The Columbia Encyclopedia
A SHORT CUT TO ARISTOTLE
[Columbia University Press, $17.50]
HERE at last is what eye workers have long been waiting for — a one-volume encyclopedia that is comprehensive, up-to-date, and not too bulky for easy handling and ready reference. Backed by the authority and facilities of Columbia University, a large group of experts have labored for eight years, under the competent direction of Dr. Clarke F. Ansley, to produce a really great work of reference that should prove invaluable to general reader and scholar alike.
The roving eye sees many points to commend this new Columbia Encyclopedia. All the old familiar items of general knowledge are treated, but also included is much information concerning the years just past not available in other reference books, and facts about events, places, and people of recent and present interest — Haile Selassie, Huey Long, Göring, Tesla, and Gertrude Stein; Manchukuo and the Gran Chaco; the Townsend Plan, the TVA, Buchmanism, and relativity. It answers the oft-heard query, ‘What is the correct name, anyway — Ethiopia or Abyssinia?’ It indicates that Cabell the writer has dropped the James and now calls himself Branch Cabell. Under the heading ‘Mussolini’ it brings us up to the present moment with the statement that ‘Italian ambitions in Africa disturbed the other European nations and led to trouble with Ethiopia in 1935.’
The type is very readable. Titles of articles are printed with capital letters if they are proper names and set in small letters if they are common words. Pronunciation is indicated whenever necessary. Both old and new forms of geographic names are given — a boon to those of us whose geographical knowledge has been unsettled by the developments attendant upon the war.
Although the information presented is concise and to the point, there is no impression of undue abbreviation or crowding, and many of the items include a list of book references for readers who wish to pursue special subjects further. The wording of the articles is simple and clear; even scientific subjects are treated in language easily understood by the average person, and we have Columbia’s guarantee that the information is the most recent available and absolutely trustworthy. Only continued use will attest the accuracy and dependability of the work as a whole. This reviewer is hopeful that the few typographical errors so far discovered may be the sum total of its flaws.
C. E. CHURCH