The Encyclopaedia Britannica follows the advance of modern knowledge like
a shadow. It covers the same ground and is only just behind. The Book of the Year, of which this is the second (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 45s.), forms an annual supplement which provides a contemporary survey of men and affairs—in this case during the year 1938. The task is one of enormous difficulty, and has been tackled with great success. The book is fascinating to read for anyone with an unlimited appetite for miscellaneous information, and this is as pleasantly acquired by an ordered progress from A to Z— in this case from Abercrombie to Zoology—as by any other
approach. The old lady who found the dictionary a fas- cinating book only the chapters were so short would find even that drawback remedied in this volume. Since it essays omniscience, the book must be miscellaneous, but if there is a theme running through this broken tale of 1938 it is of war and the preparation for war. There are admirable articles on the armies, navies, and air forces of the nations of the world, on rearmament and politics. But there are admirable articles on practically everything.
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