Dead Tree Encyclopedias...worth the investment?

[Harold Tuttle]

i picked up a set of Britanicas out of the paper recycling bin at Shady Grove MC dump

[Mabs2]

My point is that no technology, no matter how ubiquitious, how entrenched, and how seeming state of the art, is permanent.

Well, no kidding.
That's why I said this:

My point was that books and paper will not soon be replaced by computers.

[Guest]

Please note: this is your list librarian speaking.

For current reference use, get one of the electronic editions.  World Book is the 'basic' standard, best for kids, while Britannica is more sophisticated.

IF you want a paper encyclopedia, be on the lookout for one of the classic Britannicas.  So far the best I have been able to do personally was an 11th Edition ($100 from the local paper's for sale ads) but the ideal, the gold standard, is a set of the 9th Edition Britannica.  Apt to be expensive, if the person selling them knows what they have.  I see that a set went on eBay in February for just over $100 (plus $70 shipping), someone got a real steal on that one.  Wish I'd been looking.

http://faq.lib.umn.edu/public/showRecord.pl?kbrecordid=1261&mode=public

lpl/nc

[Harold Tuttle]

the one thing that electofangled pedias don't do is the "grab a random tome and surf pages under the apple tree in the back yard"

many of my mental excusions as a lad were fueled by random page turnings

[280plus]

Yea , I didn't think about that. People do advertise them in the paper.

[matis]

Mtnbker, don't spend $1500 for her set of encyclopedias.

Buy a used set, maybe on eBay (half.com).


I used to hear G.Gordon Liddy say to avoid new dictionaries and encyclopedias because they had been corrupted by political correctness.

Made sense, but I checked and he was sure telling the truth.


Last year I needed a dictionary 'cause my daughter had expropriated mine.


I found an almost new hard cover copy of Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Edition, published 1976 -- 75 cents!  Shipping was $3.25  Big, heavy tome.


I would find a twenty or thirty year old set in good condition and buy it for cheap, probably under $100.  She can supplement it by going on the internet.


Still want to part with $1500?  Invest it for her in stocks or even an internet bank at 4.5%.  With compound interest over the years it'll become a small fortune.


It's a good daddy that worries about a set of encyclopedias for a toddler.


matis

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

You can hide guns in paper encyclopedias.

This is the most important piece of information you have received in this thread.

Personally (opinions are like body parts...we all have them, some are pretty ugly, etc. etc...)

My kids are 16,14, and 11.  I have raised them to be EXTREMELY computer-centric with their education, having homeschooled each of them at least part of the time.  Books, (and I was an English/Journalism major) are wonderful and should always be available.  Encyclopedias serve 2 purposes: Info retrieval and reference.  As such, an electronic interface is MUCH more efficient, and can include multimedia and weblinks.  

That said, I LOVE the way mtnbkr recounted his childhood memories of the treed versions.  My kids do the same thing, take a subject and run with it.  They just do it electronically.

To me, this is killing two birds with one stone.  They are honing their PC skills (essential in today's western society) and enlarging their understanding of the universe we live in.

I also encourage them to read books, but this is mostly bedside table, nighttime stuff.

I remember an episode of Star Trek TNG where Picard is reading a book, and someone comes in and mentions what an antiquated thing that was to do.  It'll get that way at some point, and people will read from books for the sheer enjoyment of tactile feel of turning pages, smell of leatherbound books, and so forth.  It's not my desire, necessarily, but it IS inevitable.  
Fig

[K Frame]

"I used to hear G.Gordon Liddy say to avoid new dictionaries and encyclopedias because they had been corrupted by political correctness."

Liddy is, largely, an idiot.

By sticking with his Noah Webster 1st edition, he also misses out on the many words that have come into the general language to support, for example, emerging technologies.

Liddy's not the scion of the language that he thinks he is, either. More than once I've heard him spout absolutely incorrect grammar "advice."

[matis]

"Liddy is, largely, an idiot. "

That, sir, is YOUR opinion!


I love the man.

He's unusually accomplished, has held high and responsible positions and has for almost 5 years lived the life of a convict in prison.

Even that resulted from his refusal to "rat out" his compatriots and his president.  Very few have his courage and integrity.


I met him briefly when he came to town to debate his one-time nemesis, Timothy Leary.



So that's what makes a horse-race: I think the world of him.


matis

P.S. Buy a brand, spanking new set of encyclopedias and how long before its technology entries become outdated?

[K Frame]

"That, sir, is YOUR opinion!"

Gee, I don't think I ever claimed it to be anything else.

I find it troubling that so many people worship the air on which this man speaks given his willingness to treat the Constitution as an inconvenient impediment when it suits his personal goals.


"Buy a brand, spanking new set of encyclopedias and how long before its technology entries become outdated?"

Sliding scale. The lightbulb has been with us for 100+ years, commercial nuclear power generation for 50+ years, and they're still working under much the same principles.

Jet engine technology, the same thing.

Computer technology is right now in the same sort of phase that aeronautical engineering was in its early years, though, when you consider how far and how fast aircraft development went in such a short period of time.

[280plus]

I don't know, electronics are what they are but I can also recall looking for something in the paper type encyclopedia and invariably stumbling across something else that caught my interest and so on and so forth. You don't get the same effect of opening random pages when your using a computerized one. Granted, it's much more convenient...

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Is there reason not to get both paper and electronic encyclopedias?

[Perd Hapley]

Liddy's not the scion of the language that he thinks he is, either. More than once I've heard him spout absolutely incorrect grammar "advice."

Unless there's another definition of scion of which I'm unaware, you are no "scion" either.  I thought it meant son or descendant.

[280plus]

I thought it meant son or descendant.

To the 1952 Webster's !!

[280plus]

First def is a plant shoot or cutting, graft.

The second def is " descendant; child; heir ".

[mtnbkr]

Is there reason not to get both paper and electronic encyclopedias?

Nope, in fact, if I get the paper version, I would also get the electronic.  The question was more one of whether or not the paper version was worth the $1000+ for a new set.

BTW, folks, lots of great info here.  I really appreciate it.

Chris

[K Frame]

"Unless there's another definition of scion of which I'm unaware, you are no "scion" either.  I thought it meant son or descendant."

That's EXACTLY how I meant it, Fistful. Liddy considers himself to be the heir apparent of the English language, the son of Noah Webster and King James, its one true son and protector in a sea of bastardization.

Were it up to Liddy we'd have the equivilent of the Icelandic Language Institute, where, under official governmental sanction, foreign words are diligently excluded from the language and words or phrases from the extant Icelandic language are substituted.

Oh, and did I mention that Liddy would doubtless consider himself to be the only person of stature sufficient to head the Institute for the Preservation of the Official American Language and Grammar, and that he'd also lead the language death squads?

One of the funniest things I ever heard was when he had a German on one day years ago and proceeded to tell the guy how to pronounce certain words. School quickly ensued, and Liddy was pwoned and thoroughly faced, or however it's written.

[matis]

Oh, and did I mention that Liddy would doubtless consider himself to be the only person of stature sufficient to head the Institute for the Preservation of the Official American Language and Grammar, and that he'd also lead the language death squads?

That part'd be good.  


matis

[280plus]

The question was more one of whether or not the paper version was worth the $1000+ for a new set.

IMHO,,,no. Look for used! But I think we said hat already?

Good luck!

[Winston Smith]

www.wikipedia.com

[Hawk]

Wikipedia science 31% suckier than that of Britannica...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/16/wikipedia_britannica_science_comparison/

Still pretty good in my estimation.
Can't beat the price.