Information Please Almanac Atlas and Yearbook 1981 [antikvár]

What's new this year? All the usual things, of course-epitomized by the results of the momentous presidential election of 1980. Here are the data relied upon by so many readers: by journalists and politicians themselves, by all who need to know how many people voted for whom, where. This information is representative of the updating process that is such a fundamental part of our editors' work. You would be interested, I think, in watching that gleam in the editorial eye which sparkles whenever somé new information comes in to us, when the National Academy of Sciences produces research that requires a change in our nutrition tables, when an athlete sets a new record, when a last minute change in the government of somé country arrives. But I take these bits of information-and our editors' precision-for granted by now. After all, such concern for new facts is a basic responsibility of any almanac editor. What concerns us more is our ability to spot trends-to answer the question that is almost í/nanswerable: What new information are readers likely to want next year? How well we answer this question is the basic factor in making Information Please more useful than any other almanac. So we spend a great deal of time in discussing where the world is heading. This subject is of more than philosophical interest, for if we can anticipate correctly, then we will be able to provide you with the facts that mean more to you than somé other facts do. For example, you will discover in this 1981 edition an article on the economic indicators. We hear so much about the cost of living index, price ratios, interest rates, productivity, etc., that we should really know what these sophisticated measures mean. Therefore, in addition to giving the raw data, we have asked our business editor to define these terms. Even if the economic news is not good, you will be better able to understand what it really means. Economic factors impinge on us all in ways that are only hinted at by those indicators. And the cost of educating Americans is increasing, affecting everything from our taxes to our children's future. So this year's Information Please contains an analysis of those factors which are forcing education costs up. Energy costs alsó affect us, so while our last edition expanded our coverage of energy subjects, we felt that still more was required. Therefore, you will find here a new "Solar Energy Primer" which will help you to understand this form of energy better. Maps give us an opportunity to provide information in a particularly interesting way. That's why we have added maps of Gross National Product (those economic indicators again!), Energy Consumption, Life Expectancy, and Birth Rates. In our last edition, we furnished data on the "new religions" that blossomed in the 1970s. This year, we face a religious issue that is intertwined with international affairs. The news from Iran and other trouble spots in the Middle East suggests that oil is not the only issue. We must understand the clash of cultures-the differences in points of view which derive from the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism. So another, international, religious issue deserves attention here-and receives it in a survey of the "culture clash" between Islam and the West. Not everything in Information Please is so deadly serious, however. Our sports section, therefore, has been expanded to include even more "names and numbers," particularly those in the major sports that capture the attention of most Americans. And because sports are sometimes very serious business indeed, we have asked our editors to pay specific attention to the political implications of last year's Moscow Olympics. All of these changes result from our commitment to give you the information you need. Our latest Reader Survey telis us that we do a pretty good job. But we can never do it perfectly. Please let us know what data you feel should be in the next Information Please. We will include it if we can, and we will continue to search for other information that our readers want. An almanac should be a living document of our times. I hope you agree that the pages in Information Please are alive. Theodore B. Dolmatch Editor