World Book Encyclopedia is, according to its publisher in the United States, "the number-one selling print encyclopedia in the world" [1]. The first edition (1917) contained 8 volumes. New editions have since appeared every year except 1920, 1924, and 1932, with major revisions in 1929 (13 volumes), 1947 (18,000 illustrations), 1960 (20 volumes), and 1988. An international version, aimed at Britain and its former colonies was also produced in the early 1990's. A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia for Macintosh and Windows computers first appeared in 1990. Since 1998, in addition to the print and CD-ROM editions of the 22-volume encyclopedia, World Book also publishes an online version called the World Book Online Reference Center [2]. The online version includes all of the articles contained in the print set as well as several thousand additional articles that are available only in the online version. Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia (alternatively encyclopaedia) is a written compendium of knowledge. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on Friday. ... -1... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... This article is about the year. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Over the years, the World Book has been characterized by its populist design. Unlike other encyclopedias, it has traditionally published in nonuniform volumes sized to match the letters of the alphabet. A letter with many entries might be split across two volumes, and adjacent letters with few entries may share a volume, but for the most part each volume covers a single letter. It also gives itself the flexibility to lay out major articles distinctively, often starting them on a page of their own, perhaps with a two-column heading. Though not called a "children's" encyclopedia, it is marketed as a family encyclopedia, and it recognizes the fact that one of the primary uses of general-purpose encyclopedias is for children working on school reports. For instance, every article for a U.S. state has a box giving such information as the official state bird, and in the 1960s and 1970s many science articles had instructions on ideas for science projects. Also, many articles offer suggestions for additional reading. The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ...

Other World Book products include The World Book Dictionary (1st edition in 1963), an encyclopedia for younger students called The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia (since 1999), Childcraft and World Book's Animals of the World. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

World Book, Inc., is a subsidiary of the Scott Fetzer Company, which is in turn a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. In business, a subsidiary is a company controlled by another, usually large—and often multinational—company or corporation. ... Berkshire Hathaway NYSE: BRKa is a company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. ...

Computer Edition

World Book Encyclopedia is also published in electronic form for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Apple bundles a copy of World Book Encyclopedia with every consumer-level computer sold. This edition of the encyclopedia also includes the ability to automatically be updated online, a world atlas and several tools for students. Microsoft Windows is a series of operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ... The Macintosh project started in early 1979 with Jef Raskin, an Apple employee, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. ... The Apple II was introduced on April 16, 1977 at the first West Coast Computer Faire. ...

External link

• World Book Encyclopedia website
• World Book Online: [3]