View Full Version : End of an Era: Encyclopedia Britannica Goes Out Of Print...
Encyclopedia Britannica to stop printing books (http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/13/technology/encyclopedia-britannica-books/?hpt=hp_t2)
After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica will cease production of its iconic multi-volume book sets.
Between Wikipedia and Dictionary.com I know I have extra space on my bookshelf. I can't see ever getting away from print books completely, somehow a kindle just can't replace my Ed Ezell and Blake Stevens books to say nothing of vintage Playboys and Black Belt magazines.
But when it comes to looking up the basic details of something I may be unfamiliar with it's been a long time since I reached for an EB or WBE. But technological achievements aside, I'm glad I grew up when I did and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Encyclopedia Britannica to stop printing books (http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/13/technology/encyclopedia-britannica-books/?hpt=hp_t2)
After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica will cease production of its iconic multi-volume book sets.
Between Wikipedia and Dictionary.com I know I have extra space on my bookshelf. I can't see ever getting away from print books completely, somehow a kindle just can't replace my Ed Ezell and Blake Stevens books to say nothing of vintage Playboys and Black Belt magazines.
But when it comes to looking up the basic details of something I may be unfamiliar with it's been a long time since I reached for an EB or WBE. But technological achievements aside, I'm glad I grew up when I did and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Wow, I'm surprised they held on this long. Google and Wikipedia long since surpassed anything EB could accomplish. EB was outstanding for its era (and I recall doing more than a few research papers with extensive EB citations), but it's a dinosaur. It's like a flintlock rifle. Sure it was awesome in its day, but would you really carry one over an AR these days?
Also, my bookshelves sound a lot like yours. You'd think you were in the Collector Grade Publications store...
As a kid I use to lay on the living room floor and just read through volumes of the World Book set on those rainy days with nothing to do. Fun way to learn about an eclectic collection of topics, and not something you would do with Google or other Internet references.
But then, a set of encyclopedias was a huge investment for a regular family. Can't hardly justify the cost now with so much free online info.
Like you said, I'm glad a grew up with them.
As a kid I use to lay on the living room floor and just read through volumes of the World Book set on those rainy days with nothing to do.
I did this as well.
My mother still has our set of World Books. I bet I looked through every page of every volume at some point.
GeorgiaBoy
03-14-12, 07:58
I'm just out of college, and grew up in the beginning of the Internet and Information Age, but I sat many of days in the living room going through a set of what I believe was 1982 print encyclopedias. I was 7 or 8 when I started reading them, and I really didn't stop until I was probably 12 or 13. Sure the info was outdated, but it did teach me about countries, the world, wars, airplanes, cars, "birds and bee's" and the like...
My parents still have the set at their house. They have kept it with my personal request since I learned so much with them.
Outstanding, it'll be so much easier to subtly condition childrens minds digitally as opposed to those hardbound things that couldn't be edited on a whim or made more PC as time passes.
Well, that and they'll get much more and much easier exposure to porn, which was why most of us looked at the books way back when to begin with right?
Native girls, skinless women, that transparency layered schematic of a uterus or breast and so on. Admit it, you weren't looking to learn, you were looking to see. :)
Now if a kid gets bored on a rainy day reading is the last resort they'll fall back to. Vidya games and social media take precident and require less 'work' on thier part. Because picking up a book is hard.
Admittedly all I have is a set of 1970's era Compton Encyclopedias with a few update or revision books to stand at the end of the stack, but they are going to be kept around for a good long time for my grandson.
They may be filled with older knowledge, but its knowledge none the less, and they all work without electricity of any type.
Well, that and they'll get much more and much easier exposure to porn, which was why most of us looked at the books way back when to begin with right?
Native girls, skinless women, that transparency layered schematic of a uterus or breast and so on. Admit it, you weren't looking to learn, you were looking to see. :)
No. I had National Geographic for that. :D
lethal dose
03-14-12, 08:57
No. I had National Geographic for that. :D
Who are you kiddin'? You probably STILL use nat geo for said purposes. :D
As a kid I use to lay on the living room floor and just read through volumes of the World Book set on those rainy days with nothing to do. Fun way to learn about an eclectic collection of topics, and not something you would do with Google or other Internet references.
But then, a set of encyclopedias was a huge investment for a regular family. Can't hardly justify the cost now with so much free online info.
Like you said, I'm glad a grew up with them.
I used to go in my fathers den and "surf" the EBs and look up items of interest to see what they had to say about it. But I do the same thing with Wiki and Google, I actually think it is easier.
I'm actually stunned that we are capable of producing such stupid people given the internet resources available to them.
National Geographic, pffft, yeah, if you like the look of two fried eggs hanging on a nail or that extra special grapfruits in socks look.
Sears catalog, (remember that annual 3 tree per unit monster?) ladies undergarment section was where the wholesome all American side boob action was at.
National Geographic, pffft, yeah, if you like the look of two fried eggs hanging on a nail or that extra special grapfruits in socks look.
Sears catalog, (remember that annual 3 tree per unit monster?) ladies undergarment section was where the wholesome all American side boob action was at.
Yeah, I never understood the appeal of naked, malnourished cannibal boobs either. Thankfully my Dad subscribed to National Lampoon magazine and left them on my desk when he was done reading them.
thopkins22
03-14-12, 12:07
For what it's worth, Wikipedia probably IS in fact a better resource than encyclopedias.
There was a book titled "My Last Lecture" by a professor at Carnegie Mellon. He had been asked to write the entry on virtual reality. No, peer review happened, no editing happened, according to him nobody seemed to do anything other than copy and paste what he wrote.
I had a set as a child, but the world has moved on.
Yeah, I never understood the appeal of naked, malnourished cannibal boobs either. Thankfully my Dad subscribed to National Lampoon magazine and left them on my desk when he was done reading them.
Well for a young boy that barely knew what he was looking at to start with it was kinda eye opening.
Yeah.......Sears was where the white women were at. ;)
Outstanding, it'll be so much easier to subtly condition childrens minds digitally as opposed to those hardbound things that couldn't be edited on a whim or made more PC as time passes. I foresee myself investing in an older set and turning the electric off. "the electric is off, I'll be damned, why don't u go grab one of those books and do a little reading. It might not be up to date, it won't be whitewashed either.
Fairly certain some of my teenage "angst" was relieved in the bathroom looking at half nude African women.
All joking aside, I spent many fruitful, happy, hours reading them. I am an avid reader, so maybe I'm colored on the subject, but I learned much good info. from them. Simply not the same as reading a computer screen.
HAMMERDROP
03-14-12, 21:22
End of an era for sure, I remember back in the sixties there was a EB door to door salesman that used to lug that 007 suitcase around with the entire set enclosed? The suitcase unfolded and was a table and displayed the books for his sales pitch.
Michael
montanadave
03-15-12, 11:19
When I was a kid, I'd watch Jeopardy if I was home sick and always thought it would be much cooler to lose and get the free set of EB than win the cash. We finally pestered my dad into getting us a set of encyclopedias, but after checking out the cost, he went with a cheap set from some Brand X company.
Which was all well and good, until my older brother went to do a school report and discovered the publishers of our encyclopedias had left out France. Like the whole ****ing country! :haha:
We have never let my dad live that down and whenever we said or did something stupid and he called us on it, we'd reply we learned it from the encyclopedias he bought us as kids.
While reading through this I had a really strong flashback.
I mean I literally could smell the the binding glue and ink, feel the tactile sensation of the cover and fully remember the heft of the books in general.
I'm thinking a tablet or monitor screen just isn't something that's going to leave that kind of lasting impression upon anyone.
Too bad, because it definitely felt like one of those warm fuzzy comforting memories that'll stick around for life and give you something to tell the grandkids about.
You know, like having to get up to change the channel on the TV using a knob, dialing in radio stations manually, hell, AM radio, roadmaps at the gas station, rotary phones and a great pile of other simular 'quaint' devices and things we used to do with 'high tech equiptment' back in the day.
Sad really. Its all so generic and utterly impatient now.
If it's not coming through at 4G, loads up in 3.7 milliseconds and has Cliff notes added on up front then a kids attention span is exceeded and they move on to something else.
Simular note: anyone else notice the pretty steep decline in scale model availability and use?
Yes, adults still do it as a hobby, but you almost never see a Revell or Snap-Tite or even one of those scale balsa planes on the shelves at stores let alone actually being assembled on the kitchen table for days at a time or sitting completed on a shelf or dangling from the ceiling in a kids room anymore.
Too much thought process required, too much attention to detail needed, too much time consumed for no 'real' reward.
Its not as if they just received 20 'likes' and 7 new friends on thier Facebook page or someone voted thier uberL33T avatar most likely to succeed. THAT is rewarding....
*sigh*
RogerinTPA
03-16-12, 08:00
The out come was inevitable. It's been obsolete for years, just like the Postal Service Vs Email & Direct Deposit.
Wait, you mean there was a book about Wikipedia?
wild_wild_wes
03-16-12, 23:03
Yeah, I never understood the appeal of naked, malnourished cannibal boobs either.
You are forgetting about the healthy young robust Polynesian girls :happy:
Wow! That surprises me. Kinda sad actually.
I donated my encyclopedia set to the local library. I figured they'd get more use of it than I would.
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