Would you like to impress your friends with your sure but seemingly effortless grasp of data concerning federal budget trends, prevailing levels of taxation, or the share of national outlays devoted to defense? If so, there is an easy, secret formula, known to all professional writers on such subjects but carefully guarded from the general public: simply have the proper reference books available.
By far the most comprehensive of all the appropriate reference works is The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published in a paperback trade edition as The U.S. Fact Book (Grosset and Dunlap, $3.95). This official computation of population trends, housing starts, murder rates, hospital beds, school enrollments, and just about everything else imaginable is updated annually by the Bureau of the Census and brought out commercially with an introduction by demographer Ben J. Wattenberg. For those who have a taste for socio-economic information, it is probably the most useful volume ever published.
Comments