Rating: 
Summary: Mostly excellent but....
Review: As far as content goes, the book is certainly a treasure house of information. However, on certain sensitive socio-political topics, some of the contributors clearly show their bias. Thus, one should approach such entries with the proverbial grain of salt. I feel that an encyclopedia's contributors should be as factual and objective as possible, and make a point to avoid any appearance of personal bias...
Rating:
Summary: Mostly excellent but....
Review: English lanquage is underrepresented.Word crime is not
here but we have criminal law.I expect on word crime
to see crime rates in the world and where USA is.
Word hunger not here either but we see hunger strike.
Encyclopedia not suppose to hide anything.
Rating: 
Summary: not good
Review: English lanquage is underrepresented.Word crime is not
here but we have criminal law.I expect on word crime
to see crime rates in the world and where USA is.
Word hunger not here either but we see hunger strike.
Encyclopedia not suppose to hide anything.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of information in one book
Review: I bought the Columbia encyclopedia a little over a year ago and now I feel qualified enough to review it.I'm never amazed at the amount of information that is presented in this book. It has never failed me or my seventh-grade daughter with any of her school related questions. Whether her questions have to do with the population density of Calcutta (population and area in sq. miles), cell reproduction or plate tectonics, I have yet to find something that she needed and it was not there. The information is presented in a very succinct manner. There is never too much or too little information for a specific entry - always just enough. The "also see" and bibliography references at the end of many entries are very useful. The binding is great. I was afraid that this huge book after constant use would crack at the hinges, but that is not true. This is one of the bulkiest books I've got and, yet, surprisingly, is also one of the strongest. After more than a year's frequent use, the hinges feel as strong as when I bought it and so do the ledge and spine. This is not a multimedia information center. There are no pictures, only maps and drawings. When you first open it, you are faced with columns and columns of small font text, though it's nicely laid out. I do not find any social or political bias in the book, but I may not be sensitive to it. One will not find positive or negative references being made on specific issues, although one may find something to the extend of "some academics feel that..." or "in this century XYZ has fallen out of favor with..." The book does not take sides, its stance is neutral and objective with no flavor. It does not offend and its errors (if any) are ones of omission not commission. It may be a good idea to visit your local library first to take a closer look at its heftiness, lack of pictures and, perhaps, objectivity prior to purchasing it to see if it's something that suits your family's style. If you decide to buy it without examining it first, I don't believe you will be dissapointed - it's a great book and a best buy.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding collection of knowledge
Review: I have bought a Columbia encyclopedia every 5 years or so for over 20 years, with each one having been superior to its predecessor. I grew up with them and their awesome wealth of knowledge. But this encyclopedia is a notch above my highest expectation. In this age of computer encyclopedias, it may seem futile to buy a printed version. But from experience, I know that this encyclopedia often has information that I can't find on Encarta or Compton's. And that is priceless. It is well worth it to have this compendium of information.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding collection of knowledge
Review: I have bought a Columbia encyclopedia every 5 years or so for over 20 years, with each one having been superior to its predecessor. I grew up with them and their awesome wealth of knowledge. But this encyclopedia is a notch above my highest expectation. In this age of computer encyclopedias, it may seem futile to buy a printed version. But from experience, I know that this encyclopedia often has information that I can't find on Encarta or Compton's. And that is priceless. It is well worth it to have this compendium of information.
Rating:
Summary: Columbia versus Britannica Concise
Review: I think both books are outstanding, and more complementary than rivals. In fact, I use both. Nevertheless, there are some differences.
Columbia's big dimensions and weight (8.9 pounds/4 kg) make almost necessary to read it on a desk. Britannica Concise (BCE) is 6.7 pounds/3 kg and smaller.
Both utilize an extremely small font size. Columbia contains 6.5 million words. BCE "only" 2.6.
Britannica C has over 2000 photographs, maps, tables, drawings, color illustrations; nations flags ... In Columbia, illustrations are sparse, limited to about 500 black-and-white line drawings.
Columbia's 6th edition stopped in 1999. BCE is of April 2003 and is edited every year in spring, but I don't know if they are going to update it or not.
Britannica Concise has articles like Super Bowl, Viagra, Coca-Cola, Big Stick Policy, Mother's Day and Father's Day ... that don't exist in Columbia.
Quantity does not always mean Quality. B Concise seems to be more shrewd, witty and, by the way, less subjective. For instance, Columbia's article Homosexuality concludes in this way: "But AIDS (.....) also sparked moralistic reactions; some felt, for example, that it represented a form of judgment on homosexuality". BCE's same article is shorter, but neutral, and does not say such a thing.
As I said before, both books are outstanding and complementary.
Rating:
Summary: One volume does it all
Review: The amazing thing about this encyclopedia is I often prefer it to my Britannica CD (or the online service). It's faster, more to the point, and has a surprising number of very clear and helpful illustrations and charts (all the Supreme Court Justices and their dates, p. 2659; a schematic for an iron blast furnace, p. 310).
It's also a great gazetteer (Inuvik - Northwest Territories Candada, pop. 8,491, with a whole darn paragraph on the place!).
The only downside is that as impressive as this thing is, it has to be brief. Only 2 sentences on King Khufu of Egypt, for example, seems a bit unfair, but such is life. (On the up side, they give 16 lines to my favorite writer H.H.Munro, aka Saki.)
Rating:
Summary: One volume does it all
Review: The amazing thing about this encyclopedia is I often prefer it to my Britannica CD (or the online service). It's faster, more to the point, and has a surprising number of very clear and helpful illustrations and charts (all the Supreme Court Justices and their dates, p. 2659; a schematic for an iron blast furnace, p. 310).
It's also a great gazetteer (Inuvik - Northwest Territories Candada, pop. 8,491, with a whole darn paragraph on the place!).
The only downside is that as impressive as this thing is, it has to be brief. Only 2 sentences on King Khufu of Egypt, for example, seems a bit unfair, but such is life. (On the up side, they give 16 lines to my favorite writer H.H.Munro, aka Saki.)
Rating:
Summary: Columbia sets the standard and sets it high!
Review: The sixth edition of Columbia is a distinct improvement over the fifth (CH, Feb'94), which contained not a few embarrassing geographical inaccuracies. Editor Legasse also edited Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. Hefty indeed, the new Columbia contains some 51,000 entries covering a vast array of topics; it is the largest one-volume general encyclopedia in English. Nearly 40 percent of its content has been revised to reflect the political, social, scientific, and technological developments since the fifth edition. Entirely new are some 1,300 entries covering such topics as the Internet, the Ebola virus, and alternative medicine, to name only a few. Among its 6.5 million words are 700 black-and-white illustrations, 80,000 cross-references, and 40,000 bibliographic citations. Articles range in length from a few lines to several pages, usually written in straightforward style free of jargon. A note for readers explains that "information from one article is generally not repeated in another," although numerous articles are properly cross-referenced to related items. Vladimir Putin, for example, is cross-referenced to Chechnya, which is cross-referenced to Dagastan. Entries are arranged alphabetically in boldface; longer articles are paragraphed with italicized subheadings (unlike the fifth edition) and conclude with brief bibliographies. Like its predecessor, the sixth edition dispenses entirely with photographs and portraits of persons, but includes hundreds of useful maps, tables, and diagrams, many new or revised. Other features include a key to pronunciation and a list of abbreviations. Extending a tradition begun in 1935, this version of Columbia is impressive in its sweep, clarity, and authoritativeness, making it a happy choice among one-volume "first-stop" reference works. Highly recommended for home use or for public, high school, or college libraries. Highly Recommended
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