Amazon.co.uk Review
The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Deluxe is a source of information for both homework and adult use, although younger children might be happier with the lighter
Compton's Encyclopedia. As well as the encyclopedia you get the text of the excellent
American Heritage College Dictionary, which can either be accessed directly, or by double-clicking on any word. The program, which needs only 10 MB free disk space to run in slow mode, a 2x CD-ROM and SVGA 256-colour, is free of unnecessary sound, but makes more thoughtful use of multimedia than many of its rivals. This means that a small version of any picture appears beside an article which can then be maximised, with additional information in the caption. When appropriate, a button lets you hear a relevant sound such as the song of a dolphin or the sound of a flute. Where there is more than one illustration, pictures can be scrolled through in miniature until you find the one you want. Thus, at the entry for the domestic cat you can scroll through all the different breeds, choose one and enlarge it. You can also search for any word in an article, ensuring you find what you want in the longer ones.
The articles are written in a clear, direct and neutral style. For example:
Wildcat is the common name of several species of closely related small, Old World wildcats and occasionally of such North American cats as the lynx, bobcat and feral domestic cats.
As this quotation makes clear,
The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Deluxe is an American product. While the biographical entries do tend to be American-focused, the rest of the work is not overly culturally biased. --
Julia Cresswell
Product Description
Find information faster and easier than ever before with the powerful search-and-browse features. Get a head start on school reports with Research Starters, fascinating multimedia lists to guide your research in 50 subject areas (you can add to them too). Online access is made simple with the Online Knowledge Explorer--direct links to articles from two other renowned Grolier encyclopedias--
The New Book of Knowledge and
Encyclopedia Americana, plus access to 26,000 Grolier-selected Web sites and more than 500 free article updates every month. The Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition puts a wealth of information at your children's fingertips.
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