Print encyclopedias
Did you have a set of encyclopedias in your house when you were growing up? My family had an early-to-mid-1970s edition of the World Book Encyclopedia. For several years it was the go-to resource for my brothers and my homework. In addition, I just liked paging through it and randomly reading stuff. I wish my family still had it, then I might be able to claim it. I can't help myself. The feel and the odor of the pages, the illustrations, the weight of the books, the texture of their covers, etc. - they're like a time machine. They're a part of my childhood, like the smell of mom’s kitchen during holiday cooking. They became a part of me, and they still are. I still love them. Even now - right now - I can smell them: their bindings, their hard covers, their glossy pages. The erudition they represent is enormous, and I admire that. I’ve always been attracted to intelligence.
Where did they come from? I’ve read some people remembering encyclopedia sets advertised at the supermarket, where they were sure of high exposure. Did my family’s set come from a door-to-door salesman? My parents never said. But I’ve always assumed it was timing - a thing of happenstance, a chance encounter with a salesman visiting my father’s office. What was the motivation? I suppose my parents decided that their boys were of an age where such books would be useful in our schooling. They were right.
Old sets of print encyclopedias are rubbish today. No one wants them. You can’t sell them. Many people wrongly compare Wikipedia with the Encyclopedia Britannica, or whatever other print encyclopedia they are familiar with. “Everyone uses Wikipedia today.” Well, Wikipedia might reach that status some day, but it hasn’t yet.