Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics
Booklist Review
In World Book (WB), articles are accessible and authoritative. The set is easy to use, up-to-date, and extremely well illustrated. One of the things we like best about WB is that topics likely to be sought by students (Election of 2000, Global warming, Greenhouse effect, Stem cell) are all found under their own entries. Skunk has interesting details about the animal's behavior; Electoral College has a crystal-clear presentation on the four presidents elected despite not receiving the popular vote. WB is the only print set we examined that provides discussion of the ethical and political issues along with a definition of stem cells (EA Online was the only other encyclopedia title that covered both aspects). Aborigines gives a balanced view of traditional culture and life today, with a current photo of an aboriginal girl at the computer. Greenhouse effect notes use of core samples to study data from the past, a technique not mentioned in other sets in relation to this topic. Codes and ciphers, like many complex topics, is written at a more advanced level than other articles. Maps for the Middle East, Israel, and Yugoslavia are easy to read, yet detailed, and clearly show current and historical boundaries and areas of conflict. Longer entries conclude with a list of related articles, outline, questions, and a bibliography. The index is easy to use and detailed, including page numbers for illustrations and maps. The research guide is useful for students who need help organizing a project. Among the 100 new articles this year are Collectibles; Dietary supplement; Human rights; Potter, Harry; and SETI Institute. Antiobiotic; Conservation; English literature; Peary, Robert Edwin; Skateboarding; and Vietnam War are among the 128 articles that were extensively rewritten or revised. There are approximately 300 new photos, diagrams, or other illustrations. In its online format, WB retains all of its text and adds many other useful and engaging features, including well-chosen Web links, links to periodical articles, a dictionary, "Today in History," "Surf the Millennium" (simulated Web sites from the past 1,000 years), a monthly feature topic (e.g., earthquakes), a teachers' guide, key historical documents and speeches, and "Homework Wizards" to aid students in research and writing. A new option this year, at a slightly higher price, is an integrated Global Edition, with "additional content specific to international English-speaking areas." For example, from Australia, there are links to 40 International Edition articles, many of them biographies. WB Online is the most media-rich online encyclopedia, with many of the pictures from the print set plus 3-D Bubble Views (for example, one depicting the Colosseum), sounds, animations, and videos. The search is relevancy-ranked keyword, which is usually successful, but a search for Australian aborigines gets no hits. Help recommends typing only one word or using the advanced search for more than one word. This is not how most people accustomed to using Google and Yahoo! will conduct a search. Article displays are easy to read, with a clickable outline in a frame to the left and the text and illustrations in a frame to the right. Information for citing material appears at the end of each entry, which will be very helpful for students. Typically, between 25 and 50 articles are added each month; among the 395 added between August 2000 and May 2001 are American Stock Exchange; Coleman, Bessie; Herbal medicine; San Francisco Giants; and Seven deadly sins. WB is highly recommended for all school, college, and public libraries as well as for home use. Many institutions will find an online subscription more cost-effective and will prefer it for its daily updates, major monthly additions and revisions, multimedia content, and other features.
