From Numazu to Numbers;

Taxco to Taxidermy

In one of the books of the late Mdous Huxley, I think it was,

;here is a delightful chapter or

sssay entitled “From Med to Mum”. [N it, the author described how he went on a long journey some vhere and took with him the “Med o Mum” volume of a well-known mcyclopedia to read on the way.

Starting at the first page, the author vorked his way conscientiously hrough articles on Medals, Medan, Yledea, Medellin, Medford, Medici, Yledicine, etc., until, presumably, he cached journey’s end at Mummy and he Mumps.

One of the points he made about eading an encyclopedia in this way vas that you could pick up a vast tore of useful, and wonderfully ir elevant and unrelated knowledge, imply by turning the pages over, t was a good point.

Where else, other than in the pages ff an encyclopedia, can you so ilithely skip from a description of Numazu (completely useless know edge to me) to a dissertation on lumbers, Numerals and Systems of Numeration?

Where else can you get from Taxa ion to Taxidermy simply by passing hrough Taxco (a town in southern dexico)?

Magic carpet

The sheer magic carpetry of be ag able to move from one unrelated >ody of human knowledge to an ither (whether useful or not) is eally so marvellous that, for me, t represents one of the best reasons here is for owning an encyclopedia.

There are plenty of other reasons, if course.

But whatever your reason is—and veryone must surely have a reason - it is desirable to be sure that the ncyclopedia you own is as authori ative, broad in scope and up to late as you can get.

Who, after all, wants an encyclo iedia in which the article on Nu nazu (a city in Japan) is out of late or of only doubtful authenticity?

Vho wants an encyclopedia that has lothing to say about Taxco?

I, personally, own a set of Col ter’s Encyclopedia (first published in 951), together with the various up lating year books that Collier’s have ssued since I bought it.

I had three main reasons for hoosing Collier’s work ahead of all >ther encyclopedias on the market: • It was a brand-new publishing venture, which meant that all the irticles (including those on Taxco

Reviewed by ROBERT LANGDON

and Numazu) could be no older than the original edition. • The list of contributors, both in numbers and authority, was most impressive. • Every subject that I was fami liar with was completely accurate and up to date.

I have had no reason to regret my choice. In fact, I can honestly say that, although I use the encyclo pedia constantly and am probably a more critical reader of it than most people, I have never detected a single error of fact in it, nor even a literal error.

When, therefore, the Collier’s people sent PIM a review set of the latest edition with the news that they planned to start marketing their work in the Pacific Islands, I was more than willing to volunteer for the job of reviewing it.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, which is

revised annually, is now in 24 vol umes (mine is in 20) and each volume contains some 750 pages.

The whole work is a remarkably comprehensive and up-to-date sum mary of human knowledge, profuse ly illustrated and minutely indexed.

The last volume, which contains the index, also includes a valuable biblio graphic guide to further reading.

The publishers say that of the encyclopedia’s 18,000 pages, changes have been made in 4,450 of them since the last revision; that 136 new articles and 230 new illustrations have been added; that 161 articles have been completely rewritten; and that 1,701 articles have been reviewed and updated.

I would not dispute these figures, for when I compared two or three volumes of the current set with the equivalent volumes in mine, I found more differences than resemblances in many articles.

New material

The article on encyclopedias, for example, has been expanded from half a column in my set to 12 columns in the new. The articles on electronics (not my kind of reading) seem to be completely new.

And there is now a series of colour transparencies showing what an internal combustion automobile en gine looks like that did not exist before, etc., etc.

Some 250 departmental editors and advisers, aided by an electronic com puter, are employed in the never ending task of revising the encyclo pedia, which is the work of more than 4,400 specialist contributors.

The contributors include numerous well-known figures, among them the late President Kennedy.

Contributors who are especially familiar in the Pacific Islands are Margaret Mead, Alfred Metraux, Harry L. Shapiro, James Ramsey Ullman, and the late Dr. Felix M.

Keesing and his wife Marie.

The Keesings were the original authors of all the numerous articles on the Pacific Islands. But these have been thoroughly revised and brought up to date since the Kee sincs died.

So, too. I am glad to say, have those on Taxco and Numazu.