The World Almanac and Book of Facts

What an amazing editor, I recently watched the film "Ken park" and was amazed by the amazing information! My kids loved it! Thanks again Ken for another great edition!

I was first introduced to "The World Almanac and Book of Facts" 17 years ago. I am pleased to report that the quality and content have remained at a very high standard. This is an essential book to both the lover of statistical information and those of us who use it as an aid for solving crosswords and puzzles. As an Australian, I have not been able to find an almanac of comparable versatility and range of information. The color maps and pictures of world events are a bonus.

First of all, please allow me to state that I own several editions to this terrific publication, from as far back as 1991. I find it both informative, and entertaining. It is a book that covers a wide array of topics. Here are a FEW of the topics covered in this huge publication: top news stories of 2004, chronology of events of 2003 - 2004, notable supreme court decisions, major actions of the 108th congress, top grossing concerts of all time, top grossing movies of all time, celebrity birthplaces and birthdates, members of the US supreme court, accident statistics, basic first aid, eating disorders, nutritive value of certain food, where to get help (health),US consumer price index of 2003-2004, world's 50 largest banking companies, US and world economics, taxes, your rights as a tax payer, energy, meteorology, historic world disasters, women in the US armed forces statistics, air distances between major world cities, U S population, world history, state statistics, nation statistics, world maps, world nation flags, consumer information business directory, world exploration & geography, the seven wonders of the world, selected world historical figures, US history, the U S Constitution, Lincoln's Gettysburg address, how a bill becomes law, official presidential election results 1948-2000, national parks list, largest US cities, associations and societies, headquarters of selected US religious groups, baseball football basketball racing & fishing records. A perfect gift for any student or trivia buff, and a master reference book. It is a New York Times bestseller and has been printed since 1868. If you want a book that delivers nothing but entertaining information, it's hard to beat this one.

I have never owned a world almanac prior to now, so I cannot gauge it's stance in comparison to previous editions. What I can go by is what Isee in front of me, and Im impressed. The World Almanac 2005 contains a vast, never-ending bastion of information whithin it's pages. Virtually everything from how the planets of the solar system, to the winners of the super bowl is somewhere in here. A complete (although albeit very rough) run down of world history, details on any subject you can think of, from health statistics to the GDP of any nation on earth, to almost every major event that took place. The facts, figures, statistics, and so much more that is in this book is just invaluable. For the price, I cant imagine why anyone would NOT own the yearly edition of this book. It will keep you entertained, informed and settle most of your day to day ponderances. There's an endless stream of lists, tables and graphs, lists of every leader of britain, to a list of all the greek gods and thier purposes - heck even the periodic table of elements! If you can think of it, it's probably in here somewhere! If you're the curious type who constantly has questions pop into your mind or who enjoys browsing through statistics such as the largest cities of the world, the average birthrates listed by state (they even include zip and area codes for every city over 5000 population in the country!). This book is indespensible!

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 2005 edition's biggest drawback is that it went to print too early in 2004, before the November election. Earlier editions contain at least preliminary results from the preceding year's election, but this edition arrived the day after the election, meaning that it must have gone to press weeks earlier. The chronology of the preceding year ends in early October 2004: the last entry is 8 October. (By contrast, the last entry in the 2004 edition was 16 October 2003, and in the 1999 edition was 3 November 1998.) As a result, not only does this edition lack the detailed results from the 2004 Presidential election, but its directory of Congress and of state governments will be out of date during the first week of 2005. Omitting the election returns may have gotten the almanac onto the newsstand a week or two sooner, but the tradeoff hardly seems worth it. The almanac itself, however, is well worth the price.