Encyclopedias Directory

Encyclopedia is the comprehensive reference work containing articles on a wide range of subjects or on numerous aspects of a particular field, usually arranged alphabetically. The word encyclopedia, which to us usually means a large set of books, descends from a phrase that involved coming to grips with the contents of such books. Encyclopedia is compendium of knowledge, either general (attempting to cover all fields) or specialized (aiming to be comprehensive in a particular field).

Basically an encyclopedia differs from a dictionary in that a dictionary is fundamentally devoted to words and an encyclopedia offers information on various subjects, with data on and discussion of each subject identified. An almanac differs from an encyclopedia in that an almanac normally is issued periodically and includes ephemeral data applicable at the time of issue, while an encyclopedia is assembled from accumulated knowledge within a broader scope. An atlas is devoted to maps and charts.