Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Glass, Philip, 1937–, American composer, b. Baltimore. Considered one of the most innovative of contemporary composers, he was a significant figure in the development of minimalism in music. Glass a...

(Encyclopedia) snake, common name for an elongated, limbless reptile of the order Squamata, which also includes the xlizards. Most snakes live on the ground, but some are burrowers, arboreal, or aquatic; one group i...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Alaska əlăˈskə [key], largest in area of the United States but one of the smallest in population, occupying the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from the coter...

(Encyclopedia) Brook, Peter, 1925–, English theatrical director, b. London, grad. Oxford (1943). An innovative, unconventional, and controversial figure, Brook mounts energetic productions in which the entire stag...

(Encyclopedia) Disney, Walt (Walter Elias Disney) dĭzˈnē [key], 1901–66, American movie producer and pioneer in animated cartoons, b. Chicago. He grew up in Missouri, in the small town of Marceline and in Kansa...

(Encyclopedia) communications industry, broadly defined, the business of conveying information. Although communication by means of symbols and gestures dates to the beginning of human history, the term generally ref...

(Encyclopedia) Bermuda bûrmyo͞oˈdə [key], British dependency (2015 est. pop. 70,000), 21 sq mi (53 sq km), comprising some 150 coral rocks, islets, and islands (of which some 20 are inhabited), in the Atlantic O...

(Encyclopedia) free silver, in U.S. history, term designating the political movement for the unlimited coinage of silver. In 1896 free silver became the major issue of a presidential campaign when William Jennings...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). ...

(Encyclopedia) learning, in psychology, the process by which a relatively lasting change in potential behavior occurs as a result of practice or experience. Learning is distinguished from behavioral changes arising ...