Material type: BookPublisher: Cambridge ; New York :Cambridge University Press,1990Description: ix, 1334 p., xvi p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 27 cm.ISBN: 0521395283.Subject(s): Encyclopedias and dictionariesDDC classification: 032
First published in 1990 (LJ 9/1/90) and previously revised in 1994, this stout, single-volume general encyclopedia tips the scales at close to seven pounds. By comparison, the largerand superiorColumbia Encyclopedia (LJ 9/15/93) weighs in at nearly 11 pounds. The Cambridge's new revised edition has the same structure as before, comprising about 26,000 concise A-Z entries plus a 128-page "Ready Reference" supplement that offers much information in tabular form. Approximately 600 illustrations enhance the text, including a 24-page color world atlas and 200 country flags, also in color, printed on the endpapers. The volume is admirably current, as the entries "English Channel," "Globe Theatre," and "Chechnya" attest. The editor and most of the contributors are academics from the United Kingdom; not surprisingly, the contents reflect a British emphasis, e.g., all five entries under "Butler" are Englishmen; among the missing are Americans Ben Butler (Civil War general) and Nicholas Murray Butler (educator). Recommended as an authoritative, up-to-date reference work, but the crème de la crème remains the Columbia.Ken Kister, author of "Best Encyclopedias," Tampa, Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
CHOICE Review
The third edition maintains the style, format, and coverage of the 1990 (CH, Mar'91) and 1994 editions. Although the editor stresses the addition of more than 15,000 new entries for "newsworthy developments," some that are not of British origin are treated in greater depth in other sources. There are three sections: the "Atlas" section contains 24 pages of colorful political and physical maps covering the world and the continents; the "A-Z" section, an alphabetical listing of broad topics including people and places, consists of more than 26,000 words, 1,000 more than the first edition; and the "Ready Reference" section has 126 pages of quick answers to thematic issues such as space, games and sports, and political leaders. Entries range in length from two or three sentences to approximately 500 words, with numerous cross-references. Flags of countries on the endpapers are valuable. Cambridge is similar to The Columbia Encyclopedia (CH, Feb'94); both have black-and-white illustrations, but Cambridge lacks Columbia's international coverage. The brief and concise entries make this publication an excellent resource for undergraduate libraries. O. Riley; Louisiana State University
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BookPublisher: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990Description: ix, 1334 p., xvi p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 27 cm.ISBN: 0521395283.Subject(s): Encyclopedias and dictionaries