[Sequoyah101]

I did the same growing up and I don’t recall much prompting by my parents to do it though they did gulp hard and bought the World Books and paid them out and bought the year book for updates for almost 40 years.

I read them all from start to finish over the years. Usually on Sunday afternoon after Church since we didn’t do work on the farm on Sunday.

I poured over maps and have all my life to find things in far away places that I may never see otherwise.

Curiosity and Discovery, I can’t imagine life without them.

[IronJack]

Sounds like we were twins, right down to the World Book. People today often ask me how I know so much "trivia." I usually reply that there's no such thing; those insignificant facts are the mud that makes the bricks that makes the houses that make the communities that make the world we live in.

I've never allowed myself the luxury of saying "I don't know."

I have also been blessed with a pretty good memory, and I thank God every day for the wonders He reveals to those who just ask.

[Covenantor]

We must be in the same age cohort.

Parents taught us to read before first grade. The subscription Funk & Wagnells was the vehicle they provide us, along with the F&W annual Almanac, your basic world events of the year with photos. That provided a considered and factual presentation beyond the When movie news reels.

Dad’s Popular Science, Popular Mechanics exposed me to tools, their use and explained how things worked.

The National Geographic provided glorious folding maps and views of the world and its people beyond our little corner. When Dad passed we had almost 50 years of Nat’l. Geo to contend with. Offers to local libraries were met with a smirk and and a snort

[norton]

they did gulp hard and bought the World Books and paid them out and bought the year book for updates for almost 40 years.

Amen.

I still have several volumes but they're stashed away with a similar set from turn of last century, a Conrad anthology, and "Paddle to the Sea".

Scary that they've been replaced by Wikipedia, "Illustrated Novels" (comics), and electric gizmos. More scary that most of those gizmos involve either emoticons or war games.