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I read recently that Encyclopædia Britannica has, or will shortly, cease production of it's Hard Cover volumes, and offer them only on electronic Media.

I really find this very sad, although I am not actually a Luddite. I have the 1977 Britannica plus every Year Book up until 2011, and I have just had notification that the 2012 book will be in the mail shortly. It may be the last.

Sometimes progress just goes wrong.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Sad news but not surprising.

All books are ending up online now!

Give it 10 years and will Australia have any book shops left?

A lot have already shut down, every year more and more close with no new ones opening.

A lot of encyclopedias I see for 50c - $1 each at book sales and garage sales... Sadly there is little demand for them these days.

D'uh
What is a "hard Cover Form?"
Is it similar to a "Hard Cover form."

I could have bought an entire 2007 E.B. at Ballarat market today for less than $50. Chose to lash out on the 2nd of the 2 volume Banjo Patterson duo instead... for a whole $3.

I have always found that it is far easier and quicker to have Hard Cover Form of reference books on tap when I want them. I can actually have several books open at the same time, checking references. This is still something beyond the scope of on-line resources - I can only open four windows at once on my 'puta - any more and it's a real PITA.

I will really rue the day if (when??) digitization takes over. E.B. has been a mainstay of information for a long time - some might whinge about the initial cost, but what's contained within the binders is priceless.

FWIW, my E.B. is 1980...........

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FORESTS OLD, PASTURES NEW
(An expert is one who knows more and more, about less and less)

Given the choice I would pick hardcover ANY DAY. Sort of like ACSC in online, I prefer the book.

D.

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Visit my Website - http://WWW.DJMSTAMPS.COM for Australia & World Stamps, Collections and Accessories

Given a choice I would pick hard cover ANY DAY.

D.

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Visit my Website - http://WWW.DJMSTAMPS.COM for Australia & World Stamps, Collections and Accessories

Don't think many youngsters like me have these at all (Encyclopædia's that is), my grandparrents had, but my parrents didn't. - Been thinking about getting some, but need to wait a few years so the kids don't get them in their heads when trying to take them out of the book shelf...



Really need a new PC, I got around 40 panes on my browser open without any trouble (browser is firefox) in general, 30ish are auctions I'm watching and the rest differes (firefox rember the panes you had open in your last session )

Being an owner of the '93 edition (with most updates), I do find this a sad thing. But hey, we are most certainly in the Information Age and reference works are eminently more "useful" in electronic format. Something about being able to type in a word and find all instances of it instantly, ya know?

That having been said, I will collect all new World yearbooks until they stop making them.

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Carmen - Collecting: Canada, Cats, Religion, Royalty, Stamps on Stamps... and worldwide, quite frankly!

I find the opposite applies for me. When I'm working on something, desk space is at a premium (it shouldn't be, but then my desk is usually cluttered with all sorts of stuff!). It drives me nuts trying to juggle half a dozen physical books perched uneasily anywhere they will go. On the other hand, I regularly have a dozen program windows open and a couple of dozen or more browser tabs for easy reference (having two screens helps, I guess) -- no extra physical space required and much much easier for me.

The time has been coming for quite a while......someone just had to make the first move. Other publications will follow suit shortly, is my guess.

I always have been, and may remain until my final breath, a hard copy user. I have access to both formats in many different venues in my life (work and personal) and I am consistently able to find reference data in hard copy much faster than I can in digital form. Perhaps it is a skill I developed over the years that many of the younger generation felt was unnecessary, or perhaps it is just a simple fact that digital search can really bog you down sometimes, but this was/is inevitable.

With so many individuals carrying (or at least owning) a device of some kind, digital representations have become much cheaper to produce and far more profitable to distribute. Our world has shifted into the age of instant information.....I am in a coffee shop arguing with a friend about who was the Pope before John XXIII and I can Google it on my iPhone and have an instant answer. It is a simple fact of our crazy, instant life.

I only hope that these valued, well researched, edited and proofed publications remain loyal to their fact-based offerings, and do not start to employ those who regularly contribute to Wiki's as proofers or editors. Regardless of what some online sources say, brain surgery in your kitchen is not an acceptable practice, even with the double CD instructional videos!!!

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Armstrong'sStamps**http://www.armstrongsstamps.ca
Knowledge is Key.....Libraries work!

Wiki rules, why have an out of date print copy?

Sometimes you might need to look something up when the computer isn't on (or not available).

D.

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Visit my Website - http://WWW.DJMSTAMPS.COM for Australia & World Stamps, Collections and Accessories

D'uh, pardon me, but....four wndows
1) There is my email
2) my windows words
3) my Card Games
4) my Internet;
So what else is there out there?

speaking of electronic references

My daughter did a school assignment and used ''real books and encyclopedia" from her grandads bookshelves.
He doesn't have EB but Funken Wagnell (?sp)

The teacher marked the assignment, minus points for not having any checkable internet references.

She will probably not bother to open a reference book again.
But will google - copy- paste like everyone else, as that Seems to be what they are encouraged to do now

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

Now, that says a lot about........the teacher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia











Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

A few points from me...

1. Whilst I do honestly believe that the internet is a useful source of information, it needs to be remembered that a lot of people don't have a computer, or an internet connection. There are numerous reasons for this, including affordability of IT equipment and Internet connection, and also a lot of older people aged 70-80+++ don't like technology. Or don't have access to training to understand HOW to use the technology.

2. Wikipedia is useful for me, the majority of the time. I know anyone can edit it, however it is heavily moderated. Some topics I've looked up on Wikipedia have been a load of inaccurate rubbish, however the HUGE majority have been accurate. A quick google search will often confirm accuracy.

3. Teacher's marking down work for using real books? What a joke. When I'm doing a uni assignment I have access to using a variety of online references, books, journal articles, trade publications etc however I am also welcome to use whatever books I like as long as they are referenced correctly.


Encyclopædia's really are becoming a thing of the past. Internet research does not always cover everything a Encyclopædia does, however it is free, and has become a lot more popular.

With all the book store closures lately, within a few years you wouldn't be able to find a book store to buy the Encyclopædias anyway.

If I had seen a 2007 complete EB for $50 I would have jumped at the bargain and bought it.

I also have the EB on CDrom as well, an older edition, but still useful for anything older than 2000.


Any teacher who marks you down for non-internet references is a moron. Where does it say to do that in the carriculum guidelines and marking proceedures? Lazy wind bag.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

While this is true enough, when I purchased E. B. back in 1977 it cost me over $2,000 which was a fair bit of change in those days, and over double what you could purchase a passable PC for these days. Year book updates are (from memory) about $80.00 per year. So it has not exactly been cheap to own or keep updated.

Of course, as Jenny (mcgooley) said you could pick up a whole set, and probably the year books as well for $50.00 or so these days. And "real" books do make for great feature walls, especially those with faux leather covers.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

That would be a major reason for me not to buy them. I'm pushed for space as it is ... Wikipedia has its problems but is very valuable for a quick reference to many things, provided you remember to read between the lines from time to time.

It's simply a case of using whatever the best available reference source is, and increasingly in many cases that's an online one. For example, I have a large atlas but I never use it now -- Google Maps is easier to search, more detailed, more up-to-date, and I can easily zoom in and out. Unless Google go bankrupt the atlas is probably going to remain on the shelf unopened.

Daft stupidity. If they're teaching at even through secondary school level, their knowledge of a subject a student writes on should be sufficient to catch errors. If its uni level, then the student might write on something outside the instructor's area of expertise; but then on the other hand an essay at that level would require more research than just an encyclopedia and other general reference works.

I wonder what the reaction to that teacher's grading would be if the situation were 'bumped up' to the attention of the headmaster/school board?

I use wiki if I want to know the answer to something quick and simple like "What year did that film come out?" or "Who was the PM of the UK before Chamberlain?". I wouldn't take what they have to say as 'be-all, end-all'. Consider wikipedia a starting point to familiarize yourself with the broad strokes of a topic, so you have familiarity when you turn to...real books.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

This comment is interesting. A collection of World Atlases from say 1900, 1920, 1946, 1960, 1980 et all would show very different political and Country configurations from Google Earth circa 2012

I would guess that all of these different configurations are available on line somewhere on the Web (what isn't?) but for historical purposes, and historical research, a 1900 Atlas would be a marvelous thing to own.

My oldest stamp Catalogue is a 1932 Whitfield King. I will not bin it, ever, because there is a sense of history there which can never be recovered if I turf it. Not on the instant update Internet.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Some books just can't be replaced. By anything.

One of the most enjoyable things I do is read.

I guess you could even say I collect books, but thank god I don't have rooms full of them... yet.

As, I might add, is any paper based Encyclopaedia. A brief overview, and then it references articles, books and monographs for extended research. Britannica does not pretend to be anything else. Nor does Wiki.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Fair point -- for historical changes, historical sources are good things to have, although you need a lot of them for that sort of research! My old Post Office Guides are very handy things to have. I only have a few though because they're hard to find -- often I go and refer to the originals in the BPMA, since I'm London-based.

If the BPMA would get their microfilmed late-19th-century ones converted to image format and sell a CD of them at a reasonable price, I'd be right there to buy it.

One morning last week, I was walking through Hyde Park (Sydney) on my way to look at some real reference books at the State Library. It was a lovely morning, a cloudless sky, no wind, the birds were singing, and the park looked great because it had been cleaned up for Anzac Day. Even the traffic noise seemed more muted than usual.

I followed a fellow through the south end of the park, and wondered why he kept his head down all the time, completely ignoring his surroundings. I caught up to him at the lights at Park St, and saw he was reading a kindle. He stayed this way through the northern park, past the Archibald Fountain (it looked great in the sunlight, with all outlets spraying), and headed off down King St.

In all that time I never saw him raise his eyes from the screen.

Very sad.

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John

Looking for used pre-decimal OS/NSW and G/NSW state perfins, and NWPI KGV overprints.

Amen...............although I'm sure the kindle would allow him to Google the fountain if he really needed to see some reality??

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Armstrong'sStamps**http://www.armstrongsstamps.ca
Knowledge is Key.....Libraries work!

Would it have been any better if he'd been reading a paper book or a newspaper?

Probably a physical impossibility (unless it was a small paperback!) without coming a real cropper somewhere along the way <g>

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John

Looking for used pre-decimal OS/NSW and G/NSW state perfins, and NWPI KGV overprints.

Are you asking because you see people walking while reading books and newspapers all the time, or because not dying in the attempt to read a hand held device while on a public walkway or roadway should make it a reasonable comparison?

John A

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Armstrong'sStamps**http://www.armstrongsstamps.ca
Knowledge is Key.....Libraries work!

Point is that it doesn't make any difference that he was reading from a Kindle or from a book if it was that engrossing. It's odd, but maybe he had adequate reasons -- revising something, or reading some self-help thing, whatever.