Encyclopedias Books

I am very pleased with this book. I use it quite often to read about N.C. things and places that I've always been curious about, but wasn't quite sure where to look. This book solves that problem, and having watched several interviews with Professor Powell on public television, I can obviously tell that this work is his magnum opus. It was lovingly compiled with supurb scholarly detail. For a one volume "encyclopedia," it is great. Of course its not going to be comprehensive enough for critics (despite 1237 pages), but that someone took the time to compile something like this is an achievement in and of itself. If you want to learn more about N.C. history, this is the book for you. I might add that I know the other compiler/editor, Mr. Jay Mazzocchi, and he too is a first rate mind like Prof. Powell. I recieved this book as a Christmas gift last year from he and his daughter whom I taught in an A.P. U.S. History class. I feel not only honored to have a signed copy of an outstanding N.C. history text, but have truly used it and learned new and exciting things about my home state that I did not know before.

A great book by a great historian. Not only is this an essential reference guide to all things in North Carolina, but it represents a culmination Professor Powell's career, one of North Carolina's greatest treasures. I purchased it not only because I wanted it but also as a means of honoring Professor Powell. In regard to the comment about the lack of biographies in this book, I assume that comment was made in jest. But for those not familiar with Professor Powell's previous works, he previously published (in the late 1970's and 1980's) a six volume "Dictionary of North Carolina Biographies."

Dr. William Powell, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina, has published this huge book which contains everything you may ever wish to know about the history of North Carolina. It is well written and easy to use.

This book has lots of wonderful information about the Tar Heel State. I recommend the book to newcomers to our state as well as to NC natives. This would be a great resource for students in the fourth grade to use.

Encyclopedic guides to states, cities and regions are coming hot off the presses now. I was anxiously awaiting this one, but I've come away slightly disappointed. Most obvious to me at first are the serious omissions in the book: There are absolutely ZERO biographical articles in here. What happened there? There's an article for every imaginable institution of higher learning, including many long extinct, but not an entry for James K. Polk, William Tryon, James Iredell, William Styron, James Duke, Elizabeth Dole, Andy Griffith, Michael Jordan, Jesse Jackson, James Taylor, Tori Amos or Jessie Helms. Not all North Carolina natives, mind you, but all with profound impacts on the state's history. Some general entries (such as "Mealtimes") aren't immediately applicable to North Carolina at all, but are linked by a contrived peculiarity, as could be done for many other states in the country. Otherwise, this book is a nice compilation of popular topics related to North Carolina.

This book is certainly impressive in scope and not a failure by any means, but incomplete enough to justify a much improved second edition. I know that Dr. Powell is a highly respected and beloved historian in North Carolina, and I'm not trying to diminish his accomplishment. I just think he should add a good biographer to his staff.

Dare I suggest that the Encyclopedia of "Another" Carolina is a better book? Not the content, per se, but the format and editing of that book set the standard for these large volumes. Have a look.

This is a book beyond all expectations. It is thoughtful, detailed, deep, and enlightening. It is truly encyclopedic. SF as a genre had no right to expect such an asset to materialize. But it did, and we all gained something from it, if we loved SF and read any part of this spectacular work.

But...

It came out in 1993. SF is a young field. Where's the 2005 edition? Where are the continuing updates that should be available by subscription? Where's the sense of _community_ that is the distinguishing element of SF from all other genres?

It's a five-star work, no question. But, as a reference text, it is already obsolete, and will grow ever more so as the future unfolds. Will C&N write another? Can anyone else? I hope so, to either or both of those questions.

Clute and Nicholls have produced a masterful piece of work here, the breadth and detail is immense, and even includes errata and other information at the end. An amazing treasure trove of information and is something I have found myself using many, many times this year, having gone through it from cover to cover. If you see one lying around at what looks like a decent price, get it without hesitation!

You could also use it to bludgeon camels.

This is a massive reference work and an obvious labor of love. It covers almost every conceivable aspect of science fiction, from movies to history to criticism. This is the second edition of this work, with large updates to bring the work up to the time of publication (1992), especially new authors and newer works by old hands, and there has also been a good deal of new material added to the thematic sections.

For anyone wanting to develop a good course on science fiction , or anyone interested in how SF came to be what it is today, a perusal of these thematic entries on everything from ANTIGRAVITY to MUTANTS to UTOPIAS will yield a wealth of material concisely presented, profusely cross-referenced, and source material properly indicated. Often within these sections even an experienced long-time fan of the field will find works referenced that he hasn't heard of before but deserve a look.

Within the author entries you will find one of the works most useful features: a listing of all of that author's works that belong within a given series or author created world/universe, often with a good description of the salient features of these author worlds. Also very useful is a listing of all known pseudonyms for each author. Still another useful feature is the indication of every variant title a work has appeared under, which can end up saving the reader money by knowing that he already really has that title under a different name. But these entries are also the most problematic of the information presented in this volume, as the opinion of the writer of the piece (almost all of the author entries were done by John Clute) about the quality of each of the author's works clearly shows. While it is probably impossible to avoid having this type of opinion appear, what I found disappointing was the lack of indication that there are other opinions about some well known works (in some cases these other opinions run to millions of words and many a flame war on the internet), such as Heinlein's Starship Troopers. At the same time, these entries provide a wealth of biographical information and very complete bibliographies for every major and almost every minor writer who has ever written within the field, and this information seems to have been very solidly researched (at least I haven't been able to find any obvious errors, and I've been reading in the field for 40 years).

This is an expensive volume, but it is probably worth every penny of its price when you consider that it collects in one volume such a wealth of diverse information that prior to this work was scattered across hundreds of articles, essays, books, and research papers or had never been written about in any cohesive manner. Highly recommended for any serious student/fan of the field, and highly entertaining and informative reading for just about anyone.

Sometimes they do a book and just get everything right. Many reference works on Sci-fi are distressing by how much truly essential material is left out or ignored. Not this one. For instance, years ago I read an extremely early and very odd book by Philip K. Dick called THE COSMIC PUPPETS. Most Sci-fi reading guides or dictionaries or surveys omit this title, but not this one. I have a friend who is an exceptionally good mainstream novelist, Jack Butler, who usually publishes his highly praised and critically acclaimed works on publishers like Knopf or Penguin. But he also published on Atlantic Monthly Press what he intended as a straightforward Sci-fi novel in the grand tradition. Because Jack's reputation is as a mainstream writer and because it was published on a prestigious literary press, the novel was almost universally ignored by the Sci-fi community and Sci-fi reviewers (even when Gregory Benford wrote a review lavishing it with praise, it was published not in a Sci-fi mag but in the New York Times). But when you look Jack up here they not only have a listing, they recognize the book as the superb work it is and evince an understanding that its failure in the Sci-fi community stems from marketing errors.

What I like most about the book is its combination of balanced, critical judgment on the one hand with a careful thorough-goingness on the other. The work is too short to be completely exhaustive, but it is about a complete as a single-volume work of just under 1,400 pages can be. It is hard to imagine how they could have done a more thorough job than they did. The book is currently out of print, but anyone interested in Sci-fi should search out a copy. I might go so far as to say that if you can own only one Sci-fi reference book, this is the one you should own.

I have one tiny bone to pick with the volume and one big hope for the future. The hope first. It is now over a decade since the book was published and we have continued to be deluged with Sci-fi novels and movies and especially television shows. With some justification, the entries on pre-1995 television shows are either dismissive or belligerent. Most of the good Sci-fi ever done on television has been done since 1995. Book-wise, Sci-fi is as big business and mainstream as it has ever been. There is simply a big need for a completely up-to-date work. We can hope for an updated edition. Whether it is financially feasible is another matter, but I do hope that the step is taken at some point. And mind you, I want an updating of THIS work, not a new work by other editors. They did it right; we just need it updated.

The tiny bone is that I wish the volume had done a bit more in guiding readers to new authors. Some of the articles do a better job of summing up the career of a writer without letting the reader known precisely which books would be the most important to read. Perhaps they could have put an asterisk beside the most important titles. Some of the entries are phenomenal at letting readers know how to proceed, but it isn't carried consistently through the whole work. But this is a minor point. All in all this is an admirably compiled work. As I said, if you love Sci-fi, you need this book.

Along with its companion volume, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy," the editors offer the most comprehensive references currently available on speculative fiction, covering authors both minor and major, discussion of the impact of writers and their works upon the genre, influences both obvious and obscure, as well as erudite observations upon the history and development of imaginative fiction. And this is but a fraction of all this marvelous reference has to offer! Indispensable to either the devotee of the genre or the casual reader, this text, along with its companion, should grace the shelves of anyone seriously interested in science fiction or literature. As with most references of this scope, already it is beginning to become out of date, lacking entries for newer and already significant authors, such as China Mieville, but one can hope a new edition will soon be in the offing. I know I will rush out to buy it, and in the meantime there is more than enough information here to occupy and entrance me for many months to come. If you read science fiction regularly, shame on you if you don't own this book.

I bought this for my oldest a year or two ago for Christmas and it was and still is a huge hit.
In fact this is one of those books he insists on taking with him on longer drives or trips.
He loves animals, dinos, etc. So this book was perfect for him, gave him pictures, basic information and other little bits and pieces about each animal. He loves to look up animals he sees and finds outside and learn more about them.
If your child loves to learn more than just a name and recognize a picture I think this will be a great first start.

It is a very nice book for younger kids. It has lots of information and also lovely pictures of animals.

Very informative and educating book for adults as well as children. Many amazing facts and scores of picturesque images.

A friend's 2 1/2 year old son loves animals. Since he prefers real animals to cartoon ones, I decided to go with this book. I gave it to him almost a month ago and his parents say it's still his favorite thing in the world. He takes it everywhere an asks everyone he knows to tell him about the animals. I wouldn't hesitate getting this for a child of any age.

I love this book, its great. Im buying one for every toddler on my list. They maybe a little young for to read the info, but the pictures are beautiful and I know they will grow into the book and love it even more when they can read the facts! A++++

I like this book. It's very affordable for the quality of the book itself--I purchased it to have as a handy reference. As a reference, it is quite good, though topical. I have had several compendiums on fighter aircraft, but this one contains strange/one-off fighters I have never seen before (Caudron-Renault C714 Cyclone anyone?). The data for each aircraft is not too detailed, but it's worth having in your aviation library.

I finally found a William Green opus my father hadn't seen. The book is classic Green: no-nonsense, just the facts, with beautiful graphics and detailed histories of every (and I mean e-v-e-r-y) fighter aircraft ever flown. A great surprise for the airplane-oholic on your gift list.

It has every fighter that I know and a lot of that I have never heard in my like. Excellent work.

This book is without a doubt THE classic compendium of all fighters ever dsigned or manufactured. It is exhaustive in detail and catalogues many planes you would never find in any other book.

There is however, no analysis of the planes in their overall historical contribution to airpower or technological development. As a result the book is replete with a lot of facts on the aircraft, but there is no critical or lauditory comment on any. Therefore we do not know that the Hurricane was an excellent gun-platform, and the Buffalo possibly the worst fighter in history. Neither do we know which series of the Me109 was "better" against the allies, nor do we know that Japanese "Betty" bombers were called the "one-shot-lighter" because of there tendency to explode easily.

All in all there is too much colour missing from this collection for it to really enthrall as much as it could have. As a result my bathroom reading is that much less intense and enhanced...

I shall await other, newer editions to rectify this weekness.

PS: This book weights about 10Kgs. Hefty in the bathroom... bring a reading stand.

The name sounds like something for 6-year-old kids but this is a serious work. The coverage is exceptional and unlike so many other books in this category this one does not play favorites. The major US, British, and WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft are covered well, but so are all the obscure types. Depth and amount of text accompanying some of the more obscure Soviet fighters is particularly impressive, as are the cutaways of more rare and unusual aircraft (e.g. Dewoitine D.510) as well as some deserving but forgotten types (CAC Boomerang, Ouragan, Su-17). All eras, from WW1 to modern, are given fair treatment.

Each aircraft is given a history of development, notable service, and variants (in most cases, significant variants have separate entries), followed by the specs. In addition to 80+ cutaways there are 470 color profiles, and there is a plethora of well-reproduced photos many of which I've not seen before. The book claims to cover over 1,700 aircraft and there was nothing I could throw at it that it didn't cover, including obscure French, Italian and Soviet designs.

I do have a few complaints. The book could have used another round of proofreading -- there are no factual errors I could find but I came across some misspellings and misplaced photos (many concentrated in the F-4 Phantom II article for some reason). Being a book on military aircraft, it's strange to find armament information tucked into the text and not delineated in the specifications. The same goes for engine specs. And the cutaways, while very nice and detailed (200+ items labeled in the key is typical for modern aircraft) span two pages which means information is lost in the crease.

Overall, this book is a superb value and in many ways a superior alternative to Jane's.

Very complete but it doesn't make it as an Encyclopedia. Would be better to complete with a tree including how the actual breeds were formed. It's an hybrid between a manual for a new horse buyer and a tecnic book of the different breeds. It's easy to read because includes some interesting stories about mayor breeds.

Being the author of this book I am naturally biased toward it. What I can say is that I contacted the best authorities in the world for information and pictures and did not borrow from any other book.

One thing I would like to say about the reviews on this book. The book is exactly as described by Amazon and the University of Oklahoma Press and I want to debunk the few odd reviews stating that this book consists of ten yellowed pages. I have no idea why anyone would state such a thing but can assure you that it is untrue and completely ridiculous.

Thanks,
Bonnie Hendricks

This book is wonderful. Lots of information, but a little pricy. Overall, it's a good deal for you if you love horses like me. One problem I had was I didn't know how many pages were in the book. All I know is it has more than 17 pages because there are 17 sample pages. I enjoyed looking at the sample pages. Thank you.

This book is truly a complete guide to horse breeds. Unfortunately the quality of the book material was a disappointment. It was filled with photos; but only a few were color photos. The pages were not much better than the quality of a comic book, thin and yellow. I expected much more for the price. 4 stars solely on the detail and depth of it's information.

Bonnie Hendricks has gone far beyond what any other horse breed researcher has done...she has contacted every breed association she possibly could. She has written with far more detail, greater accuracy, and on many more breeds than any other horse book I have seen. Her intelligent ideas inserted into some breed descriptions are well worth noting. This is a MUST-HAVE for the serious equine enthusiast! It has definitely spoiled my appetite for any other horse book that attempts to describe the breeds. Thanks Bonnie, we needed this book!

It's a great encyclopedia, very good, but about photos or pics that identified the fish is 2 stars, it is correct because that is not a fish encyclopedia but a fishing encyclopedia, and I ask where are the photos of rods, reels, lines, baits etc., they are there but very few, in suma to much to read. e.g. The cantonense name "HAK LAP" (page 245 - The river bream (Acanthopagrus berda) is a prominent...) is only one of a kind that we have here, and translated to english means BLACK BREAM, and it is a black bream but fished at the river, but this is only the common name, so I don't know the correct name of HAK LAP is ACANTHOPAGRUS BERBA (river bream)or ACANTHOPAGRUS BUTCHERI (black bream). Anyway they are a big family, like HAK LAP(balck bream), WONG KEOK LAP (Yellowfin bream), PAK LAP (silver bream), KAM SI LAP, KAI KONG LAP, HAK SA LAP,(the last 3 are only from this region) this are the most common fish (breams) that I saw around here. So this book is not enough for me. About the book I thing all people that like to fish must have it, because no one can tell you more than the book, and all the book are your best friend, it will not say NO to you when you like to read it, right!

Ken Schultz knows sportfishing. Anyone who reads this book will agree that he is truly an authority on the subject. His carefully organized listings, from A to Z, complete with beautiful artwork and enticing photographs, shines among all books in the outdoor category. Schultz must have spent years compiling this information, and I cannot imagine how he organized it so well. Whether I'm looking for a fishing destination, for information on equipment, or a description of a species of fish, it's all here. I read that he is the long-time fishing editor of Field & Stream, a magazine known for its great prose, and it is obvious that he is best in his class among fishing journalists.

This book has everything there is to know about fresh or saltwater fishing. A must gift for the angler in your family. Schultz is the man! He obviously spent a lot of time researching his topic, and in case the excellent prose isn't sufficient, the illustrations make every point that much clearer. A perfect gift for the expert angler, or a young one wanting to learn from the best!

I found this book extremely useful and entertaining. It doesn't speak down to you or use terms that I wouldn't use. It's not a cheap book,but once you purchase it you find that you got what you paid for! Great for people just getting started as well as the hardcore fisherman.Buy this book for yourself or as a present and you will be glad you did.
Oh yeah,I like the authors name too! ( no relation,really,I swear! )

The book 'Fishing Encyclopedia'by Ken Schultz is the best around. Globally the information can be used to learn many things that Anglers ought to know. This is the best book I have ever read. Must read for anyone interested in fishing

Awesome! Very thorough and easy to understand.

I am a legal assistant and I use this book constantly! It gives you great strategies to work more efficiently while getting better results. I had no idea how many legal resources there are online! This book tells you which sites are the most reliable and easy to use. It also demystifies annotated legal codes, case digests, state reports and many other research tools. But most importantly it is extremeley well organized and easy to use. I wish that I had discovered this book when I was a student!

Legal information can seem confusing to the common person which is why this book was written. You need to understand how to find laws, regulations and court cases (if you are representing yourself in court). This is great even if you d not go to court because it makes you a smarter more diverse individual.

This book gives you a straight forward resource on how to find the laws and regulations, how to read the citations, and how to use the law library. It is good for lawyers, judges, paralegals or the layman. It is packed with tons of useful information.

I recommend it to everyone who has to decide if things are legal or not.

Footnote: Nolo press is the best company that produces law books for the common person. They are always easy to read and pact with good advice.


Enjoy

This is an excellent and necessary legal research book for all paralegals,law students and legal researchers.
The hypotheticals and research questions with detailed answers alone make it a must have volume. The authors skillfully guide the student through the legal research process with these problems and answers.This is the most valuable legal research book in my personal library. Highly recommended.

I find this book to be a great resource for non-lawyers. As adjunct faculty at a community college, I use it to supplement the course text for my Legal Research & Writing Course for Paralegals. Well worth the purchase, and a great value!

Este fue EL MEJOR, EL MÁS COMPLETO Y MEJOR INVESTIGADO..Y SENCILLO PARA QUE LO LEAN LOS CHICOS !
TE LO SUPER RECOMIENDO PARA TUS ADOLESCENTES...NOSOTROS, LOS PADRES, JAMÁS PODRÍAMOS EXPLICARLES TODO ESTO !
TE LO ASEGURO !

a base de PREGUNTAS Y RESPUESTAS...
Me sorprendio la cantidad de cosas que, a mis 43 años ignoraba...
La verdad, es buenísimo para jovenes y adultos...
Super interesante !

BECOMING A TEENAGER VERY SOON.
He wants me to have all the posible information on everything, and SEXOLOGY IS A VERY IMPORTANT MATTER i WILL LIVE WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE..
SO, DAD GAVE ME THIS BOOK !
I WAS AWED AT THIS NEW WORLD THAT EXPECTS ME...AND ABOUT ALL THE WRONG INFORMATION I HAD RECEIVED FROM MY PEERS!

A great book with the information all people ( mainly us, kids going into teens ) NEED AND SHOULD HAVE !

Su libro es tan esplendido, tan completo y tan informativo, que sera EL REGALO PARA NUESTRO HIJO EL DIA EN QUE CUMPLA TRECE AÑOS !
YA LO TENEMOS HASTA ENCUADERNADO CON SUS INICIALES

QUE MI HIJO MAYOR, QUE YA TIENE QUINCE AÑOS, TUVIERA LA MEJOR INFORMACION Y LA MAS AMPLIA...
Este fue EL MEJOR, EL MÁS COMPLETO Y MEJOR INVESTIGADO..Y SENCILLO PARA QUE LO LEAN LOS CHICOS !

TE LO SUPER RECOMIENDO PARA TUS ADOLESCENTES...NOSOTROS, LOS PADRES, JAMÁS PODRÍAMOS EXPLICARLES TODO ESTO !
TE LO ASEGURO !

I purchased the first edition of this book on a lark. It was on a sales rack outside of borders. Over the past two years, I have repeatedly found this book to be an excellent, well stocked resource. I almost feel guilty about buying it at the sales price...almost.

I am using this book as a study guide through one of my college courses on Botany. This book is loaded with so much clear cut information you couldn't ask for anything more! The detailed pictures that are shown throughout the book are absolutely beautiful. To have the visual along with the description is the best way to go. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in herbology or just has a curiousity in herbs! Planting your own garden and knowing what you are growing is very helpful.

This book met all my needs. It covers all the different herbs and their different uses. Having just made the change to the healthier life, this book is a must have.

I am taking a medicinal botany class and was not satisfied with the information the text book gave me and wanted to know more I saw this book and ordered it. I love it. It is a must have for someone interested in herbs even my instructor found it helpful.

You wouldn't. This book is by far the best herb reference book on the market today. Everything you want to know about growing and using herbs is in this book. Well worth the money spent. You'll use this book forever.

I knew what I was getting before I purchased this online. Easy and fun book to read. Item was shipped quickly, too.

It's big, it's heavy, full-colored, with a good quality paper, great pictures and complete informaton. It couldn't be better.

I just got this book and let me just say that the words inside are some of the finest ever put between two covers. It's all so informative. So much so that one may think that it is perhaps, too informative, but I doubt it. It's perfect. You'll find some of the most obscure and some of the most well-known facts, on the same page. Incredible.

The main thing I like about this book, is that it's much different from these types of timeline books. Rather than saying "this happened, then this happened", it does that and provides much more information by giving background stories of many of the artists, and also providing a lot about the impact the person or band had. Also, it's great how the devotes entire pages to show the significance of some important events in rock history. This does a lot to show why some of the greatest bands of all time are considered some of the greatest band of all time. So after reading this, you'll never wonder why again. The bold type really helps out too, if you're looking for someone imparticular. Also if you're a Beatles fan, the only thing you're not likely to find out is how many times they went to the bathroom each week. So, in short this is the rock n' roll book I've seen and I highly recommend it. Anything not in here probably isn't worth knowing.

This is probably the best book of its type to date. But it is not without it's problems. The first is that both of its authors are British. Hence it skews to the right of the Atlantic. Not that I don't feel myself, that British Rock has produced some of the best acts of all time, but for instance there are more entries on and photos of Gary Glitter than Alice Cooper. Gary Glitter? This is just one example. Some one in a review here mentioned the happy inclusion of Yes. If you look through the entries for that band you'll find at least Two mistakes saying that Fragile was their third album, (it was the fourth) and that Owner of a Lonely Heart is from Big Generator (it wasn't). This may seem like nitpicking but these are just the equivalent of what might be found on one page. It makes one wonder how many more of the presented "facts" are not trustworthy? You expect more from music critics on the voting board of the Rock & roll Hall of Fame. In the end though it's a valiant effort they undertook, and I'm glad I bought the book. It could/should have been a five star book though.

I fell in love with this book from the very first time that i put my eyes on this page of amazon, but, on that time it had a limited edition and it was sould out. I`ve waited more than 3 months for him to arrive but then it was impossible... One day, by hazard i found it on Fnac in Portugal, it was the only one of it`s kind so i bought it imediately and must tell you that it is really music to your ears to read this amazing book. It is the best book i`ve ever seen about music and i have more than five encyclopedias about the subject so believe it when i say that this book really entertains you with the good and consistent information, the beautiful pictures about the artists, the design, the uk and us charts and much more... From Elvis to Abba, from Eminen to Norah Jones, from Sinead O`Connor to Alanis, from Celine to Mariah, from The Who to Nirvana, from Notorious BIG to Massive Attack, from The Ronnettes to Take That, from Brenda Lee and Janis Joplin to Britney Spears and Christina it really has it all !!!