The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003

I recently bought a copy of "The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003" for my workplace, and the book has gotten a lot of use. It's both a practical source of useful information and a fun thing to read in spare minutes.The book reviews the top news stories of 2002, and includes coverage of the war on terrorism. There is a chronology covering 11 Oct. 2001 to 15 Oct 2002. The almanac is packed full of data in many categories: the U.S. government, arts and the media, awards, languages, religions, astronomy, nations of the world, etc. To make the book easy to use there is not only a one-page quick reference index and a more extensive general index, but also a quick thumb index on the back cover.So if you want to know the salary of the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, the name of the winner of the 1918 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, the surface area of the island of Elba, the number of Buddhists in Europe, or a huge number of other global facts, you've come to the right source.

I buy this book every year. This is THE book when you want vital statistics on virtually any subject. This book should be purchased for your child every year and make sure that they read it. The book also is the ultimate Bathroom Book. BUY IT TODAY!! You will not regret it.

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 World Almanac is still the world?s best-selling almanac by far. I think it is best known and liked for being an inexpensive, compact, reliable fact-filled reference source, where you are most likely to find what you want fast, if you do not get too engrossed in too many other things along the way. There are the usual chapters, with everything from economics to arts and media to states of the U.S., nations of the world, and lots of sports. The new 2003 edition, like every edition, is extensively updated, and also has new features to make it stand out from the one before. The World Almanac 2003 has several feature articles related to terrorism, in the wake of 9-11. One of the new features in the rest of the book is a bunch of World Almanac Quick Quizzes spread around the chapters?you can try thinking up the answer to the question, find it in the chapter, or look it up in the answer key. There are also factoids spread around the book, and the usual familiar features such as Top Ten News Stories and Offbeat News. The new edition has more science coverage than ever before, and the Noted Personalities and Calendar chapters were both expanded. Like last year, readers can also subscribe to a free E-newsletter that provides monthly updates after the book is published. All in all, it is still a big bargain and makes a great gift. It?s a tradition in my family that I give everyone a copy as a Christmas present every year.

I thoroughly enjoy reading this book. The information is quite current (most statistics are updated to somewhere between 2000 - 2002). All of the information is very relevant to an American, and condensed into dense nuggets.What I really like about this Almanac is that I can leaf to any page while I have a few minutes free and get some nuggets of information that help me be an informed citizen. I do not have to read this cover to cover. I can read a page or even a half page in a few minutes to get useful data.There's really not much I would change about this Almanac. I would like to see the price point go down to the single digits... if the editors want to include advertising to bring down the cost, so be it.