As a long-ago graduate from a small, midwestern military academy, I found this reference book to be of priceless utility and sourcebook of knowledge, at least till when The Internet came out in 2006 (I think The Internet existed a few years before that, at least that's when I first heard of it when I was getting TV cable put in and the technician was explaining what I was getting). In the days before Googles came out, this book was all I needed if I needed to look anything up. Needed a cosine/sine/tangent table? It's in here. Need to convert BTUs to Joules? It's here! Need to understand the difference between derivative and integral properties of Sinusoids? Here!! Need to know how to properly write Thank You Notes and send them to foreign dignitaries? Not in here, but there's a different book for that. Anyway, I also used the book to help me fall asleep at night. At 1,572 pages long, this book lasted all four years, with about 100 pages left over for post-college. I also once used the book to throw at an alarm clock to turn it off at 5:45am so I can get a few extra minutes of sleep when the clock fell to the floor about 1.5 meters below the bed (long story why the bed was so high). Although the book smashed my clock, it didn't matter because we had these freshmen (or are they freshpersons now?) who would loudly announce every minute when I really had to wake up and get dressed. Anyway I digress again. Wonderful book! Wonderful price!