Book Review: Disney A to Z The Official Encyclopedia (6th Edition)
Disney A to Z The Official Encyclopedia the 6th edition has been published as part of the Disney 100 celebration. This reference book includes entries for shorts, films, television shows, songs, attractions, and people across the Walt Disney Company spanning the entire 100 year history and branching out to all divisions including acquisitions up through March 2023. This new edition comes in at over 1,000 pages featuring 9,000 entries of which 2,000 are new and 6,000 are updated since the last edition was published in 2016. Since the last edition was published the Walt Disney Company has grown with the addition of 20th Century Fox as well as launch of Disney+.
The first edition of this comprehensive resource was published in 1996. The first 5 editions were written by/led by Disney Legend Dave Smith. Steven Vagnini from the Walt Disney Archives has taken the reigns for this new edition. The format is one you will be familiar with. It is a straight alphabetical listing of entries with references throughout to other entries.
The book includes over 200 images. They are in collages at the start of each letter of the alphabet, but I find the facts the main reason for the book. The images are thumbnail size, black and white, and more to tease the information than provide any sort of reference material.
I still appreciate having a hard copy reference book. Yes, the internet is faster in most cases and features more information in many but having something to flip through and in your hands is a different feeling when doing writing or research. The book does have a companion website (https://d23.com/disney-a-to-z/) and the select bibliography was moved to digital only for this edition.
One advantage I find to having a book is you can randomly flip through and pick up factoids or refresh your memory of things. For me this is much more enjoyable in print than digitally.
If you are looking for an authoritative and comprehensive resource of Disney knowledge Disney A to Z The Official Encyclopedia is the book for you. I have had a copy sitting on my desk for quick reference for years now and find it helpful. If you have own any of the previous editions you may want to consider the update as the company has grown so there are a large number of new entries.
Visit our 2023 Disney Book list for other reviews of titles that were published this year or the Geek’s Library for book reviews.
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** A review copy of this book was provided to us
