The World Almanac & Book of Facts 2005 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

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.

The World Almanac has throughout most of its 137 year history been one of the very best books available anywhere. I have used it avidly for over 30 years. Unfortunately it pains me to say that the 2005 edition, which is now out in paperback and hardcover in bookstores represents the lowest point in the book's distinguished history. This is because the book went to press in mid-October 2004 and for the first time ever in a presidential election year, the presidential election returns are not included. Also missing are the results of the World Series. Until the last few years, election and World Series results had been a key and vital feature of the Almanac. According to the 2005 World Almanac John Kerry could be the president-elect as of this writing, Tom Daschle is still the Senate Democratic Leader and the "Curse of the Bambino" is still going strong. According to the Almanac's web site only paperback copies for libraries and schools (and not available in bookstores and outlets like Amazon.com) will include the election results.

Instead of trivial and unimportant items like national election and World Series results the rest of us get earth shattering and all-important items like the Almanac's first ever crossword puzzle and the editor's picks of what they think are the all-time favorite TV sitcoms. With no 2004 presidential election returns to report, the 2005 Almanac omits the invaluable Presidential election resturns by county feature. In the past I always looked forwar to this feature, especially in election years as political junkies like myself could see how all of the nation's counties voted in the election. One could learn a lot about politics and the country by looking through this feature, which I'm sure has helped nuture political statistical buffs like myself over many generations.

The World Almanac without the election results is like the Old Farmer's Almanac without the weather forecasts and TV Guide without the TV listings (which seems to be on its way). The Almanac was started in 1868 in part as a handbook that provided the latest political information. Since the 2002 edition, the Almanac's publisher since 2000, WRC Media (controlled by the leveraged buyout firm Ripplewood) has sent the book to pres in mid-October with the book being available by November 1. As a result the book no longer cover national elections or the World Series, which it had done so since its inception since 1868. In the short run the publishers might gain some sales in early November as the holiday shopping season seens to begin right after Halloween these days instead of Thanksgiving and a couple of extra weeks on the bestseller lists in November but in doing so they are eliminating coverage of two events whose coverage helped make the World Almanac a great success over the years, events the publishers know will take place at a certain time and could plan their publication schedules around.

Coverage of the elections and of the World Series was a key attraction and selling point of the World Almanac, features that I'm sure helped sell many copies of the book over the years. When the 1989 Bay Area Earthquake and subsequent postponment of the World Series forced the 1990 Almanac to go to press without the World Series results the editor printed a note regretting the "inconvenience to our readers". In a 1992 compliation of some older materials from the Almanac, the World Almanac Commemorative Edition, an editor's introduction from the 1893 edition is printed. It points out that publication that year was delayed so that the book could include complete rather than partial election results. During World War II the editors omitted pages of advertising the book had carried up to that point so that the book in face of wartime paper shortages could maintain its coverage of world events. Advertising hasn't appeared in the Almanac since. These historical tidbits show how important prior Almanac publishers knew coverage of elections, world events and the World Series was to the Almanac and its success, something the current publishers don't seem to understand or want to understand.

Until the 2002 edition the World Almanac was not published until after Election Day in federal election years and in other years after the end of the World Series. The World Almanac has been given the treatment by WRC and Ripplewood the way leveraged buyout firms often treat their brands: thinking they can improve the performance of the brand without any appreciation of what made that product special and unique to its users and buyers in the first place. WRC and Ripplewood don't seem to understand that coverage of national elections and the World Series, and extensive lists of officeholders like mayors, federal judges and ambassadors (all missing from the 2005 edition) were crucial in establishing the Almanac's reputation and standing over the years. The curent management seems to think that crossword puzzles, features on different demographic groups, quick quizzes and the editor's opinions on different topics (all included in the 2005 edition) are more important. Joseph Pulitzer, who restared the World Almanac in 1886 after a decade's hiatus as a "compendium of universal knowledge", would probably rollover in his grave if he saw the 2005 edition. If WRC won't return the Almanac to its old publication deadlines, they should sell the book to someone who will.

As much as I have enjoyed previous editions of the WORLD ALMANAC, having started using the Almanac in the early 90s ( when it was truly an indispensible item), it is really a waste of paper.

Whilst it is not quite yet tabloid trash, it has been so clearly surpassed by the Britannica Almanac 2005, which has so many extras, and such detailed material, that it has now become the bench mark, and all WORLD ALMANAC can do is hope to be able to fix its gross problems. You simply do not dumb down a reference work in order to get extra sales.

Two stars for its ability to keep a broken table leg up.