The Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia I-II. [antikvár]

PREFACE Herewith we present the Second Edition of The Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia. It is in essence a continuation of the First Edition. All the articles have been reviewed, and many of them have been changed. We have tried to bring the articles up to date. The process means changing not only the entries for countries and for living people but alsó many others, such as Menander-a new drama has been discovered-and Khufu- a sun ship has been found. Nothing is static in the realm of knowledge. Everything must be tested and retested. Since the articles in the encyclopedia are extremely brief, we are not able to discourse on various subjects. We have, however, set out to include all the new headings that are significant for our coverage. We have, for instance, included Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev and Habib ben Ali Bourguiba. There are articles on benzene rings and automation and the satellites. We alsó have a number of new illustrations, including new maps of Africa, the Polar Regions, and the United States. There are twenty-eight illustrations besides the maps and the charts. The charts include several new ones in chemistry-benzene rings, carbohydrates, and proteins and aminő acids- and a sketch of the cabinet of U.S. Presidents. These all enhance the value of the text, supplementing it with graphic materials that are frequently clearer than words of description. The originál Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia was prepared in order to present information in a brief and portable form- what might properly be called finger-tip information. It was derived from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Second Edition. The purpose was to provide a very brief volume, suitable for ordinary desk use. The articles were for the most part reduced from the large encyclopedia, though somé new ones were supplied. In the present edition the proportion of new articles is considerably larger, though the bulk of the book consists of material that has been retained and revised. This work is an encyclopedia and makes no attempt to be a dictionary. Entries that would give no more than dictionary information have been rigorously excluded. There are somé entries that consist primarily of definition, but these are chiefly in the field of the sciences and offer information that cannot be found even in recent unabridged dictionaries. Space for each entry is limited. Preference has been given to specific headings and to those which would be of interest to the ordinary readers. We have therefore been compelled to omit articles on generál topics such as American literature and Italian art. Yet you may find articles on particular authors of American literature and important artists and political figures of the Italian Renaissance that will give information on the more generál subject. The book makes no pretenses of being what is called in English an encyclopedic dictionary. It is, instead, a parallel in English to what is known on the Continent as a hand encyclopedia, a small work usually derived from a larger one. The encyclopedia is American, and therefore stress has been laid on persons and places important in United States history, past and present. There is alsó somé stress upon Canada, upon Mexico, and upon the rest of Latin America. Yet the European tradition has been considered in all the articles on Western civilization, whether in Europe or in America. There are thousands of articles on European places, persons, and subjects. Yet the accent remains American. This desk encyclopedia belongs primarily to the New World. The interest in Asia has prompted us to add a number of new headings on Asian matters beyond those required by the recent developments. In Africa the changes in geography have been all-encompassing; these are shown in articles and in a new map. All the African material, like the rest, is dated as of January, 1960. In the brief compass allowed we have tried to take in most recent knowledge. In order to give as much information as possible in a very short form, we have had to use many abbreviations. They are all clear to the ordinary reader. Similarly, when the subject of a sentence is clear it has been omitted. So have other words when the statement is clear without them. When, however, the needs of the reader cannot be fulfilled without complete statements, sentences have been made complete. The seeming inconsistency between clipped and full sentences was adopted in order to save as much space as possible with full beneíit to the reader. In shorter articles abbreviations are used more than in the longer, but we hope that even the shortest is comprehensible. Abridged forms are used only when they will not hinder the flow of the short articles.