I grew up with a set of World Book encyclopedias that my parents bought despite their slender financial resources. World Book had Year Book and Science Year to update the information - I think the last my parents got was the volume for 2002. When I was working on a school project, I invariably ended up reading a lot of the other entries in the volume I had. In this way, I acquired a lot of random knowledge, acquired the moniker of 'walking encyclopedia', and developed the habit of learning simply for the sake of acquiring knowledge. For example, I searched out and read all of Charles Dickens in my teens, because I had read descriptions of them in the encyclopedia.
I remember Encarta - my father got a Windows computer through his work, and Encarta was among the disks that came with it. I found it far too static. There was none of the meandering that happens while turning pages, none of the intrigue that comes from the words See Also. Wikipedia is useful as an introductory text, though I will check sources on it, but the ability to edit the internet created distrust of its information, and for many in my circles, Wikipedia lacks the authoritative credibility that a set of encyclopedias once carried. For this reason, my family has kept our set of encyclopedias, outdated as some of the information is (an entry on a long dead person, for instance, doesn't outdate). The printed material acts as an anchor in a constantly shifting world. As an older millennial with Gen Z relatives, I see Gen Z desperately needs stable sources of information, as their total immersion in the internet is creating a "What is truth?" mentality - they cannot conceive of a world where print created physical evidence, and it is stunning to see how unmoored they are as a result.
There’s a lot to be said for acquiring a lot of random knowledge; it’s the foundation for thinking. It also makes it easier to address—though it doesn’t solve—the second problem you raise. The more you know the more critical you can be about what else is out there.
So many memories flooded as I read. We had a set of World Books proudly displayed on a shelf that was accessible to everyone in the family. We used to rate the dinnertime discussion by how many World Books were pulled out and referenced. After a particularly rousing conversation, they would be stacked up on the table in piles. It was like a game, fact checking each other, pushing the conversation past common knowledge to look up specific WWII battles or bird names or atomic structures. It seems like a dream now. I am only in my forties, but it is hard not to sigh over these days of the printed page like Miniver Cheevy. The information in these books was somehow more accessible and transferable, though it was surely outdated. It felt like we owned something precious contained in those foil stamped covers. Like the information in those books was ours. My parents were very proud of them,which is probably why they made such an impact.
Great review, Joel! I still remember the door-to-door salesman coming to our tiny studio apartment shortly after we married in 1991 and sold us our first encyclopedia set (Britannica). My wife was expecting and the salesman sold us on the need to provide books for our children since we were clearly starting our family. I was in the USAF and made less than $1500 a month, but we splurged and purchased them on an installment plan. We were 19 and 20 and felt smart, like we were making a good investment. We were real adults now. Shortly after we finished paying them off, Microsoft launched Encarta. Regardless, we lugged that set around through numerous moves. We finally ditched them when our youngest was finishing high school—about a decade or so ago. Now, I wish we would have just kept them, somewhat out of nostalgia, a kind of memorable anchor since our home library is approaching 5,000 volumes.
Joel I feel like with these comments here you could write a whole new post about how your readers used encyclopedias. I was so grateful for the set we had at home growing up. They helped me write many a school research paper. I am almost considering getting a set anyway, outdated it may be, because of how irritating it is to me when my kids "ask Siri."
Yes, in grade school and junior high I wrote a lot of essays based on my encyclopedia set. If I ever needed to know something about World War I, inflation, or cheese, I knew exactly where to go.
As a child of the 60s, I spent many a rainy day in my room reading our red set of World Book Encyclopedias. One volume at a time! And cover to cover no less. An extra added treat was receiving our annual subscription to the white WBE Year Book which always included special features such as yearly-in-review news updates, listings of catastrophic world events, and my favorite, the celluloid overlays that would foldout such as the one of the Human Body…a cell for the skeleton, one for the nervous system, etc. Suffice it to say this was fertile ground in which my inner nerd would eventually pursue a career in book publishing. I still rue the day we eventually sold all those volumes in a yard sale!
One of the first things on my late father’s agenda after he married my mother in 1971, was to purchase an entire encyclopedia set (22 volumes) at the cost of $113 Swiss Francs per issue. Calculating for inflation, this means he spent an estimated $8798 dollars. Although this type of expense would make any newlyweds shake in their financial boots, my father wanted to ensure that his future children would have access to knowledge. My mother concurred and still has this set in her living room bookcase.
(As a child, I felt somewhat honoured that one of my distant relatives, a French painter of nudes, was listed in one of the volumes…)
I regularly and deeply lament the brevity of the bygone era of search engines. Oh for the golden age when digital sorting machines could find and deliver primary sources. Sadly, now those sources are reduced by non-sentient processors into a historian's worst nightmare--a mere, assumed, inaccessible background for a sketchy, dogmatic summary. Without authorship, we have lost authority.
I’d say that’s partially true, but you can use search engines to find original sources and some Ai search engines, like Perplexity, or actually quite helpful. Still, I take your point.
Excellent! Do you know about Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life? The subtitle says, "I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary." This best-selling book is her memoir arranged like an encyclopedia. It was the basis for my own training people to write their own memoirs in "The Biopedia Method" where people do the same.
Biopedia is especially good for non- writers. All you have to do is record the stories of your life! I recently received a grant from my state government to teach this method to war veterans. They were able to write some powerful accounts for their families and others.
Reference works are among my favorite reads. Years ago I stumbled on ‘The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought’, now one of my most treasured possessions. Great piece, Joel.
I own a Roget's, a thesaurus arranged thematically rather than alphabetically. It allows many more synonyms and the making of subtle distinctions.
(I also note that *cheap paper* tends to get underplayed for its importance. All the printing presses in the world wouldn't do any good if you still have to use vellum.)
The World Book Encyclopedias seem to be a fan favorite. We had a set as I grew up in the 60’s & 70’s and they were used frequently for school reports and just general browsing. I especially loved the overlays that were part of the section on the human body. Intriguing stuff to my young mind!
When my children were born, my Mom purchased us a set as well, as gift. We would always buy the yearly annuals, too.
After they grew up and moved out, my husband and I fecklessly made the choice to give them away as no longer being needed items; a decision we deeply regret now.
As another commenter pointed out, information has become a coin of the realm where it Is very hard to sort the good and trustworthy from counterfeits. If I could travel back in time I would hold tightly onto those world books as an investment in my family’s future.
I grew up with a set of World Book encyclopedias that my parents bought despite their slender financial resources. World Book had Year Book and Science Year to update the information - I think the last my parents got was the volume for 2002. When I was working on a school project, I invariably ended up reading a lot of the other entries in the volume I had. In this way, I acquired a lot of random knowledge, acquired the moniker of 'walking encyclopedia', and developed the habit of learning simply for the sake of acquiring knowledge. For example, I searched out and read all of Charles Dickens in my teens, because I had read descriptions of them in the encyclopedia.
I remember Encarta - my father got a Windows computer through his work, and Encarta was among the disks that came with it. I found it far too static. There was none of the meandering that happens while turning pages, none of the intrigue that comes from the words See Also. Wikipedia is useful as an introductory text, though I will check sources on it, but the ability to edit the internet created distrust of its information, and for many in my circles, Wikipedia lacks the authoritative credibility that a set of encyclopedias once carried. For this reason, my family has kept our set of encyclopedias, outdated as some of the information is (an entry on a long dead person, for instance, doesn't outdate). The printed material acts as an anchor in a constantly shifting world. As an older millennial with Gen Z relatives, I see Gen Z desperately needs stable sources of information, as their total immersion in the internet is creating a "What is truth?" mentality - they cannot conceive of a world where print created physical evidence, and it is stunning to see how unmoored they are as a result.
There’s a lot to be said for acquiring a lot of random knowledge; it’s the foundation for thinking. It also makes it easier to address—though it doesn’t solve—the second problem you raise. The more you know the more critical you can be about what else is out there.
So many memories flooded as I read. We had a set of World Books proudly displayed on a shelf that was accessible to everyone in the family. We used to rate the dinnertime discussion by how many World Books were pulled out and referenced. After a particularly rousing conversation, they would be stacked up on the table in piles. It was like a game, fact checking each other, pushing the conversation past common knowledge to look up specific WWII battles or bird names or atomic structures. It seems like a dream now. I am only in my forties, but it is hard not to sigh over these days of the printed page like Miniver Cheevy. The information in these books was somehow more accessible and transferable, though it was surely outdated. It felt like we owned something precious contained in those foil stamped covers. Like the information in those books was ours. My parents were very proud of them,which is probably why they made such an impact.
What a great memory of the formative power of shared books! Fantastic.
Great review, Joel! I still remember the door-to-door salesman coming to our tiny studio apartment shortly after we married in 1991 and sold us our first encyclopedia set (Britannica). My wife was expecting and the salesman sold us on the need to provide books for our children since we were clearly starting our family. I was in the USAF and made less than $1500 a month, but we splurged and purchased them on an installment plan. We were 19 and 20 and felt smart, like we were making a good investment. We were real adults now. Shortly after we finished paying them off, Microsoft launched Encarta. Regardless, we lugged that set around through numerous moves. We finally ditched them when our youngest was finishing high school—about a decade or so ago. Now, I wish we would have just kept them, somewhat out of nostalgia, a kind of memorable anchor since our home library is approaching 5,000 volumes.
I remember watching ads on TV for Britannica!
Joel I feel like with these comments here you could write a whole new post about how your readers used encyclopedias. I was so grateful for the set we had at home growing up. They helped me write many a school research paper. I am almost considering getting a set anyway, outdated it may be, because of how irritating it is to me when my kids "ask Siri."
Yes, in grade school and junior high I wrote a lot of essays based on my encyclopedia set. If I ever needed to know something about World War I, inflation, or cheese, I knew exactly where to go.
As a child of the 60s, I spent many a rainy day in my room reading our red set of World Book Encyclopedias. One volume at a time! And cover to cover no less. An extra added treat was receiving our annual subscription to the white WBE Year Book which always included special features such as yearly-in-review news updates, listings of catastrophic world events, and my favorite, the celluloid overlays that would foldout such as the one of the Human Body…a cell for the skeleton, one for the nervous system, etc. Suffice it to say this was fertile ground in which my inner nerd would eventually pursue a career in book publishing. I still rue the day we eventually sold all those volumes in a yard sale!
I loved the celluloid overlays!
Thanks for this fascinating review Joel!
One of the first things on my late father’s agenda after he married my mother in 1971, was to purchase an entire encyclopedia set (22 volumes) at the cost of $113 Swiss Francs per issue. Calculating for inflation, this means he spent an estimated $8798 dollars. Although this type of expense would make any newlyweds shake in their financial boots, my father wanted to ensure that his future children would have access to knowledge. My mother concurred and still has this set in her living room bookcase.
(As a child, I felt somewhat honoured that one of my distant relatives, a French painter of nudes, was listed in one of the volumes…)
First, what a great memory. Second, what an astounding dollar figure!
I regularly and deeply lament the brevity of the bygone era of search engines. Oh for the golden age when digital sorting machines could find and deliver primary sources. Sadly, now those sources are reduced by non-sentient processors into a historian's worst nightmare--a mere, assumed, inaccessible background for a sketchy, dogmatic summary. Without authorship, we have lost authority.
That is a good point! There used to be accountability for information being sent out. A true relic of the past in our world of easy information.
I’d say that’s partially true, but you can use search engines to find original sources and some Ai search engines, like Perplexity, or actually quite helpful. Still, I take your point.
Excellent! Do you know about Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life? The subtitle says, "I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary." This best-selling book is her memoir arranged like an encyclopedia. It was the basis for my own training people to write their own memoirs in "The Biopedia Method" where people do the same.
Wow that sounds like a fascinating book and such an interesting way to organize a memoir!
Biopedia is especially good for non- writers. All you have to do is record the stories of your life! I recently received a grant from my state government to teach this method to war veterans. They were able to write some powerful accounts for their families and others.
That is amazing.
That’s fantastic. I’d love to hear more about that.
What a fabulous way to think of structuring a memoir!
I'm an encyclopedia fan (and have written one myself), so if a salesman of such came to my door I wouldn't turn them away immediately.
Do unto others…
Does anyone know how Wikipedia is funded, other than from donations from users?
This article was eye-opening.
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-deep-ties-to-big-tech
Thanks!
My pleasure. 🙂
Yes, thanks!
Great cover. The little muscle guy reminded me of me at the gym. 💪
Pumping knowledge.
By the way, have you read Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn to your children? About 10 years old should work.
No, thanks for the tip!
Reference works are among my favorite reads. Years ago I stumbled on ‘The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought’, now one of my most treasured possessions. Great piece, Joel.
Thanks! And that sounds like a great book!
I own a Roget's, a thesaurus arranged thematically rather than alphabetically. It allows many more synonyms and the making of subtle distinctions.
(I also note that *cheap paper* tends to get underplayed for its importance. All the printing presses in the world wouldn't do any good if you still have to use vellum.)
I have a section in my new book about paper for precisely that reason.
The World Book Encyclopedias seem to be a fan favorite. We had a set as I grew up in the 60’s & 70’s and they were used frequently for school reports and just general browsing. I especially loved the overlays that were part of the section on the human body. Intriguing stuff to my young mind!
When my children were born, my Mom purchased us a set as well, as gift. We would always buy the yearly annuals, too.
After they grew up and moved out, my husband and I fecklessly made the choice to give them away as no longer being needed items; a decision we deeply regret now.
As another commenter pointed out, information has become a coin of the realm where it Is very hard to sort the good and trustworthy from counterfeits. If I could travel back in time I would hold tightly onto those world books as an investment in my family’s future.
I think you can still find them on the secondhand market.
Thank you, Joel. I look forward to your book.