Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The standard in almanacs, December 3, 2006
There are many imitators on the market, some of them quite good, but this almanac has set the standard for more than a century. The New York World newspaper began publishing an almanac in 1868, "a 120-page volume with 12 pages of advertising." The newspaper suspended the almanac's publication in 1876, but publisher Joseph Pulitzer revived it in 1886 as a "compendium of universal knowledge." The almanac has been published annually since, outliving the newspaper whose name it still bears. (The World Almanac is not the oldest almanac in publication, however: that distinction belongs to The Old Farmer's Almanac, which is "North America's oldest continuously published periodical," founded in 1792.)
The World Almanac contains much useful information that belongs in any serious basic-reference set. For the world, the almanac presents basic statistics about each nation, and about the world's major religions; and summarizes the world's history, with more detailed histories of the United States and of the preceding year. For the United States, the almanac reprints the nation's organic documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; lists every community with a population over 5000, with its ZIP code and area code; lists every county (or parish or division) and county seat; contains a directory of the entire Federal government, including Congress and all congressional committees, every executive department, and every court and judge; presents basic statistics about each state and major city, and a short biography of each president; and much more. The almanac also contains bountiful information about education, science, sports, and many other topics. No other single volume offers such a wealth of information on such a variety of subjects.
The 2007 edition does suffer from the same issue that has affected the last several editions: it went to print in mid-October, before the November election and the World Series. Once upon a time, the almanac went to print in November, and included the preceding year's election returns and World Series results. But the preceding year's news has been ending earlier and earlier in recent editions: in the 1999 edition the last entry was 3 November 1998, in the 2004 edition it was 16 October 2003, and in the 2007 edition it is 16 October 2006. As a result, the directory of Congress and of state governments will be out of date during the first week of 2007. Omitting the election returns may have gotten the almanac onto the newsstand a week or two sooner, but the tradeoff hardly seems worth it. The almanac itself, however, is well worth the price. And it does contain some up-to-the-minute news: this edition is the first since Pluto's discovery that doesn't list Pluto as a planet!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and informative, December 31, 2006
I took this book along during my military deployment to Iraq and kept it on my bedstand. Nearly everyone that came to my room picked it up and found something interesting to read about.
It's packed full of info and has something for everyone whether you like sports trivia, current events, scientific facts, or the arts... you will be sure to find something of interest.
I personally enjoy the sections with a history of the world and brief background and history on each country of the world.
The biographies of all U.S. presidents are also a fascinating read.
There is a short history of the U.S. and a section on language with all kinds of lists... for example, the average person probably knows that fish swim in a school and that wolves run in packs, but how many know that a group of whales is called a gam, or that vultures congregate in a committee? You might have known that lions run in prides, but did you know that a group of tigers is a streak?
Whatever your interests, if you want to teach yourself sign language, familiarize yourself with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, consult a graph explaining just how major christian denominations differ, refer to a graphic chart showing how college basketball or football tournaments are organized, read a history of the Medal of Honor, educate yourself on healthcare and the primary disorders and diseases, study astronomy, or any number of other subject areas, this book will not disappoint.
Definitely pack this book if you are going to be stranded in the desert, or anywhere else with a lot of extra time on your hands then take my advice and get this book!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Star Reference, May 29, 2007
This is a personal experience review. You've seen all the praises of this inexpensive reference work and do not need my two-cents.
For over fifteen-years I taught GED classes, which one time contained students speaking fourteen different languages. The World Almanac and a thesaurus were our workbooks. We were librarians moonlighting in a night school near an Air Force base without a budget for teaching materials.
From "The World Almanac" we taught our students how to write term papers with outlining and to do the necessary research; we taught them the pertinent information they required to pass both their citizenship questions and the GED test for their high school diploma. The GED test contains four sections: English, Math, Science and Social Studies/Humanities.
During those years we never sent a student to their examination who didn't perform with excellence. After a few years our successes came to the attention of the examiners; they began sending us candidates who didn't make it with instructions "to get in our classes and stay there" until we said they were ready.
Since that time, I've taught the staff of every library where I worked to use this volume and to reach for it first, when confronted with a reference question. It still works; the Internet maybe more fashionable, but its consistent accuracy is questionable.
For authors, this is the must have book within reach of their computer, it is invaluable.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."
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