Customer Reviews

World Factbook, 2001

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In 1995, my high school history teacher gave me a copy of the World Factbook. It has information about every area in the world including all UN Members, dependencies of nations (Puerto Rico, Aruba, American Samoa), and areas under dispute (West Bank, Gaza Strip, Taiwan, Western Sahara), and the five oceans. I have used the book for six years since then. This leads us to this edition. This edition is in black and white. Because of this flaw, you cannot tell the colors in the various flags. The publisher left out a series of maps that are published in the back of the Factbook. Despite what the publisher says, this leaves the Factbook incomplete. Another flaw is that the publisher dates the previous years Factbook with the next years date. This could leave users confused. A previous reviewer faulted this edition for having the former Yugoslavia as 'Serbia and Montenegro'. There is a reason for this. Until Slobodan Milosevic's defeat in the 2000 Yugoslav elections, the US Government acknowledged the fact that Serbia and Montenegro - the two remaining republics left of the old communist Yugoslavia (the four other republics had left the former Yugoslavia by 1991-92) had formed a new nation - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). In saying that, the US (and the United Nations) felt the FRY was not the replacement for the old communist Yugoslavia. The CIA, being apart of the government followed suit. Another review claims the World Factbook does not have Vatican City. In fact, the book has the Vatican under the name of Holy See. The reason the Holy See is not under the name of Vatican City is that the Holy See and Vatican City are two different entities. The Holy See is the center of the Catholic church. It signs treaties and sends diplomats to various countries. The Vatican owns the Holy See's property but doesn't sign treaties and send diplomats around the world because it chooses not to. Because of this, the latter is listed. You can't fault them for these things. The bottom line: go to the CIA site first to preview the factbook before you buy. If you decide to buy, get the Factbook from the government and not this flawed edition.

If you like tables, charts, graphs, and maps, this is not the book for you. Everything in the book is available for free on the CIA website. Check out the website before you decide to buy the book, so you can see how little (in the way of anything interesting, useful, or detailed) the book offers.