Along with its competitors, A & C Black’s Who’s Who and Debrett’s People of Today, this, the 65th edition of Europa’s International Who’s Who, is one of those standard reference sources about which it is hard to find anything new to say. The laudatory quote on the back cover from Reference Reviews: “Among the world’s most significant reference books” is testimony enough, but since this volume is twice the price of its two competitors, we need to see if it is still value for money.
The cover quote: “Brings together our most gifted and influential contemporaries from around the world” is a nice spin on the “over 18,000” (blurb) or “about 20,000” (preface) people featured here. Of the thousand newcomers to this 2002 edition are Omar Abdul‐Rahman, a Malaysian Professor of veterinary pathology; Josef Ackermann, a Swiss investment banker; Shamshad Ahmad, a Pakistani diplomat; Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, rival world chess champions from Russia and India; Susana Baca, Peruvian popular singer; Om Puri, Indian actor; and J.K.Rowling and Victoria Beckham. “Some are household names in every continent. Others are noted for their contributions in specialized fields or for their role in the political, economic, social or cultural life of their particular countries.” The new additions are balanced by names listed in the book’s obituary section. There is also a section on Reigning Royal Families. All new and existing entrants were mailed and supplementary research was done by the editorial team to ensure the book is up to date. And in case you need to consult someone famous urgently the publishers have thoughtfully included international telephone codes!
The entries are somewhat cryptic ‐ a list of abbreviations is provided ‐ and reading glasses may be needed. Names are followed by post‐nominal letters; a brief characterization (such as “British journalist and author” for Jeremy Dickson Paxman); parents; education (why not Education rather than “ed.” to be like the other subheadings?); career highlights and awards (usually the major section; I found Paxman’s “Dr.h.c.” almost too cryptic); publications; leisure interests (Jeremy’s are fly fishing, skiing, and daydreaming), and address. The amount of detail and headings do vary from entry to entry.
The volume comes with a CD‐ROM version. This provides access to many entries no longer appearing in the book, including all of those whose deaths have been noted since 1999. Users can search by nationality, professional activity, date of birth, place of education or leisure interest, or for any word in the book. Apart from Lynne Brindley, the only other librarians I recognized were all retired! (Alex Wilson, Elizabeth Esteve‐Coll, Robert Wedgeworth, et al.). I fared better with place names though there were a large number of “false drops”.
A little test I carried out was to check names from the day’s paper against the Who’s Who threesome. Gerry Adams, Lord and Lady Archer, Nick Faldo, John Prescott, and Twiggy (referenced to Lesley Lawson) featured in all three, but Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs and Aussie cricket captain Adam Gilchrist featured in none of them. Debrett’s lacked Lord Haskins, Who’s Who lacked England’s cricket captain Nasser Hussain, and both lacked Tiger Woods. International Who’s Who held up well in quantity of detail and is best for legibility.
Not many countries have their own national Who’s Who, and not all Who’s Who are published annually. The International Who’s Who provides a convenient, if somewhat unwieldy, source of information from all countries not found elsewhere, not even in the A. & C. Black and Debrett rivals. If your need is for international coverage, then this is the widest there is. For UK coverage, it is at least as good.
