Do you have a set of encyclopedias at home? A real set?

[maveric]

Not a cyber copy ala Encarta or Comptons but a regular hard bound set?

When I was growing up we had Brittanica and when I was bored I'd just grab a volume and skim through it.

I gained more knowledge from that than from my days in public school.

[LynzM]

1. Not at our house, but my mom still does...

1986 Britannicas :) I did a lot of research in those!!

[Dr.Phool]

2. Me too

I miss them. Remember when Encyclopedia salesmen were among the highest paid salesmen anywhere?

My parents bought a britanica set when I was 6 years old, and I was through it before I was 9.

[Connie_Corleone]

3. Unfortunately, the set I have is from 1977.

I got it from my aunt who used them when she was in high school. Imagine how frustrating it was to read them in 1988. Maybe one day I'll get a 21st century set.

[Taxloss]

4. Yes. Britannicas and TJoK.

Every home should have a full, bound, encyclopedia, a dictionary, a thesaurus, a dictionary of quotations, a decent atlas and a Bible.

[Benhurst]

5. Yes, I have the 1972 Britannica bound set. And I also have

the Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM. I would be lost without them.

[Bunny]

6. My mom still has her set of World Book Encyclopedias (plural?)

from early 1960's. It's pretty weird to read them now, that's for sure!

[RaleighNCDem]

10. I used to read those at my grandmother's when I was young.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Not as weird as my mom's 1959 World Book Encyclopedia.

It's astonishing to look through it today. Entry on Georgia
(USA) is 14 pages. Entry on Georgia (SSR)is 4 paragraphs.

The parochialism is astounding.

[Lavender Brown]

18. I had that as a kid - there was a 5-page entry about ICE CREAM

that I looked at all the time. It had the history of ice cream and how it is made. :D

[sniffa]

7. i have voLumes A through M

but i couLdn't finish the payments.

oh, and voLume J is under the right-front corner of the couch.

[Solly Mack]

8. 3 sets...old one (my mom's), newer one, and one for children

[cmd]

9. Yes, Brittanica

I don't use them often. The internet is so much faster.

[cruadin]

11. Yes. I have a complete set of Funk & Wagnall's on my shelf...

and a Columbia/Viking Desk Encyclopedia (1953 ed.) on my desk.
I use both more often than you would think.
The 1953 edition is pretty interesting in terms of seeing how various historical narratives have changed in the last 50 years, not to mention the technology that was "cutting-edge" in a pre-transistor, pre-satellite, pre-personal computer, pre-microwave world.

[Patiod]

13. I worked for Britannica for a year back in the 80s

and was able to purchase a set for $200. Well worth it - we use it all the time.

I used to set up mall promotions (spelling bees, safety fairs, puppet shows, Indian history displays) and the mall, in return, would let our salesmen have a rent-free booth for the duration of the promotion. Fun job, actually.

[M155Y_A1CH]

14. Yes

They proclaim that some day man will go to the moon.
How can I download an update?

[DustMolecule]

15. Yep - World Book

Like you, I had a set as a kid and would just grab a book and start reading about whatever struck my fancy. Really learned a lot that way too. I bought my current set in 1996. I really love and treasure them (so do my children).

on edit: I also treasure my 1965 Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. It's got soooooooo much more info than newer versions. A guide to word and language origins, Arbitrary Signs and Symbols, Biographical Names, a Prouncing Gazzetteer of Proper Nouns (with descriptions/definitions), Forms of Address, a large Punction Guide and more.

I obtained this copy years ago from my very first 'real' job. The boss told me to throw it out (b/c the cover was getting 'weathered'). I asked if I could have it instead and he said 'sure!'.

[no name no slogan]

16. Had them as a kid, now they're at my Grandfather's place

He bought me a set of 1981 World Books for my 12th Birthday. I had already become addicted to reading his 1956 set whenever I visited, so he gave me a set of my own. That set was the best gift I've ever received.

I, too, didn't have much use for public school as a kid, but I was a ravenous reader and had a lot of curiousity. I, too, would just grab a volume and read through it whenever I got bored-- and as an only child in a single-parent household, I got bored a lot.

[Pithlet]

17. I had Brittanica growing up

I do not have anything current, now.