Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Britannica

I guess we should have known...what with internet constantly at our fingertips, children becoming technology savvy at younger and younger ages, wikipedia to name a few. It has been announced that Encyclopaedia Britannica is closing down after 244 years.


“It’s a rite of passage in this new era,” Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., a company based in Chicago, said in an interview. “Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. The Web site is continuously updated, it’s much more expansive and it has multimedia.”   NY Times

I can remember, as a child, if you went into someone's home and they had a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, they would be displayed in the front room. It was a worthy investment and showed everyone that you had arrived. Alas, I had a set of encyclopedia's but they were "World Book". Although they helped me with every report I had to do, and my eager little brain was thrilled when they arrived, they didn't have the prestige of Britannica. In those days, encyclopedia's opened up the world. But, their demise marks that a new age has arrived.

A little off subject but...how many of you learned to spell encyclopedia with Jiminy Cricket?

No comments: