World Book Encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World Book Encyclopedia is, according to its publisher in the United States, "the number-one selling print encyclopedia in the world."[1] The first edition (1917) contained 8 volumes. New editions have since appeared every year except 1920, 1924, and 1932, with major revisions in 1929 (13 volumes), 1947 (18,000 illustrations), 1960 (20 volumes), and 1988.
World Book, Inc., is a subsidiary of the Scott Fetzer Company, which is in turn a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary.
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[edit] Overview
The World Book has been used across the world as a great source of information. Over the years, the World Book has been characterized by its populist design. Unlike other encyclopedias, it has traditionally published in nonuniform volumes sized to match the letters of the alphabet. Although most volumes cover exacly one letter completely, each letter with exceptionally many entries (C and S) is divided between two volumes, while adjacent letters with relatively few entries (J–K, N–O, Q–R, U–V, and W–Z) share a volume. World Book editors lay out major articles distinctively, often starting them on a page of their own, perhaps with a two-column heading. Though not called a "children's" encyclopedia, it is marketed as a "family" encyclopedia for readers above 15 years of age.[2] It recognizes that one of the primary uses of general-purpose encyclopedias is children's work on school reports. For instance, every article for a U.S. state has a box giving information such as the official state bird and tree, and many science articles have instructions or suggestions for science projects. Many articles also offer suggestions for additional reading.
[edit] Alternate editions
In 1961, World Book produced a Braille edition, which filled 145 volumes and nearly 40,000 pages. The project was mainly an effort in goodwill, for there was no expectation of selling enough copies of the set to cover production costs. Eventually, all sets of the Braille edition were donated to several institutions for the blind. In 1964, the company also published a large-print edition.[3]
A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia for Macintosh and Windows computers first appeared in 1990, but didn't have as much impact as the only other CD-ROM encyclopedia available at that time, Academic American Encyclopedia.
An international version, aimed at English-speakers outside of North America, was also produced in 1992.
Since 1998, in addition to the print and CD-ROM editions of the 22-volume, 13,800-page encyclopedia, World Book also publishes an online version called the World Book Online Reference Center.[4] The online version includes all of the articles contained in the print set as well as several thousand additional articles and the contents of every yearbook World Book has published since 1922.
Other World Book products include:
- The World Book Dictionary (1st edition in 1963)
- The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia,an encyclopedia for younger students (since 1999)
- Childcraft
- World Book's Animals of the World.
[edit] CD-ROM
World Book Encyclopedia is also published in electronic form for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Apple until recently bundled a copy of World Book Encyclopedia with every consumer-level computer sold. This edition of the encyclopedia can be updated online and has a world atlas and several tools for school pupils.
[edit] Reputation and public opinion
World Book is widely respected for being reliable and up to date. "Material generally is verified in at least three independent reliable sources, excluding other general encyclopedias."[5] It is also the most up-to-date encyclopedia sold, with 20% of its pages revised each year.[5] It has also been praised for its illustrations and maps, which are extensive and of high quality. Illustrations account for about one third of the layout, and some 80 percent are in color. Its cross-references are very extensive as well, and an exhaustive (more than 150,000 entries) analytical index ensures easy access to the contents of the set.[6]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Foster Stockwell, A History of Information Storage and Retrieval (2001) p. 137.
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ Scott Kennedy, Reference Sources for Small and Medium-sized Libraries (1999) p. 27.
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