Posted on 08/29/2010 5:09:06 PM PDT by Stoat
Grew up, wrote scads of school papers, and wore out a set of the 1970 World Book Encyclopedia. Off-white and brown edition. I will still have them when I die because they were a founding part of my childhood and early school years. And, I simply can’t imagine having them anymore.
I dearly love and indulge myself in modern tech and the internet age, boy do I. But, I will never forget or forsake the printed books that were a part of my molding as a human being. Consider them my “binkie” that I’ll just never be able to get past or live without.......
I checked and there’s at least one loose volume on eBay. It would probably take a couple of years to put together a full set, even with an automated search. Is the Compact Edition with the magnifier complete, but just in teeny-weeny letters?
“Recently I bought two complete ones dating from the 90’s and another one from the 60’s for less than $30.”
Hey, I think you got ripped off :)
A few years ago charity book sales here were having to heave set after set into the dumpster after their sales was over. Since then they won’t accept them. Neither will used book stores or nonprofit thrift shops.
Mine are green and white, so they might be the late 60s. I was very lucky to have them, as my parents didn’t have much money, and I’m sure they had to sacrifice to buy them. The set helped me a lot in my school work, since we lived out of town and I couldn’t ask to go to a library at the drop of a hat.
I was doing that for a few years with the Britannica Great Books of the Western World series but then I got lucky and happened across a used bookstore that was moving its location and had EVERYTHING at a deep discount. They had a complete set for I think around $60 and I happily snapped that up. Sadly, the page formatting of the books is an older style where they used two vertical columns per page and a smallish font.....it's pretty hard on the eyes and so I don't read them as much as I would like :-( Many of the represented works are in the public domain and are available free online now though. But I still enjoy reading the original books in bed :-)
Talk about faith in th electronic medium.
Glad I have my compact edition...and the magnifying glass!!
I'm with you.....I'll be keeping my eye out for the full 20 volume version at a book sale only because I've got space available here at the stoat cave. I love the ancient citations that they provide in the word histories and the extensive timelines.
How we think is a reflection of who we are, and language reflects, in many ways, how we think. Nothing approaches the OED for a complete history of English.
I remember her telling me, half the words are spelled wrong.
LMAO ;-)
When I was a kid, my Granddaddy had an Encyclopedia Britannica. My Father had a cheap off brand one called the New Standard Encyclopedia. It wasn’t that bad but no where near Britannica. I always wanted one but they were just too expensive.
A similar story is true for me, except my Father bought a set called "The New Book of Knowledge". Compared with the Encyclopedia Britannica, it was truly poor. It provided the superficial basics on popular subjects, but that was about it. For any serious studying I had to go to the library to access their Britannica set, which was fine because it got me out of the house for a few hours ;-)
Recently I bought two complete ones dating from the 90’s and another one from the 60’s for less than $30. People basically just wanting to get rid of them. I still find it easier looking things up in them than the internet.
Microsoft discontinued their Encarta Encyclopedia DVD's a few years ago and only has an online subscription service available now for their Encyclopedia. Britannica still has it all....the deadtree, the DVD and the online subscription so they have definitely stood the test of time.
I agree....in some cases it is a lot more convenient to look things up in a printed book than via the internet.
I just love these self-appointed "experts."
Any reading that depends on electricity in any form to work is not worth having. I can see an electronic copy as a supplement to a printed book but never as a substitute.
Picture a power outage lasting a week, and think about having candles but nothing else to do with the light...
You are right!
It is accessible free on line and for pre-PC revisionist facts, it is unbeatable.
That's $318 per year plus 17.5% VAT.
So at $375, over 40 years you would pay $15,000.
I'll pass.
What for the OED?
Google lets you be your own lexicographer.
I think you mean the 1911-Eleventh ed. (The Twelvth didn't come out for another 10 years)
It's on line http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/
We already had a problem assembling the technology to read NASA tapes from the Apollo era.
Wow. Simon Winchester turned TRAITOR to the (printed) written word! I am shocked. No really! He’s my favorite author. I’ve read everything he’s written. His opinion on the iPad surprises me.
Regarding the OED, I have an original, unabridged, second edition that I use all the time. I guess I’ll have to buy a subscription online.
Agreed!
Absolutely! I've read everything Simon Winchester has written and that is one of my favorites.
I’ve always wanted a full fopy of the OED, along with a complete 1910 Brittannica.
But who can justify the cost of publishing new books? The old books will not go away, it's just that new ones won't be made because it won't be economically feasible to do so.
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