I just bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, and I regret nothing

These days, most of us live online, where machine-generated content is starting to be delivered. To contaminate The Internet is full of false information and noise. In an era when it is difficult to know which information to believe, I was pleased to learn about this world’s books recently. still printed A modern book encyclopedia will be completed in 2023. Although the term “encyclopedia” is now almost synonymous, Wikipedia, it’s refreshing to see such a vast amount of reference material printed on paper. So I bought it and I will tell you why.

The Chicago-based World Book Company published its first encyclopedia in 1917 and has published a new edition almost every year since 1925. The company is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathawayclaims that its encyclopedia is “the only comprehensive reference encyclopedia still published today.” My research seems to support this claim. It also applies to other languages. The Encyclopedia Britannica, once its fiercest competitor, finished printing It was published in 2012 after 244 years in print.

In honor of our current digital age, World Book also offers an encyclopedia. subscription service through the web. But it’s the print version that makes me wonder and fascinate. why is it still there?

“There is still demand!” World Book Editor-in-Chief Tom Evans told Ars in an email.

Today, the latest information flows freely thanks to the Internet. Just search on Google. Many people rely on Wikipedia, a non-commercial collaborative resource, for reference purposes. Nevertheless, some individuals and organizations still seem to buy paper encyclopedias. Evans said print sales were in the “thousands” and that the World Book always printed enough copies to meet demand.

world book contact told quartz In 2019, print encyclopedias were sold primarily to schools, public libraries, and homeschool families. Public and school libraries are still the company’s main customers, Evans said. “The World Book has a loyal following of librarians who understand the importance of a universally accessible print comprehensive reference encyclopedia.”

Growing up, our family owned the 1968 edition of the World Book, and we relied on it for school reports and projects all the way through high school in 1999. Microsoft Encarta CD-ROM and CompuServe Encyclopedia in the 1990s. At the time, even with electronic references, instant updates were not considered very important. We were still doing most of our work at paper speed. While the concept seems alien in today’s world, there was a certain comfort in its slowness.

Speaking of slow, a paper encyclopedia set certainly can’t get away from you. Back in the day, our encyclopedia set occupied a large dedicated shelf in our family room. Like my old 1968 edition of his, the new printed World Book is a physically heavy reference. The 2023 edition spans his 17,000 articles across his 14,000 pages in 22 volumes. The company says it contains more than 25,000 photographs, illustrations, diagrams and maps.

You might think that all this paper content can’t be cheap. And of course you are right. In an age when most information is freely available online ( with stringOf course), it’s easy to be shocked that the 2023 edition of The World Book retails for $1,199, but shoppers can sometimes get it for as low as $799 on Amazon (for comparison, an online subscription charges apply) $250/year). Earlier editions are available at much lower prices.

It may seem odd that you prefer the print version, as the online version gives you the same content in a space-saving, portable format. But when it comes to paper, The World Book is always yours. It can’t be secretly edited or deleted if a company needs server space or goes out of business.

So I made a bold move.