Almanac

An almanac is a compendium of current and retrospective statistics and facts, usually an annual. It may be broad in subject coverage, or limited to a particular special subject. Its synthetic nature makes it a useful source of consultation and basic succinct documentation. Almanacs, however, by their very usefulness tend to discourage research into their original sources in which there may be important advice or caveats concerning the use of the information provided. Typically the almanacs are rather uncritical and compile any statistical tables available without any evaluation of their accuracy or utility.