While this book gives the reader a few kilometers' head start on the road of knowledge for several liberal arts fields (Art History, Film, Psychology, etc.) its wink-wink, "isn't it funny" outlook on the book's subject matter that is not, well, American, eventually becomes tiresome. For instance, did the Canada entry in the Political Science section really need an "eh" joke? I thus sulkingly axe one star from my rating.
Dispite this gripe, I feel this is a book I'll turn to again and again for factoids and nuggets of knowledge that us science types with hyperspecialized college/university degrees didn't get the chance to learn at school.
After all, this book made me discover the painter El Greco. I afterwards even bought a reproduction of his A View of Toledo. How's that for unintentional advertisement?