The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge : A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind

Rating:
Summary: A Lot of Information, Easy to Finc
Review: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind -- General, Reference, Trivia, Reference / General ==I started off with this book by having a question: What is the capital of Uruguay. ==After all, a Guide to Essential Knowledge should contain such facts. Further they should be easy to find (well indexed), the page referenced should be easy to find, and the information on the page should be easy to distinguish from the rest of the page. ==Well I turned to the index, yup, there was Uruguay - page 857. 'Turned to page 857, this was in the section Nations of the World, Uruguay was in bold face type and underlined in the middle of the left hand column. A couple of inches from the top of the Uruguay entry it said, Capital: Montevideo. The book certainly passed the first test. ==Then I started flipping through the book. I found the Hundred Words Most Frequently Misspelled - I won't bother to mention how many of these I frequently mizzpel. ==As with any of these omnibus type books, the selection of what material to include is always a problem. You can't put in everything and still be able to lift it. So far, everything I've looked for I've found, what more can I add.

Rating:
Summary: Packed with useful info and well written too!
Review: Bluffers beware: owners of this well-written, surprisingly entertaining tome (1096 pages, a bit over 4 pounds) are likely to settle any fact-based argument on the spot. Whether the argument concerns what year K.C. Jones was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, or who the great figures of Iraqi mythology might be, or what famous people originally hailed from New Hampshire, a dip into these pages will prove you right or wrong.

There are three main sections: The Arts; Economics, Business and Finance; and Science and Technology. Each chapter (Dance, Geography, Mathematics, Literature and Drama, Medicine, Sports, etc) starts off with a succinct but comprehensive history. For example, "Architecture" moves from the Paleolithic to Skyscrapers in 11 pages, managing to define Byzantine and list the great works of Frank Lloyd Wright without skipping the Baroque. Each chapter highlights the famous people in its field and concludes with a glossary of terms.

"Times" writers have contributed essays throughout, including Steve Kinzer on Jelly Roll Morton, Jane Brody on Hypertension, and Nicholas Wade on the future of human evolution. The back of the book is a treasure trove of facts: a language usage guide, a crossword puzzle dictionary, vital statistics of the world's nations and the U.S. states, a list of award-winners, a dictionary of food, a wine primer, a guide to nutrition, and a biographical dictionary of 1,000 people. This is one of those books you didn't know you needed till you had it.

Rating:
Summary: Sad.
Review: Fat, promising book. Open it. It is not a handy desk reference by any means. The selection of information is quite weird and disappointingly thin. All the useful stuff you would expect to find is not there! And the touted Crossword Puzzle Dictionary is a joke of 7 pages! Many of the articles are too long. Many areas are not covered at all. It really makes you wonder what on earth they were attempting in preparing this book.

Rating:
Summary: Liberal bias myth obscures a great read
Review: This book is full of interesting factoids and is a great reference to have handy. Letting your personal opinions of the New York Times obscure your own objectivity puts you in the same class as those you claim hold a liberal bias - seems hypocritical and has no place on a review page. Don't you thus hold a conservative bias? Hmmm... If you're looking for a great holiday gift for someone who enjoys reading almanacs and playing trivia games, check this book out.

Rating:
Summary: This book is awesome!
Review: This hefty book is full of interesting and useful facts. It's very well written and useful. You'll be the smartest cat in your crew!