The Reader's Catalog: An Annotated Selection of More Than 40,000 of the Best Books in Print in 208 Categories (Reader's Catalogue)

An essential tool for the discriminating book buyer, lists a selection of the best books in print, accompanied by annotations and illustrations

Based on a preliminary review, this is an attractive, readable, judiciously selected bibliography listing 40,000 titles in 200 categories and garnished with illustrations and quotations from works cited. Each section includes a short introduction--e.g., a definition of jazz; a brief survey of 17th-century British literature--and selected subjects receive a bit more attention in highlighted paragraphs. Most bibliographic entries include a one-sentence annotation but omit publication date. While all titles are supposedly in print and thus presumably fairly current, it would have been good to be told when, for example, a history of cinema ends. Because the intended audience is the nonspecialist book buyer, libraries as well as bookstores will find this a handy guide for patrons seeking a good, available survey of French cinema or recommendations for a gift for a four-year-old nephew. While the six-volume Reader's Adviser is more comprehensive in most categories, it is also bulkier (and more expensive) and lacks annotations. Further, The Reader's Catalog will supposedly be updated regularly. Thus, public libraries may find this work a useful supplement to H. W. Wilson's Public Library Catalog and Fiction Catalog --though they should be forewarned that only the paperback edition of a work is listed. College libraries are less likely to use this for collection development, since scholarly editions, even when standard, tend to be excluded.
- Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.