Microsoft Bookshelf 2000 Review

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(More customer reviews)To consider an out-of-date software package like Bookshelf 2000, you must deal with the fact that encyclopedias, atlases, and especially almanacs don't exactly age like fine wine. I will therefore spare you a discussion of these parts of Bookshelf.
Once you have made your peace with that, Bookshelf is still worthwhile for the dictionary and thesaurus, which resist aging. You can save these to your hard drive (for quick access) and keep the CD handy for the style manual, quotations, and timeline.
The dictionary is an "updated" iteration of the late, great Third Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, not the Fourth Edition released in 2000. A lot has happened to the English language since the Third was released in 1994. The updating is selective and runs from '94-`00: Hence, there is "dot com," but "blog" is missing. I can live with this, but a verbal fashionista might not be able to.
The updated version of The Original Roget's Thesaurus of the English Words and Phrases is the most valuable part of the software. You could conceivably memorize a dictionary, but the thicket of linkages between the 250,000+ synonyms? Forget that.
Finally, a thesaurus and dictionary are much more powerful tools used in combination. The problem with using a thesaurus without a dictionary handy is that it tricks you into thinking words are more interchangeable than they really are (e.g., steel-blue vs. slate-blue).
Because there are so many free reference works available on that reference library called the Internet, it is easy to think of a Bookshelf program as retro in a not-good 1990s way. That would be a mistake. Four stars.


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By providing instant and integrated access to nine top reference resources, Bookshelf 2000 is the ultimate writer's companion. You'll radically improve your documents, presentations, and e-mails with these writing tools. You can even install American Heritage Dictionary definitions and Roget's Thesaurus entries on your hard drive for instant access to definitions and synonyms. Integration with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows makes it a snap to transfer text, images, and articles back into Office documents. One-click access to all Bookshelf resources makes finding what you need easy and fast. Bookshelf 2000 provides instant and integrated access to these nine top reference resources: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition; The Original Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases; The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations; Encarta Manual of Style and Usage; Microsoft Press Computer and Internet; Encarta Desk Encyclopedia; Encarta Desk World Atlas; The Encarta 2000 New World Almanac; and The Encarta 2000 New World Timeline.

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