Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

The World Almanac is the #1 best-selling American reference book of all time. It is the source for essential and authoritative facts for entertainment, reference and learning. The book contains thousands of facts and statistics that aren’t publicly available which are sourced and double-checked by the staff of World Almanac experts.

The 2008 Edition spent 12 weeks on the NYT Bestseller list reaching #2; 10 weeks on the USA Today Bestseller List reaching #51; and 9 weeks on the Book Sense List reaching a high of #11.

Features in The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009:

· The World at a Glance: The most fascinating facts of the past year in science, economics, sports, arts and media, and more

· World Almanac 2008 News Quiz: For news junkies and snorers alike

· Election 2008 Coverage and Results: Twenty-four pages dedicated to the complete coverage of key issues, pivotal primaries, memorable moments, and election results from the presidential campaign.

· Beijing Olympics Recap: faces, Places and records from the Summer 2008 games.

· World Series: For the first time in 5 years, the World Almanac will contain facts covering the World Series.

· Celebrity Picks: notable names serve up their very own lists of Favorite People, Places, and Things

· Year in Pictures: 16 page color photo section of the top stories of 2008, as well as 16 pages of world maps and flags and easy-to-use side abs.

· Plus thousands of facts and statistics that aren’t publicly available; sourced and double-checked by our full-time editorial staff who are reference experts by category

World Almanac Online: www.WorldAlmanac.com

2009 will feature the third year of Bonus Content Online, extended reading to the printed edition for the same combined price of $12.99. This year will feature the Election Results from 2008, plus lots more free information available year-round at worldalmanac.com: historical presidential information, health news and features, and early access to WA09 info.

Once online, look for The World Almanac Blog, launched in 2006 and every weekday featuring

· New original entries, including provocative postings such as Unbreakable Sports Records; fascinating scientific and historical trivia; and new links to online tools and archives for almanac fans · This Day in History, Notable Birthdays and unusual anniversaries such as when Nixon met Elvis Presley in the Oval Office (1970)

· More useful links and tags to essential reads

Average Customer Rating:

This is still THE best book of it's kind.	Customer Rating:
I have bought copies of some of the other yearly almanacs out there and The World Almanac is consistantly the best. I have bought this book for many years now and it is amazing how much I learn from it's contents. If you do not own an almanac, buy this one and enjoy!!

Summing up

Customer Rating:

If an alien landed in Idaho and wanted to learn about the strange place it had dropped in on, this is the book it should start with. After picking up a pair of reading glasses. The typeface is definitely on the small side, but don't let that stop you. This book is amazing. It has more information stuffed into it than you'll believe, it fits easily into your hand and it's not too heavy. It's way smaller than a Harry Potter book, and has about a million words. My favorite sections are at the beginning of the book, with the top news stories of the year, and good coverage of the election. A page called The World at a Glance is fascinating. For example, did you know the world's most popular tourist destination? France, with 91.9 million annual arrivals. Did you know that in 2008 U.S. farmers grew less than half the quantity of tobacco they grew in 1990? Did you know that Game 5 of the World Series was the first World Series game ever suspended due to rain? Everything is in plain old black and white, except for three color sections: The Year in Pictures (divided into two parts) and a collection of world maps and flags. Even the pages with just black ink have lots of photos, and tables and lists galore. You can even download a "quiz night kit" at the book's website so you can use this book to prove that you are the smartest person in the room. It has dozens of questions in seven different categories, game instructions, even signs and invitations to advertise your party. What a blast! Here's the chapter list: Special Features * Top Ten News Topics of 2008 * The World at a Glance Election 2008 2008: Year in Review * Chronology of the Year's Events * Obituaries * Offbeat News Stories * 2008 Time Capsule * Historical Anniversaries * Notable Supreme Court Decisions * The Economic Crisis of 2008 * The Year in Pictures Economy, Business & Energy Crime Military Affairs Health & Vital Statistics Personalities, Arts & Media Science & Technology Consumer Information U.S. Government U.S. Facts, History & Elections U.S. Cities, States & Population World History & Culture Sports Directory General Index

What fun! What a source of information!

Customer Rating:

Each year, I look forward to this volume. I love the masses of trivia and minutiae contained within the pages of this book. I literally find it fun to rifle through the pages and see what tidbits are there. For those unfamiliar with this publication, it provides facts and figures on all manner of things--from the state of the economy to election results to sports to flags and maps to historical facts (e.g., the roster of American presidents) to science and technology (e.g., disasters) and so on. A cornucopia of facts and factoids. One things I do when I first receive this is to literally randomly select pages and see what is there. For this review, I'll do something similar. The first page that I came up with was the results of Congressional elections in 2008 (Pages 13 and following). Another page that popped up? Pages 95 and following, speaking of portraits on treasury bills and other products from the government (Did you know that George Washington shows up on $50 savings bonds? I did not.). Or that Abraham Lincoln is on $1,000 treasury notes? Imagine how popular one might be at a cocktail party with such trivia! Pages 246 and following focuses on "Writers of the past." Of particular interest to me is a family legend. One branch of my family came from Varmland in Sweden and some bore the name Lagerloff. Needless to say, some in my family claimed the Nobel prize winner Selma Lagerloff as a family representative. True? I don't know, but many families enjoy thinking of a luminary in the family tree. On pages 295 and the following is the category "Awards, Medals, and Prizes," including--oddly enough--Nobel prizes. I get another chance to luxuriate in the family legend, with Selma Lagerloff having been the 1909 literature winner. Also listed are Pulitzer Prize winners, Miss America winners, Emmy winners, and the like. It's simply fun to go through the winners over time and recall some of one's special favorites. It often triggers wonderful memories! An odd subject that showed up in my random walk through the pages of this 1000+ page work--taxes. There is discussion of recent tax legislation, meeting with your tax preparer, income tax rates and brackets, and state tax rates. On pages 524 and following, there are mini-biographies of American Presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt onward. I cheated when I randomly came upon state and county populations. I checked out my home county, Henry County in Illinois, to see how things stood. Bummer. A decline of about 1,500 souls from 2000 to 2007. Enough. The point is well made by the preceding. If you are interested in data and information, to get a better handle on the world around you, this is a fine work. Each year, I await the arrival of the latest volume and am seldom disappointed. This year was not a disappointment!

The Best Almanac

Customer Rating:

The World Almanac has been published since the nineteenth century, and for good reason--it is a great reference book. My favorite parts of the almanac are the sports section, the meteorological data, and the county-by-county presidential election returns. There is also statistical data for major U.S. cities, for each state in the Union, and for each nation in the world. Also included are factoids and data for all kinds of categories such as the economy, entertainment personalities, vital statistics, education, religion, astronomy, and much, much more. One could spend a long time browsing the material in the almanac.

Always excellent	Customer Rating:
The almanac is excellent every year. I use it constantly, year-round - never know when I might have to check for a useful fact.