The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia is the authoritative single-volume reference work on people, both living and dead. In addition to its thousand or more pages of A-Z entries, the book offers an invaluable Ready Reference section with lists of political leaders and rulers, Nobel Prizewinners, patron saints, sports champions and many more. Acclaimed on its first publication in 1994 as a new kind of biographical reference book, the Encyclopedia is now established as a reliable source of information on over 26,000 people, fully cross-referenced. The book's international coverage and devotion to important figures - both historical and contemporary - in science and the arts as well as sports and popular personalities make it unique. This Second Edition has been comprehensively updated and supplemented with new entries.

This book "is an abridged edition of the best-selling 'Penguin encyclopedia'. With over 22,000 entries and nearly 1-6 million words, and fully updated for its second edition, it is an invaluable and up-to-date source of information on subjects as diverse as current affairs and history, science and philosophy, and sport and music, written in a clear, direct style that illuminates even the most intricate concepts." -- back cover.