let's debate encyclopedias

[anapuni808]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

[QUOTE=mel;113779]When I was a kid my parents bought a set of World Book Encyclopedia and the "Childcraft" books. I love the World Book and spent many hours just reading all of the different articles in it. Got a very good general knowledge of all kinds of trivial stuff... was kind of my WWW back in the days before anyone had a computer at home... The funny thing was reading about computers and the state of the art were these giant machines that filled an entire room and stored stuff on punch cards and tape[QUOTE]

When I was a kid, we had World Books and a globe. I used to spin the globe & put my finger on it, with my eyes closed. Wherever it stopped I would look that country/area up in the books. It made me very good at geography and I'm pretty good at trivial pursuit too but I was a really geeky kid! Now I think that it's too bad that more kids don't have the same richness of opportunity that I had to give in to my curiousity - it was a solitary experience but very rewarding for me. I learned so much from those books.

I was very fortunate as a child in that my house and that of my relatives were all loaded with books. My daughter says her one of her first memories of me is seeing me with my nose in a book. Luckily, she also learned to loved books at a very early age.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

Helen and Anapuni, mahalo for bringing this thread back up. I never did get that encyclopedia set, which is not to say that I will pass up the opportunity in the future.

I think there are fewer smells so wonderful/comforting/stimulating and strange as that of a room filled with old books.

[oceanpacific]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

We had the World Book encyclopedia at our house in the 1960's. With about 3 years worth of Year Books, plus a mechincal device for quizes that you place a paper wheel that had questions on a certain subject.

The mechanical device was called "Cyclo-teacher" and was an example of what is referred to as "programmed learning."

[helen]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

Are we just limited to discussing the encyclopedias on book form or is it okay to expand to the CD-ROM versions?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

I'd imagine looking up in a defunct encyclopedia the history of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and see how we grew up with the "first draft" version of the take over.

I remember when the Soviet Union fell, I remarked to one of my friends that there's gonna be a big sale on globes and atlas' now that the republics of the Soviet Union are no more and all them globes will have to be re-done.

[buzz1941]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

We have a set of the EB at the Star-Bulletin office, and when the editor wanted to throw them out, the staff squawked!

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

grrrooowwwwlll...another set is up on ebay...$800 pekapeka dollars! Oh my, how beautiful it is, though, especially considering it is 96 yrs old.

[Vanguard]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

I'm actually a user of wikipedia, and I like it. I know it has this widespread reputation for being not so accurate due to the open nature, but I believe there are a lot of dedicated editors (sometimes too dedicated and too anal) who weed out the misinformation. I like the variety, and the opportunity to contribute to a knowledge bank. If I was doing scholarly research, though, I wouldn't cite wikipedia, but I may look up pertinent articles, and then follow up using other source material.

[Honoruru]

Re: let's debate encyclopedias

If I was doing scholarly research, though, I wouldn't cite wikipedia, but I may look up pertinent articles, and then follow up using other source material.

I agree. If you want a quick, overview of a subject you are not familiar with, Wikipedia is very good. You can use it as a guide to find other sources for accurate, in-depth, comprehensive articles. At least you know where or what to look for.