Singapore needed a broad- based reference book containing everything a general reader might want to look up— this was how the publishers Editions Didier Millet saw it; and the Chairman of Singapore’s National Heritage Board, Professor Tommy Koh, had been thinking along similar lines. New York, Chicago, London— they were all celebrated in major book- publishing projects: so why not Singapore?

An Editorial Advisory Board was assembled, chaired by Professor Koh. The publishers began to draw up lists of entries for the book, and over many months of lively discussion, and the input of experts, the final plan for the book took shape. Then followed an intensive process of commissioning, editing, rewriting, reviewing, photo- researching, photographing, designing and proofreading.

The result was one of the most important publishing events in Singapore’s history, the work of over 200 writers and an army of advisors and editors. It contains more than half- a- million words, over 2,500 entries and more than 1,000 photographs. The book was launched by President S. R. Nathan at his official residence, the Istana, on 11 September 2006.

No other book contains so diverse a range of information, from prehistory to modern politics, from religions to information technology, from public housing to plants and animals. This is the most comprehensive and colourful picture yet painted of Singapore and the people who live there, its past and its present.