Customer Reviews

The New York Public Library Desk Reference

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm torn between praise for this book and condemnation for those who typeset it. What the other reviews say are true: there's a wealth of information on every page. It's surprising how much information there is in this one volume.

However, I've also got to remark how surprised and disappointed I was to find severe formatting problems in the typesetting of this book. In many charts, information ends up in the wrong columns (example: the chart listing U.S. Presidents). Shockingly, the chart listing the "50 states" and their capitals only contains 48 states, leaving out Maine and Wyoming! As useful as this book is, these kinds of problems make one wonder about the accuracy of any of the information in it.

This is an excellent reference book for the house. Anytime my wife or I have a broad or general question our first stop is this book. I can't wait until they produce an updated one. The only thing about this book is that some small facts seem to be slightly off; e.g. the enlisted grades for the United States Air Force still list an E-4 as a Buck Sergeant which was changed to Senior Airman around 1995 or so. Because of this small discrepancy sometimes I question the facts in the book since I don't necessarily have first hand knowledge to verify there data. Overall this has been a great book and I would recommend it to anyone.

This is a fantastic book to have on your shelf for those times when you simply must know something right this minute. But I don't recommend it as a stand alone source because there are some errors in it (surprising for a 3d edition).

Still, as a general reference, this volume is unsurpassed. On the whole, it rates as "very good" - the scope is broader than any other book of its kind and it's laid out well enougn that it's pretty easy to find the information you want when you need it.

I read through this reference book and I was pleased to see how much information was included. I have noticed that other reviewers have pointed out inaccurate facts. I thought it would be a great book to have on a table, or shelf somewhere in every home. If I planned on researching something thoroughly, I would cross-reference any information between several sources. The New York Public Library Desk Reference would be a great place to start. If you have curious children with lots of questions (like I do) buy this book.

I've already found several errors and omissions in this book. For instance, the music section contains errors, such as its dubious claim that "all popular songs can be accompanied by three chords". There is no section on mental health or psychology, which I consider a major omission. And some of the tables are indeed labelled incorrectly. I do think this is a handy book, but because of its omissions and errors is often not a usable substitute for authoritative references on many of its subtopics. For many applications, a one-volume encyclopedia would be a better choice.

Amazon is apparently unaware that the Fourth Edition of this book (The New York Public Library Desk Reference) was published in 2002. The Third Edition, which is what Amazon is trying to sell to us, came out in 1998. Don't waste your money on out of date reference material, unless, of course, you are doing historical research.

Amazon: Shame on you!

Very handy in some senses (historical data), but it's getting a little old and in need of updating. For example, the current Pope (Ratzinger) isn't listed at all; this edition (the Third) went to print in 1998. On the other hand, historically-based information doesn't change (or at least it shouldn't- James Audubon died in 1851 and it is unlikely that will change). Think of it as "Just the important parts of Wikipedia" all nicely formatted, printed out, and bound into a book. Buy a used copy if you can and keep it in your personal library; part of the value of this sort of book will be in fifty to 100 years as "contemporaneous evidence".

I've found this book to be a very handy tool in answering the most common questions. Though, as with any general reference, the details of many items are lacking. This is certainly no replacement for your encylopedias, but it is a very well organize tome containing many of the most frequently asked questions.

This book is an excellent starting point for research projects, though for any indepth analysis you will quickly find yourself moving on to other sources.

As with any reference, this one is starting to become out-dated (I refer to the 3rd edition from 1998). I'm sure the authors will continually update it so that it continues to be an important source for the answers to most questions.

This book is full of helpful information about almost everything comes to anybody's mind. It is a very good source of information.

Actually what u see in this book is the overview of almost all the topic that usually popup's in our mind, answers to some of the common problem and some amazing facts that surrounds us & we don't know, though there are few lapses but still its the best book to buy if you want a quick reference on any topic