Encyclopedia set--keep it, or get rid of it?

[melissel]

I picked up a 2004 World Book set in excellent condition (but missing three volumes) at our local library sale last year for $5. I was stoked at the time, but since then, we've used it maybe twice. DD's books are growing beyond her shelf space, so I'm wondering whether it's worth it to keep this, or if I should just Freecycle it. We tend to use the Internet for most of our research, really.

 

What do you think? Keep or move on?

 

TIA!

[Kathleen in VA]

Well, I personally, love having a set of encyclopedias - we have a library book sale set of World Book too. But if you've had it a while and find that you are not using it that makes a difference - we use ours a lot.

 

I also use the internet a whole lot, but there are times when I want to just hold the book and flip through it. I have to say that most of what I learned out of encyclopedias when I was in school came from reading all the other stuff before and after the entry I was supposed to be reading.;) I just love skimming along reading about everything little thing that catches my fancy.

 

Another benefit of books is that you don't have to be concerned that your children will click away and get a shock, iykwim. Even Wikipedia has had a few shocking words from time to time that I really wouldn't my child happening upon. I never worry about that with the World Book.

 

Since you only paid $5 for them maybe you could use the pictures, maps, etc. for other projects - especially since you are missing several volumes and others might not want them for that reason. That might seem horrific if you don't like cutting up nice books - but there's an awful lot of stuff in those books you could use - seems like a shame to get rid of them.

Edited January 17, 2009 by Kathleen in VA
left out the word "not" - kind of changes the meaning a tad.

[RoughCollie]

We are missing the "E" volume, no. 6, from our set. If you have it, and want to get rid of it, will you sell it to me? If so, please PM me.

 

I have considered getting rid of our encyclopedias. The sole reason I do not is that when people use books for research (including dictionaries and encyclopedias), they may read past their assignment and learn more. If one uses the internet to do the same research, one is more apt to read the article or definition one is interested in without going further, merely because it takes noticeable effort to do so (clicking on a link).

 

OTOH, maybe those who read further in dictionaries and encyclopedias are the ones who do click the links or otherwise follow rabbit trails. I do that with both books and the internet, which may make the reason I am keeping our encyclopedias a moot point.

 

I am probably woefully behind the times, but I prefer books for the major part of scholarly research activities, and use the internet as a jumping off point only -- sometimes merely to supply me with potentially useful book titles.

 

Basically, I think the internet is a wonderfully useful tool, but I would hate to see it replace books. I hope I am not like the people who preferred horse-drawn carriages to cars and that books do not succumb to the same fate.

 

RC

Edited January 17, 2009 by RoughCollie

[Peek a Boo]

It sounds like you need to make shelves of them:

 

http://thisintothat.com/secondeditions.html

 

:D

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

The sole reason I do not is that when people use books for research (including dictionaries and encyclopedias), they may read past their assignment and learn more. If one uses the internet to do the same research, one is more apt to read the article or definition one is interested in without going further, merely because it takes noticeable effort to do so (clicking on a link).

 

RC

:iagree: This is why I keep our old encyclopedias, too. Also, it really helps my ds8 learn how to alphabetize.

 

 

Next time our library has a sale, I am totally going to buy more encyclopedias and make shelves out of them (per Peek's post). :001_smile:

[Tammyla]

Book Bookshelves. Too cute!

 

It sounds like you need to make shelves of them:

 

http://thisintothat.com/secondeditions.html

 

:D

[elegantlion]

I say keep them. I was a weird kid who would sit and read the encyclopedia all the time. the internet just doesn't have the same feeling. It's the same reason I have a real dictionary vs. looking words up online. You can go beyond the page.

 

I loved to flip through and read the different biographies. I remember thinking it was cool that these people had done something significant enough to warrant a picture in the encyclopedia.

[Sara R]

I keep ours partly as a preparedness thing. I figure that I could teach an awful lot of subject content out of World Book alone if money was really tight and or if the specific curriculum I want was unavailable for some reason.

 

If I lived in an extremely small space, or if we were moving very frequently, I'd reconsider.

[melissel]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I decided to keep it after all (sorry RoughCollie!), and moved it into the living room. I had to reorganize the rapidly filling new bookshelves in there, but now they're with the rest of the HS stuff instead of destroying DD6's cheapo bookshelf in her room. Hopefully they'll actually see some use there instead!