Whitaker's Almanack 2000: 132nd annual edition. Standard edition (Hardcover)

Whitaker's Almanack, which began life as a money-spinning collection of jottings by journalist Joseph Whitaker in 1868, is probably now the most eclectic annually published single-volume reference book there is. The 133rd edition for 2001 looks forward, as usual, with a detailed account of the year it relates to--events, anniversaries, astronomical data and so on. It also provides a record of all the key events which took place both in the UK and across the globe in 1999. Names, addresses and functions are listed for education bodies, central and local government organisations and the worlds of law, finance and religion. If you replace your Whitaker's each year such information is generally pretty up to date. There are maps, too, and sections on the Royal family and the Peerage--it is a useful place to look up a titled person--as well as sport, architecture and conservation among many other helpful things. The section on Devolved Government is new for this edition.

Whitaker's is a rewarding book to browse in just for fun. It is also brim-filled with the sorts of facts that students, researchers and others who are remotely curious or striving for accuracy are likely to be looking for. --Susan Elkin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon.co.uk Review
21st century people inhabit an information world. Data is hurled in a non-stop stream. Internet, CD Roms, TV, video, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, hoardings ... It's relentless, brash and sometimes exhausting. That's why Whitaker's Almanack, a one-volume reference book which manages to be comfortingly traditional but bang up-to-date, is such a treasure.

The eclecticism is astonishing because Whitaker's manages to be calendar, atlas, peerage, gazetteer and newspaper digest all at once. If you want to know, say, the population of Afghanistan, the number of passengers who used Manchester airport last year, the address of the Knitting Industries Federation or the opening hours of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum, Whitaker's will tell you, which is great news for quiz buffs.

"There are about 64,000 licensed taxis in Great Britain, of which 19,000 are in London", says Whitaker's helpfully. And did you know that "The probation service is organised into 54 areas"? The dates of all the Christian churches' moveable feasts from now until 2035, alongside breakdowns of the Sikh, Hindu and Jewish calendars, are here. So are the names of the senior civil servants in every government department.

Published annually since 1868, Whitaker's was first compiled by journalist Joseph Whitaker. It has grown and developed into a yearly institution comparable only with the Guinness Book of Records or Wisden. Now published by the Stationery Office--although there's still a member of the Whitaker family on the editorial board--it's a user-friendly, pleasant-to-handle book whether you want facts, figures and statistics for work or just sheer pleasure. --Susan Elkin

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