FARK.com: (11090871) For only $999, you too can buy a set of encyclopedias. According to Wikipedia, an encyclopedia is a set of books, and books are like paper iPads, or something Skip to content
Do you have adblock enabled?
 
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(What year is it?)   For only $999, you too can buy a set of encyclopedias. According to Wikipedia, an encyclopedia is a set of books, and books are like paper iPads, or something   (worldbook.com) divider line
32
    More: Asinine, Bald Eagle, Eagle, United States, World Book Encyclopedia, Founding Fathers, bald eagle, President of the United States, Golden Eagle  
•       •       •

994 clicks; posted to Business » on 12 Jan 2021 at 6:07 PM (1 year ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



32 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Joe USer [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-01-12 4:34:37 PM  
A Non-Volatile Storage Medium
Youtube KIWR-b42lU0

Blank Reg said it best
 
scottydoesntknow [TotalFark]
2021-01-12 5:24:25 PM  
I saw that price tag and it reminded me of the Friends episode (shut up, my wife loved the show) with Penn Jillette selling Encyclopedias. Had to look it up, but he quoted the price at $1,200 for the full set (Joey only had $50, so he bough 1, the letter 'V'). 

I'm not sure how accurate that price was 24 years ago, but I still would've expected it to be more expensive now. Guess they realized as well they really can't compete with the internet.

/I also had an Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM in late '90s
 
iheartscotch
2021-01-12 5:28:46 PM  
I've been slowly acquiring illustrated analog copies (physical books) of my favorite books. Physical books...do not run out of power. They cannot be hacked electronically. And it's always nice to read a book.
 
cman [OhFark]
2021-01-12 5:40:38 PM  
I miss Encarta. 'Twas such a good encyclopedia.
 
buckwebb [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-01-12 5:42:06 PM  
One of the things I did in the first year after I bought a house was build a bookcase and buy a set of encyclopedia -- and it was over 1,000 USD, I remember that. This was a few years before internet or PCs. By the time my oldest was born and old enough that he could use them, he never, ever looked at them for school or anything. The internet and CDROMs and computers had completely replaced them.

I cannot imagine a reason to even have a set anymore, unless preparing for the collapse of society, maybe in an underground bunker?
 
yakmans_dad
2021-01-12 6:20:23 PM  
Compton Pictured Encyclopedia. The wiki of my youth.

I started to read it from beginning to end. Aachen, I think, was the first entry. I think I got to Aardvark before getting out my bag of army men to play with.
 
Snotnose
2021-01-12 6:27:09 PM  
I remember when I was a teenager I figured 2 things would mean I Made It:

1)  A furniture TV, probably 20 inch or so.  Cost 2 year wages at minimum wage (no other bills like food, rent, etc)
2)  An encyclopedia.  Again, about 2 years wages assuming I stayed in the parent's basement.

As I sit here typing on a 17" laptop, watching a 55" tv, and more cat videos than you can shake a catnip enhanced feather toy at.
 
scottydoesntknow [TotalFark]
2021-01-12 6:34:23 PM  
So this made me start thinking about the value of that.

I checked the word count for full encyclopedias. The only one I found listed was Encyclopedia Britannica at 44 MILLION words. It's listed on Amazon at $799.00*. That would mean it's about .000018 cents per word.

An average novel is 100-175,000 words and prices are about $13,95-$17.95. Giving it the highest count & price, it's about 0.00010 center per word.

So an Encyclopedia Britannica carries much more value based on word count.

*The World Book Encyclopedia in subby's link is $799 on Amazon with a $200 off coupon as well, making it $599. In other words, don't order directly from them if you're wanting to get it
 
SBinRR [OhFark]
2021-01-12 6:53:50 PM  
I spent a lot of time in our encyclopedia set from about seven years old on.  I first used them in the second grade to do a report on George Washington.  I was hooked.
 
kdawg7736 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-01-12 7:04:41 PM  

cman: I miss Encarta. 'Twas such a good encyclopedia.


Me too. The good ol' 90s right there.
 
grimlock1972
2021-01-12 7:09:34 PM  
While i have fond memories of using the World book and other encyclopedias at school for research and references for reports and essays at high school and would love to own a current set i cannot justify that price at this time.   I also admit that old school printed encyclopedias are likely on their way out as i'd think only school and public libraries show much interest in them any more.
 
talkertopc [TotalFark]
2021-01-12 7:15:05 PM  
Does it come with a free Timex Sinclair?
 
LrdPhoenix
2021-01-12 7:29:43 PM  
To be absolutely fair, you do probably pay more per year for internet access.

Of course, you get a lot more than Wikipedia out of it.
 
dericwater
2021-01-12 7:37:26 PM  

scottydoesntknow: I saw that price tag and it reminded me of the Friends episode (shut up, my wife loved the show) with Penn Jillette selling Encyclopedias. Had to look it up, but he quoted the price at $1,200 for the full set (Joey only had $50, so he bough 1, the letter 'V'). 

I'm not sure how accurate that price was 24 years ago, but I still would've expected it to be more expensive now. Guess they realized as well they really can't compete with the internet.

/I also had an Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM in late '90s


Encyclopedia sets help make a person's or family's den/reading/library room look more august. But it doesn't if the spines of the volumes line up to look like a photo of some birds, even if they're eagles. Go with the traditional spine in dark brown.

/Once went to a swanking home for a soiree. There was a library with books filling the shelves up to 14 feet high or so. Yes, there's a ladder on wheels and a railing to get to the top shelves. I pulled out a random book (normal height) and it was just some BS gibberish book. I think it was published specifically to fill up a place to make it look "academic". You know the kind. They're the ones that make up the ambience of a study/library in one of those older hotels.
//Was at such a hotel and pulled out one on History of Western Civilization. Was a good read, although I couldn't finish it before we left the place.
 
SumoJeb
2021-01-12 7:49:53 PM  
I got a set of encyclopedias from an elderly relative when I graduated in 2000. Luckily they were returnable.
 
Sum Dum Gai
2021-01-12 8:01:29 PM  

iheartscotch: I've been slowly acquiring illustrated analog copies (physical books) of my favorite books. Physical books...do not run out of power. They cannot be hacked electronically. And it's always nice to read a book.


Eh, I read a lot, and I ended up getting hand strain from constantly holding paperbacks open with my thumb and pinkie.  Kindle is a lot nicer for that.  But yes, physical books make a much nicer looking collection.
 
zeroflight222
2021-01-12 8:06:12 PM  
Wikipedia has an entry about encyclopedias, but do encyclos have an entry about Wikis?
 
FarkingSmurf
2021-01-12 8:15:02 PM  
In the late 19eighties a door to door salesman came to our house selling sets of encyclopedia britannica.  He had a whole sales pitch and my parents ended up buying it, his presentation was quite the show.  This is pre internet so I did get some use out of them for school.  We had a doggo that unfortunately was quite cray cray that decided they made great chew toys.  That doggo unfortunately ended up going to a nice farm up north after biting more than a few house visitors.  Do door to door salesman still exist?  Obviously not during this pandemic though.
 
Sum Dum Gai
2021-01-12 8:53:18 PM  

zeroflight222: Wikipedia has an entry about encyclopedias, but do encyclos have an entry about Wikis?


If you've got an extra grand laying around, find out and let us know.
 
Stibium
2021-01-12 10:30:00 PM  
I have a set from my grandmother's collection, I think it's from 1968. Probably not all that relevant today, but I would like to peruse them sometime. If I had a grand to just throw at something I'd buy it.

Reading something online while working on a paper or program just really isn't ideal; it takes too much focus in a way that typing and reading out of a physical book doesn't. Say, if I have to cross reference something in a book it doesn't matter if it takes longer than searching a pdf, it doesn't distract or break my focus. Dual monitors would help bridge the gap though.
 
ltdanman44 [BareFark]
2021-01-12 10:34:06 PM  
i remember thinking as a kid that houses weren't complete without a set of encyclopedias.
 
Mad_Radhu
2021-01-12 10:46:00 PM  

Joe USer: [YouTube video: A Non-Volatile Storage Medium]
Blank Reg said it best


Sonar Taxlaw approves.
 
Joe_diGriz [BareFark]
2021-01-12 11:24:26 PM  
No encyclopedia thread is complete without the Britannica Kid ads:

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMpgcz6s-eI
Follow-up 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxwin9XFbnQ
Follow-up 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLa2j_z2thI
 
twocent
2021-01-12 11:36:10 PM  
Around the early 1950s my dad bought a set of encyclopedias (Ha! I automatically sang the spelling. Mickey Mouse Club brainwashing lasts more than 60 years apparently) Anyway, the set came with a subscription for annual yearbooks and these snapshots of the world were more and more fascinating as the years rolled by.  The volumes survived Hurricane Camille only because they were packed so tightly into the bookshelf that they couldn't absorb flood water. Alas, 36 years later in a new "hurricane-proof" house, Katrina's surge turned the set into debris.
 
jaylectricity [TotalFark]
2021-01-12 11:39:31 PM  
They were a big deal when I was a kid. If you had a set you were high class. Also, it was pretty cool to have them.

Yes, it's great that all the info is available online nowadays, but it's totally different when the pages can be edited in real time vs all the work that went into producing books that would be the final authority at least for the current edition.
 
cman [OhFark]
2021-01-13 12:18:11 AM  

kdawg7736: cman: I miss Encarta. 'Twas such a good encyclopedia.

Me too. The good ol' 90s right there.


Most def

Before my family had a PC we used to go to the library a lot.

There was this desktop there. It had a copy of Encarta. Now this was like 1994. I thought it was the coolest thing watching the moon landing.

A lotta good memories with Encarta. It opened my eyes on many a thing.
 
trerro [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-01-13 12:55:39 AM  

iheartscotch: I've been slowly acquiring illustrated analog copies (physical books) of my favorite books. Physical books...do not run out of power. They cannot be hacked electronically. And it's always nice to read a book.


For novels and such, sure. For an encyclopedia, I want current information.
 
pdieten
2021-01-13 1:30:53 AM  
My parents bought the World Book encyclopedia set when I was ten (early 1980s). I used to spend whole evenings reading it. They got the set with the dark brown covers. Very tasteful. I seem to recall it cost something like $800, which was a hell of a lot more then than $999 now. I'm kind of impressed they bought it for me. I think it paid off.

My father died this year and I've had to clean out the house. The encyclopedias were still on a basement shelf.

No room for them. I kept one as a souvenir and let the rest go to the dumpster. Nobody needs 40 year old encyclopedias.
 
TTFK
2021-01-13 8:01:51 AM  
And now for free you can download the entirety of Wikipedia for offline use.
 
dartben [TotalFark]
2021-01-13 9:09:58 AM  
The advantage of traditional encyclopedias over Wikipedia for kids is that they're in alphabetical order rather than linking by related subjects. So a kid browsing an encyclopedia will jump from Bali to ballet and then baseball and pick up a wide range of general knowledge. I remember flipping through them with my parents after dinner in my early years.

My kiddo just turned 4 and I'm probably picking up some set of encyclopedias once she really starts reading, hopefully soon. Will look at 1/2 price books for a used set first, but will buy the full set new if needed.
 
SirEattonHogg
2021-01-13 10:45:19 AM  
The funny thing is I think World Book Encyclopedia still does a yearly update to its set, like an almanac or year in review volume?  I really have no idea why but my parents still received this yearly update up until 2016 or 2017.  My youngest sibling graduated in 2000.   Over the holidays I noticed these volumes neatly placed next to the encyclopedia set ready to ever be looked at.
 
pdieten
2021-01-13 11:59:57 AM  

dericwater: Encyclopedia sets help make a person's or family's den/reading/library room look more august. But it doesn't if the spines of the volumes line up to look like a photo of some birds, even if they're eagles. Go with the traditional spine in dark brown.


Well, let's face it, most sets of the World Book are sold to elementary school libraries nowadays. Not only is the graphic binding more engaging for the kiddos to look at, but it's also much more obvious if they were shelved out of order.

How many houses even have bookcases in a room that's decorated in that style anyway?

My den is, but the august-looking set of books in the tasteful walnut bookcase is an 80-year-old 30-volume set of the complete works of Charles Dickens. Don't have to worry about that going out of date.
 
Displayed 32 of 32 comments

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Redisplay/refresh comments
This thread is archived, and closed to new comments.

Continue Farking

If you like these links, you'll love

TotalFark

Come on, it's $10 a month, just do it.

learn more | sign up
On Twitter

  1. Links are submitted by members of the Fark community.

  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.