conversions, and more.

For an amateur skywatcher, you can't beat the Old Farmer's Almanac for telling you when and where to expect interesting sights, well in advance so you can plan your viewing. If you are a professional astronomer, you should by all means use a dedicated astronomical almanac. For my level, this sort of information is all I need and far cheaper. Yes, it has a lot of ads, but that's the tradeoff for selling this amount of data for less than seven bucks.

For example, I know from my 2010 edition that there will be a full eclipse of the moon December 21st starting at 12:28 a.m. and becoming total at 2:40 a.m. My 2011 edition says the weather at that time should be sunny and warm. Is this weather information accurate? We'll find out! That's half the fun of this book.

I always enjoy getting my annual copy of this work. Last year, we had a special event scheduled for February and everyone was nervous about getting snowed out. I reached for my trust Almanac, and it said that the weather would be fine. Indeed, the Almanac was right (of course, no one felt especially confident because of my reference to this publication!).

Each year, there are some unique elements; others are traditional from year to year (such as the weather projections). Some matters of interest--the calendar for meteor showers (page 92). On January 24, 25 meteors per hour will rain down in the skies. Best viewing is just before dawn and the meteors will come in from the north. What more information could one want for watching a meteor shower? I'm not a fisherman, but I can see how a person interested in angling might find useful the section on "Best fishing days and times." For instance, the Almanac says that July 1-15 will be prime, when the moon is between new and full. One nice thing about these projections is that one can actually check them out to see if the Almanac is even close. There's also a brief sidebar on how to estimate the weight of a fish. Or, the extent to which manners have or have not changes (pages 168 and following).

Of course, the one part that is so often focused upon is the weather predictions. I am located in Region 3 (which includes central Pennsylvania, and extends from Elmira, NY in the north to Asheville, NC in the south). Since winter can get frisky here, let's take a look at February. Temperature will average a wee bit higher than normal; precipitation (code word for snow) will be average. Dates when snow might hit us include the 11th-15th (snow showers) and the 16th-19th (snowstorm and then sunny) and the 25th-28th (rain turning to snow). So, I'll keep this little prediction (and others) in front of me to see how well the old Almanac does!

Another year and another visit from this old publication friend.

I got it for the first time and didn't know what to expect. Its fun but light on farming information. Its not really about farming too much as it is about old timey stuff, folklore, moon cycles, astrology, and stuff that is a little out there for me. I don't think I will buy it again, but it was still fun to read it, just don't expect scientific farming information.

I always get the Almanac every year. This made it great pre ordering it. I didn't have to wait and get it at the store.

The Old Farmer's Almanac has been published since the late eighteenth century, and the 2011 edition has all of the standard information that longtime readers have come to expect. The book contains information on astronomy, including sunrise and sunset times, dates of eclipses, and tips on when to view the planets in our solar system that can be viewed with the naked eye. Miscellaneous factoids are listed in the "This Year at a Glance" section. Weather forecasts for all sections of the U.S. for November 2010 through October 2011 are issued, and there are also gardening tips and recipes. Long-range weather forecasts are not always reliable, but the publishers claim that their forecasts have an accuracy rate of 80 percent. The Old Farmer's Almanac is a long-standing American institution and always contains some interesting browsing material.

I ordered both 2010 and 2011 almanacs because I kept hearing how "the farmer's almanac is predicting..."
When ordering, there is nothing to indicate (that I saw) that I would need to purchase individual pages online to get the information for my area in the Northwest.
The books are made for Boston specifically and New England.

Whether you are interested in "Weather" or not or even in farming tid bits, you will find this book helpful. Entertaining articles included and it's loaded with tons of information. Best of all, it's reasonably priced. It made a great stocking stuffer for my husband.

My father used to buy The Old Farmer's Almanac when I was a child. I liked reading it then. I saw it on site and on impulse bought it. It took me back down memoty lane, and i stlll find it worth reading.

I buy this almanac every year; love the articles as well as the sunrise/sunset tables. It's a ritual every December to celebrate the first minute of daylight gained in the evening!

My mom was looking for this book (farmer's Almanac) recently and couldn't find it in her home town. I was so happy that i was able to find it for her, here at Amazon.com. In a couple of days she received it at her home.