Customer Reviews

World Almanac and Book of Facts 2010 (World Almanac & Book of Facts)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am reviewing the Kindle edition. I should have looked at the reviews more carefully before I purchased and realized that there were almost no Kindle reviews. I thought that as I was looking in the Kindle section the reviews were all for the Kindle edition. Not the case- they are all lumped together - Hardback edition, paperback edition and Kindle edition.

The Kindle edition has several large problems compared with the print editions. First of all, for some reason, there are large omissions from the print editions. I have no idea why since size should not be a factor when creating the electronic version. You actually are getting a greater volume of information when you buy the paperback.

Secondly, all the charts and graphs are scanned in somehow and are difficult to read. If the resolution of the scan was better, it might help. However, most of these tables could be made electronically just like the text. After all, that is how they are originally made before they are published in print form. Now I grant you that it must be more difficult to publish an almanac electronically compared with, say, a John Grisham novel (which is just one really large text file), but this is what the electonic medium should be about.

Also, the full index is not present in electronic form - just the table of contents. This makes it very difficult to find particular information you want to look up. Say you want to know the state flower of Indiana. The best you can do is find that USA section in the table of contents and then turn pages - one by one - till you find Indiana and then read. You could find it in the paperback in 10 seconds - it would take minutes on the Kindle. There is no reason they could not have a detailed index at the back.

Hopefully, this will get better as electronic book publishing improves over time. I have always thought it would be great to have an almanac on a device like the Kindle or Ipad to have all this info at your fingertips, but it will have to be in a much improved published format to be really useful.

Last year I complained LOUDLY that the 2009 World Almanac was missing some very useful information on zip codes, area codes, U.S. metropolitan area population rankings and town populations by state. I am pleased to report that the 2010 World Almanac reinstated all of the missing information. Thank you, World Almanac Books.

Zip codes and area codes are once again provided by town, where they used to be, of considerable interest and use to this Almanac user. Largest metropolitan areas ranked by population are included again, as are U.S. population for Places Of 10,000 Or More by state, all with 2008 estimates based on 2000 census data. The metro populations also include 1990 census data.

As expected, the full 2008 presidential election returns are provided by county and the section on Noted Personalities Entertainers of the Present & the Past remains a fun read for our celebrity-infatuated country. Alas, no listing for Jon & Kate but young women might like to know that Robert Pattinson has been added.

My only gripe in the 2010 World Almanac is that the section on state and county populations has been omitted. It is not enough for me to reduce the rating a full star, but it is enough to be a little annoying. It would be nice to have it back, please.

Since I want to end on a positive note, let me say that it never ceases to amaze me what a massive undertaking it is to update and publish this book, presenting such vast amounts of data in such a usable, understandable form. All that effort, the fact-checking and the proofing make this publication the annual treasure that it is.

This annual publication is a necessity in our household. It brings all manner of knowledge to one's fingertips. It's hard to write a coherent review of a work that covers so many areas of information. Among subjects covered: 2009 in review; economy7, business, and industry; crime; military affairs; health and vital statistics; science and technology; consumer information; U. S. government; U. S. facts, history, and elections; U. S. cities, states, and population; world history and culture; sports. There is also an index at the end.

One way of getting a sense of the substance of this reference work is to note data and information taken at random by flipping to different pages throughout the volume. Page 55: consumption expenditures by category from 1990-2008 (categories include motor vehicles and parts, furniture and office equipment, clothing, health, education services and so on). Page 150: cigarette and alcohol use. Pages 342-343: descriptions of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (orbit, atmosphere, satellites, etc.). Page 473: areas administered by the U. S. Park Service; major territorial additions throughout American history (e.g., Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Guam). Pages 652-653: ancient civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China). Page 787: description of different countries on earth, such as Haiti and Honduras (with information on population, geography, type of government, monetary unit, transportation, and so on). Page 911: baseball (major accomplishments during 2009, such as Mark Buehrle's perfect game and final standings from the 2009 season).

As always, a wonderful source of information. I often find myself going to the latest edition to check out one obscure fact or another.

The World Almanac has been published since the nineteenth century, and for good reason--it is a great reference book. Perhaps the most fascinating parts of the almanac are the sports section, the meteorological data, and the county-by-county presidential election returns. There is also statistical data for major U.S. cities, for each state in the Union, and for each nation in the world. Also included are factoids and data for all kinds of categories such as the economy, entertainment personalities, vital statistics, education, religion, astronomy, and much, much more. One could spend a long time just browsing in the almanac.

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, though: 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; contains a directory of the entire Federal government; 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.

The 2010 edition does differ in a few important respects from other recent editions -- sometimes for the better, sometimes not. For the better, the 2010 edition reinstates the longtime feature (omitted from the 2009 edition) listing every community with a population over 10,000 (raised from 5,000 in older editions), with its ZIP code and area code. But on the downside, evidently the tradeoff for reinstating that listing was dropping the listing of counties and county seats. And while I was hopeful that the delay in releasing the 2010 almanac until December 2009 meant more up-to-date coverage of the year 2009, in fact the coverage ends in October 2009, consistent with recent editions. (The preceding year's news had 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 2008 edition it was 12 October 2007.)

Overall, though, the 2010 World Almanac continues to set the standard, and is well worth the price. No other single volume offers such a wealth of information on such a variety of subjects.

I believe that this book is my best work's tool I have ever had. As a journalist I can find any information I need in The World Almanac and Book of Fact. And any news is complete ad exhaustive. I buy it every year and can't stay without it.

Totally invaluable! I can't hazard a guess at how many times I go to one or other of my library of past and present World Almanacs. All intelligent and thinking people should own this wonderful annual.

I bought the Kindle addition thinking that it would be an excellent version to have handy. I've bought the World Almanac for years and know it's a great quick source.

The Kindle addition has no active index. In fact, the index is read only and useless. Also, the charts are not scanned at a high enough resolution to be easily readable. They are pretty much useless too. Suggest you avoid the 2010 Kindle edition. Maybe for the 2011 edition they will spend a little more time and make it as useful as the paper version.

I have been getting the World Almanac every year since childhood and still look forward to the latest version. I and many others were disappointed by the 2009 edition, which removed some of the most interesting and valuable long-standing material, such as individual city populations and detailed college/university listings. These are thankfully restored - though only cities of 10,000+ rather than 5,000+ are now shown -, and I can say without reservation that this is the best edition yet. It has everything the series is known for in the most updated form. For those unfamiliar with the World Almanac, suffice it to say that it has nearly every type of statistical data anyone could ever want - everything from politics to sports to crime to demographics - and a wealth of other information. There is also a treasure trove of narratives, including find brief histories of the world and every country. In short, this is the go-to source virtually any time a quick answer is needed: to settle a bet, for homework help, or simply out of curiosity. That so much information exists in a single book is almost unbelievable, and the invaluable table of contents, index, and brief index at the back make browsing easy. Also, in great contrast to more recent and increasingly popular sources - e.g., Wikipedia - accuracy is nearly guaranteed.

The 2010 book is particularly valuable in being an end-of-the-decade edition; in addition to all the usual annual updates and features, we get excellent special coverage of the century's first decade, including many lists and several narratives.

Simply put, those who have long loved the World Almanac will certainly want this, especially as it fixes 2009's glaring faults, and there has never been a better time for the curious to get onboard. This work's value is such that, if I could only keep one book, it would without question be this, and everyone else who uses it will surely agree, which is probably all that need be said.

If one wants an all purpose reference book for a reasonable amout of money I highly recommend the World Almanac Book of Facts 2010. It takes very little skill to use and in many instances it is even quicker than the internet. A must for a family with school aged kids. Good for everything from geography information to baseball information. A book such as this,in the house,encourages the use of independent
reference work and also quickly settles arguments.