The World Almanac once served the purpose of Wikepedia and continues to have advantages over the amorphous online encyclopedia. It’s literally handy, useable even where Wi-fi is weak and consistent in style and substance. Information is categorized usefully, everything from the alphabetical rosters of U.S. states and world nations (with facts on population, politics, etc.) to lists of every manned spacecraft (and the names of crewmembers), American cartoonists, business leaders and philanthropists, along with statistics on illicit drug use, median weekly income and you name it. The new edition includes a colorful section covering major events of 2012.
