Encyclopedia Britannica to stop printing books

[IDemo]

Source: CNN Money

By Julianne Pepitone
CNNMoneyTech March 13, 2012: 6:24 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica will cease production of its iconic multi-volume book sets.

Britannica usually prints a new set of the tomes every two years, but 2010's 32-volume set will be its last. Instead, the company will focus solely on its digital encyclopedia and education tools.

The news is sure to sadden champions of the printed word, but Britannica president Jorge Cauz said the move is a natural part of his company's evolution.

"Everyone will want to call this the end of an era, and I understand that," Cauz says. "But there's no sad moment for us. I think outsiders are more nostalgic about the books than I am."

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/13/technology/encyclopedia-britannica-books/

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I remember poring over the Encyclopedia Britannica volumes for countless hours as a child, the closest thing to an internet I had 40+ years ago..

[Maine-ah]

1. we had a whole set growing up

I think from the 60/70's including the world atlas book. Just threw them all out about two months ago during the process of remodeling my mother's house. Major feline urine damage through out the whole place. They even pissed on the damn encyclopedias.

[Alcibiades]

11. My mother's house is the same way

Heartbreaking.

[NAO]

2. that is tragic

Books are beautiful and they don't disappear when the batteries run out.

[dmallind]

23. Neither of course do e-books, and if cats piss on them

I can just download another version free instead of losing thousands.

[NYC Liberal]

31. But digital books don't disappear forever when there's a fire, or a flood, or

someone's pet dog decides they've found a new play toy. There can be no "book burnings" with digital books. They have infinite copies, and so they will never be lost.

[cyberswede]

3. Same here, but it was World Book

I'd go to look something up and get sidetracked by another topic (or topics) along the way.

I bought an old WB set at an estate sale a few years ago, so my kids could have the experience. Of course much of the info is dated, but some is stll relevant.

I can see how printing these has become obsolete, but it's sorta sad.

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. You are absolutely right. A book allows you to 'stumble upon' other

interesting subjects, just like going to the stacks in the library (I know...how quaint)

Plus curing up in bed with a volume is way better than, well, a Kindle, IMHO

[naaman fletcher]

8. the internet lets you stumble on stuff too. nt

[Codeine]

10. I stumble upon tons of things every time I used Wikipedia.

It's actually dangerous because a quick hop over there to look something up can result in many wasted hours of clicking links.

And curling up with a Kindle is great because I can put one arm under my pillow and still turn pages. And when I pass out in the middle of reading I don't lose my place!

[cyberswede]

12. I tend to doze off and drop the book on my face

...which is why I shy away from hardcovers.

I should try the kindle app on my iPad one of these days...

[iris27]

35. Using the kindle app on my android phone has revolutionized my night reading.

I hated having to deal with a booklight, but with the backlit phone...perfect.

[JoeyT]

25. +1

If anything Wikipedia is easier to wander into topics you'd have never read about than encyclopedias ever were.

You go to settle an argument with a friend over a cartoon you saw fifteen years ago and six hours later you're reading about an animal you'd never heard of in a country you were barely even aware existed.

[dmallind]

24. Heavier and less convenient certainly

Nver found a book yet that lets me adjust font size as my eyes tire, or automatically remembers my place in any number of books I'm reading at the same time.

[izquierdista]

4. I'm sure Capt. Kirk will treasure even just one hardback volume.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. I have three sets

One, the one I bought in 1988. Being short of money, but hungry for information. I inherited my grandfther's, when he could buy his copy after earning enough to escape WWII and coming here. About four years ago, I bought a copy of their original Encyclopedia, including a magnifying glass.

Great stuff, although for years I thought they should have moved away from paper.

[Odin2005]

7. Wikipedia made this inevitable.

The end of an era...

[JHB]

14. No, Wikipedia made it necessary for them to change things...

...and they didn't. They were hoping their reputation would immunize them

They needed to change their pricing structure and distinguish themselves from what could be found on Wiki. They didn't, and not enough people were buying what they were selling.

[obamanut2012]

33. Wikipedia is also much more reliable and a better reference source

I am not saying Wikipedia should be used for term papers, but it is a more legit source than EB. I don't think most people realize EB and other such works aren't considered good sources, or even allowed to be sources of academic works, including high school papers.

Like some other posters said: Wikipedia also allows a wondrous and wandering exploration of subjects I never even thought about.

[marasinghe]

9. me too; i mean: '.... poring over the Britannica for hours, as a child ....'.

i had the mumps, measles, chicken pox, or some other contagious childhood disease - can't remember which - that necessitated quarantine. the only way my parents could keep me in durance vile, was to put a bed in my Dad's office room & shut me up with his books. the volumes of the 1954 Britannica, were among them. though the knowledge may have been more limited at the time and possibly flawed, almost all the writers were excellent & the articles totally engrossing.

count me among those sad & nostalgic - for the passing of something wonderful.

[Beartracks]

13. I, too, used to "surf" the encyclopedia set.

I grew up with the Worldbook Encyclopedia rather than Britannica. I would always learn something new just flipping through its pages. I remember frequently just picking a volume and flopping it open to see what information would be there, and then I'd spend hours following cross-referenced "links."

Continuing in the vein of your Internet analogy, of particular fascination to me was the multi-layered, double-sided cellophane "slices" of the human body (accompanying the related article) that served as an "interactive" feature!

As much as I love having the Internet today, I will always fondly remember that set of green and white hardbound volumes and its much-anticipated Yearbook supplements.

=========================

[libinnyandia]

15. My mother inherited a set of encyclopedias from her grandparents. It described Thomas

Alva Edison as "an enterprising young inventor."

[pansypoo53219]

16. the OLD ones are much better with all that science + shit.

i got 3 FREE 1903 volumes(I SHOULD HAVE ASKED TO PAY TO HASVE ALL PUT IN MY TRUNK!!!!). while waiting i started reading F and it brought rome slaves(thralls) + star trek together + whoa! so began my search for a whole set. i settled on a 1891 set. i am rereading f. read A-E. there is some really neat people science 'killed'. now, can i find more 1903 EBs.

[Tsiyu]

17. I have been worried for a while that this day would arrive

So I held on to the 1969 (Red) Britannica Junior set my parents bought us kids (they still have the adult set from that year.)


And I cherish my 1994 15th Edition which is dedicated as follows:

Dedicated by permission to

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
and
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II

[hunter]

27. Tools of Empire, thus the curious dedication.

The artifice of imperial "impartiality" in these volumes always gave me the willies.

Even the greatest volumes of general knowledge consist of little more than the grossest summary of any given subject. What to include, and more importantly what to leave out, cannot help but be colored by the political philosophy of the publisher, and in some cases, actually becomes a tool of propaganda.

The Encyclopedia Britannica has always been a tool of the British/American capitalist expansionism.

[Tsiyu]

34. I'll give you that

Much is made over the accomplishments of Anglo-caucasian males from the UK and Northern Europe. Much is not made about anyone else's accomplishments. Some of the entries are complete BS.

But an entire set does contain a large body of knowledge and is at one's fingertips even without electricity, and was nearly a requirement for any report-writing in those halcyon pre-internet days.

The art pics and atlas were my favorite parts.

[onehandle]

18. And I get my first iPad on Friday. World Book was my Internet when I was a kid. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

19. I started out with the 1960 edition of the Golden Book Encyclopedia

then moved on to Funk and Wagnall's in the 1970s, buying one or two volumes at the local supermarket each month.

[joeglow3]

20. They could EASILY make millions, if not billions

Charge for us to take turns beating the shit out of this kid:

http://www.youtube.com/​watch?v=Hxwin9XFbnQ

[pbrower2a]

21. De-materialization of knowledge

We see another overpowering piece of evidence that knowledge no longer needs dead trees to preserve them. A complete edition of an encyclopedia or the Great Books no longer needs twenty-some volumes of 1000 pages. A full encyclopedia will increasingly become a period piece.

[FarCenter]

22. The Britannica now appears to be accessible online in an advertizing supported model

For years, you couldn't use the online Britannica without a subscription -- a major bummer and probably a reason for Wikipedia's success.

They still offer a subscription service for about $70/year. No doubt they also offer subscriptions to libraries.

With books, you have to throw out information regularly so that you can fit in new information within a reasonable number of volumes and page count. Online or with DVDs/Blurays this is no longer a problem.

[LanternWaste]

26. I'm lucky to have been gifted a recent set...

I'm lucky to have been gifted a recent set (2008), and use them more as reference than I do the internet.

Additionally, EB never reduced itself to having a listing of that silly little 'Godwin's Law' so many place faith in...

[CBGLuthier]

28. The Printing Press had a Great Run

but its day is nearly done. Within about 40 years I would think most printing of information upon paper will cease. It is wasteful. Our children and their children will learn the new way and we will bemoan it like the geezers they perceive us.

[FarCenter]

29. Encyclopaedia Britannica will no longer weigh 129 pounds

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/encyclopaedia-britannica-will-no-longer-weigh-129-pounds

An interesting way of looking at it!

[underpants]

30. We had an encyclopedia that only went up to F

This may have been from my stepfathers recent divorce at the time.

All my "current events" topics had to be from A-F or I didn't have a reference other than an Atlas or the dictionary.


Luckily my mother was a librarian and I had expansive knowledge of reference sources.

[obamanut2012]

32. Good

A waste of trees, and the EB is also a very dubious reference source, so a set is so longer needed in every home, every school, or every library. Even an online version.