The Grande Enclyclopedie presents some 8000 entries under general concepts, biography, historic periods, schools of thought, philosophy, music and literature. It claims, in its introduction, a certain emphasis on technology, biology, psychology, linguistic and other sciences rather than on crafts fallen into disuse. Each of its entries, its "articles-dossiers," is signed with initials. Sometimes a bibliography follows the article, and some of those are substantial. For short entries there is often no bibliography. Most of the illustrations are in color, although the quality is generally mediocre. In spite of the emphasis on science it claims, the scientific entries seem somewhat weak, or at best uneven. "Univers" gets a mere 5 pages of attention. Many other large topics receive quick treatment. Education gets 5 pages. Literary figures do better than political figures. Dostoyevsky has 5 pages; and Eisenstein does better than either Einstein or Eisenhower. The quirky character of the Encyclopedia's arrangement places entries for the French Colonial Empire under "Empire" which leads from the Roman to the Holy Roman to the French First and Second to the French Colonial Empire then to the other Colonial Empires. A better arrangement would have put it simply under France. An index concludes the set, but with the entries so broken up, one must hop from volume to volume to put together a full picture. The user, frustrated by the arrangements, may never know if the Encyclopedia actually carries the information he is looking for; it is too often too difficult to bother finding it.

JG, 3/96