If you were going to school in 2000, this book would probably have been very helpful.
I got this book in about 2015 or so at the Evergreen Park Public Library's annual book sale, and never got around to posting it until now.
Believe it or not, the information in this compact volume doesn't date too badly. It could still be pretty useful; the only stuff that really dates is the list of U.S. Presidents, certain exchange rates, and the entire sports section.
The most interesting part of the book is at the very beginning. It's a prologue of sorts, a "Millennium Primer," if you will. There's a little bit about the so-called MillenniumFR1CK1N' N3RD Bug problem, a section on how other countries would ring in the big event, a timeline of things that happened in 1900/1901 (one hundred years prior) and 1950/1951 (50 years prior), and a little thing called "Predicting the Future: Correct or Incorrect?"
This bit contains some hilarious eye-openers: When Dr. Edward Jenner invented the cowpox vaccine in 1796 (not "smallpox" as the book says), naysayers of the time erroneously believed that the vaccine would "cause people to grow cow-like features." As you might expect, their prediction turned out to be udder nonsense. Still, a few people had a cow about it, and, though there was a moovement against Dr. Jenner's efforts, nothing ever took hold.
It also mentions--cough--Nostradamus' predictions about the French and Russian Revolutions, and lists them as "correct." I always say: Any prediction, whether it's Nostradamus' writings or your weekly horoscope in the newspaper, can be applied to anything as long as it's vague enough.
The final part of the "Millennium" subsection features fifty major events from the past 1,000 years. (Part of my resolutions for the new year is to finally finish the Time Millennium book.)
The list contains all the usual stuff: Leif Ericson discovers Newfoundland around 1000 A.D.; Genghis Khan invades China in 1211; Christopher Columbus discovers the New World in 1492; Declaration of Independence signed in 1776; Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in 1946; Soviet Union collapses in 1991.
It's nothing more than a series of one-line descriptions in chronological order, but it's worth a look for trivia night at the bar.
After that, the book continues as a normal kids' World Almanac would.
Believe it or not, the information in this compact volume doesn't date too badly. It could still be pretty useful; the only stuff that really dates is the list of U.S. Presidents, certain exchange rates, and the entire sports section.
The most interesting part of the book is at the very beginning. It's a prologue of sorts, a "Millennium Primer," if you will. There's a little bit about the so-called Millennium
This bit contains some hilarious eye-openers: When Dr. Edward Jenner invented the cowpox vaccine in 1796 (not "smallpox" as the book says), naysayers of the time erroneously believed that the vaccine would "cause people to grow cow-like features." As you might expect, their prediction turned out to be udder nonsense. Still, a few people had a cow about it, and, though there was a moovement against Dr. Jenner's efforts, nothing ever took hold.
It also mentions--cough--Nostradamus' predictions about the French and Russian Revolutions, and lists them as "correct." I always say: Any prediction, whether it's Nostradamus' writings or your weekly horoscope in the newspaper, can be applied to anything as long as it's vague enough.
The final part of the "Millennium" subsection features fifty major events from the past 1,000 years. (Part of my resolutions for the new year is to finally finish the Time Millennium book.)
The list contains all the usual stuff: Leif Ericson discovers Newfoundland around 1000 A.D.; Genghis Khan invades China in 1211; Christopher Columbus discovers the New World in 1492; Declaration of Independence signed in 1776; Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in 1946; Soviet Union collapses in 1991.
It's nothing more than a series of one-line descriptions in chronological order, but it's worth a look for trivia night at the bar.
After that, the book continues as a normal kids' World Almanac would.
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