Rosalie B. wrote:
> Beliavsky <beliavsky@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> When I was a kid about 30 years ago my parents bought for me the World
>> Book set of encyclopedias. It was fairly common for the families we
>> knew. I used to just browse volumes of the encyclopedia sometimes.
>> What do people think now about making such an investment, where there
>> are alternatives such as Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias (for
>> a fee).
>>
>> Steve Sailer wrote an essay comparing Wikipedia and Brittanica
>> http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/07/real-problem-with-wikipedia.html
,
>> asserting the former is dull.
>
> My mother gave us a set of encyclopedias c 1975 when we moved here. My
> dh built a book stand for them plus the three volume dictionary. She
> had a Britannica in her house including all the updates. I also had a
> couple of children's sets (such as questions about science which I
> think I gave to my son when his children had no internet access), and
> also she gave me a bookcase of 'great books' which I sent out of
> Dallas when dd#3 moved out there. She wanted the bookcase, so she got
> the books in it too.
>
> No one is interested in buying such things anymore as the regular
> encyclopedias go out of date really fast on some topics (political and
> geographical mostly). But really, there's a bunch of stuff that is
> still perfectly good.
>
> I think you can get such a set (out of date of course) for cheap at
> yard sales. I took all such books of my mom's down to a place called
> The Book Place where people could come in and get books for free.
> Alternative would be to buy a set on eBay, but the ****pping would
> probably be a killer. Or you could make a request for a used set on
> Freecycle.
>
Yes, I bought a complete 1990 World Book set for $20 at a yard sale. I
donated it to my kids' school, which is still using it. Learning how to
(a) use a print resource and (b) double-check facts about current
events, like politics/geography, is part of learning how to do research.
After all, there's plenty of outdated information on the Web, too.
Clisby
> Than you could go through the set and make notes in it about what has
> changed.
>
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