In 1981, the Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary created a new type of reference book. If you couldn’t think of the name of a commonplace or technical object, but knew what it looked like, you could look up its picture and get its name — sort of like a field guide to modern life. Now there are two superior predators in this literary niche. Where the original Oxford-Duden uses an unwieldy numbering system to link its words and pictures, these two, Facts on File and What’s What, use direct pointer-type labels.
Which to get? Facts on File is the most inviting overall, with a great index and broad range (about 800 pages that cover science