This heavy little cube of a book is actually quite useful. It's an encyclopedia, of sorts, of 501 writers worldwide. Divided into color-coded sections by period (pre-1500 through post-1960), it contains short bios, lists of significant works, birth and death dates and photographs of everyone from Horace and Ovid to J.K. Rowling and Arundhati Roy.
Some -- Anne Tyler, for instance -- seem to get short shrift (only half a page! And no photo!), while others might get a little more than deserved (Philip Dick? Really? Two pages and three photos?), but it's a judgment call, after all.
The subdivisions make it a little hard to find people; the book appears to be rabidly chronological when I think alphabetical would make more sense. Fortunately, there is an index.
Sprinkled throughout are color reproductions of book jackets -- a fun and unexpected addition. It's also fun to flip through the book quickly and watch the photos go from almost all white men to women and people of color.
