Wow, they’re in such amazing condition! That red reminds me a bit of the beautiful Harvard Classics (5-foot shelf) set… (you ever start reading any of those?) My Dutch grandpa had a Dutch encyclopaedia set, but when he passed last year I wasn’t able to bring it with me… tbh don’t have the shelf space for it! 😅 but I agree about the fun of hopping around, not knowing what you might stumble across, it’s very satisfying and rewarding, much more so than clicking on links in Wikipedia…
I've seen the Harvard Classics set you speak of. Rob Pirie on his channel "The Cause" is working through that set, and they're very attractive. I've seen them in all kinds of bindings, some nicer than others. For some reason, I haven't gone down the Harvard Classics route. I won't rule it out, though!
@@greatbooksbigideas yea, I’ve been following him too! I think there’s quite a lot of overlap with the Great Books of the Western World set though, especially with literature & philosophy, but the Harvard ones don’t have as much science I think…
Awesome video. You really got a great deal. There is nothing like the real thing. I am an obsessive encyclopedia hunter. Have six sets in physical format and numerous electronic PDF versions of rarer collections. The Britannica of 73/74 with the Macropaedia format is my all time favorite. Happy browsing with your 'new' old set.
Unfortunately my father lost his eye sight this past year. But because of that he was finally willing to part with 1988 World Book set. There's also about a decade's worth of updates and some science books he had also bought through them. I'm about halfway through A right now, and I plan on reading the whole series.
I'm sorry about your father's eyesight. I've never tried to read any volumes cover to cover. Instead, I like to hop around within and between volumes. Lots of ways to read them!
@greatbooksbigideas I have quite a few and they all have unique personalities. Starting from the first set my grandparents gave me way back in the early 1960s I have the Golden Book Encyclopedia, The Golden Home and High School Encyclopedia, The World Book Encyclopedia from the 70s which has the transparencies for frog and human anatomy, Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia which I acquired 1 volume at a time from the local grocery and took to college with me, Grolier's Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia Britannica. I also have The Book of Knowledge set from the 60s, The Book of Popular Science and The World Book Science Encyclopedia. And I have year books for most of those. And I still frequently pull out a volume and read it when I don't have anything else to do. I especially like to do that after I finish a regular book kind of like warming down after working out
Another great video Jim. I may be one of the younger subscribers, I remember seeing The World Book collection in my library when I was growing up in the 90's (my local library still has a full set!) but my interest was only piqued when they came out on CD ROM. As I get older, I find myself gravitating more towards physical books and shunning using online resources as the only means of acquiring information. A few years ago I purchased a full set of The Encyclopedia Britannica (1987) and I go to that when I want to explore a topic for the first time, only then do I go online to supplement what I read. My approach may seem back to front, but I find it more rewarding, and I find the information sticks much better.
Thanks for the comment and thanks for subscribing! That's so cool that you have a Britannica set. Does that have the macropedia and micropedia? How did that all work? I think your approach is entirely legit, btw. Start with the print books as a basis and go online for updates and additions. I wanted to talk about the enhanced comprehension but failed to mention it. I think you're right about the stickiness factor.
@@greatbooksbigideas I got my set in a charity store for what was approximately $55, clearly never used. It contains the full set of both the Micro- and Macro- pedia, along with a huge Britannica Atlas and a yearbook. What makes the set stand out is the Propædia volume, which was in fact created by Mortimer J Adler, serving as a compendium of all the major disciplines, breaking down all of the subjects into their constituent parts and functioned as a huge study guide. It comes in handy for when I want to go in depth on any particular subject from the beginning and acquiring a respectable amount of breadth and depth. The world book series definitely seems more "approachable" and lends itself to the "dip in dip out" method. Britannica on the other hand takes a more serious tone, it's layout isn't as attractive, more scholarly, but I'm sure some people have no issue there. As for my approach: If I'm not following the Propædia, then I'm consulting the Index first, which normally leads to the Micropedia, culminating in a deep study of one or more articles in the Macropedia (and some of these are fantastic). It allows me to build up the connections slowly, which admittedly takes longer than a quick browse on Wikipedia, but it's a web of your own creation, and that's something missing from the digital alternatives. How many times have we gone online to search for something and 20 minutes later, we have lost track and find ourselves looking at something completely disconnected? How much have you learnt in that time? How much do we actually recall? One of my favourite quotes which sums up my reason for such an approach is by Nicholas Carr from his book "The Shallows - What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" (which I highly recommend): "The Net seizes our attention only to scatter it […] a cacophony of stimuli short-circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively"
Great price on your set! Adler did Herculean work on both the GBWW Syntopicon and the Britannica. One of these days maybe I'll score a Britannica set. I've read the Carr book. It's excellent! Sven Birkerts' book The Gutenberg Elegies comes to mind. He has some good quotes about the differences between reading online versus paper books. He talks about the skimming tendency in much the same spirit.
![“อ.เบียร์ คนตื่นธรรม” มาตามคำเรียกร้อง แหกศาสตร์ฮวงจุ้ย เตือนสติอย่างมงาย | แฉ 7 พ.ย. 67 [1/3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5fc4S3xBNfc/mqdefault.jpg)
Oh, man, I am sooooo jealous! Congratulations!
Thanks!
Wow, they’re in such amazing condition! That red reminds me a bit of the beautiful Harvard Classics (5-foot shelf) set… (you ever start reading any of those?) My Dutch grandpa had a Dutch encyclopaedia set, but when he passed last year I wasn’t able to bring it with me… tbh don’t have the shelf space for it! 😅 but I agree about the fun of hopping around, not knowing what you might stumble across, it’s very satisfying and rewarding, much more so than clicking on links in Wikipedia…
I've seen the Harvard Classics set you speak of. Rob Pirie on his channel "The Cause" is working through that set, and they're very attractive. I've seen them in all kinds of bindings, some nicer than others. For some reason, I haven't gone down the Harvard Classics route. I won't rule it out, though!
@@greatbooksbigideas yea, I’ve been following him too! I think there’s quite a lot of overlap with the Great Books of the Western World set though, especially with literature & philosophy, but the Harvard ones don’t have as much science I think…
Awesome video. You really got a great deal. There is nothing like the real thing. I am an obsessive encyclopedia hunter. Have six sets in physical format and numerous electronic PDF versions of rarer collections. The Britannica of 73/74 with the Macropaedia format is my all time favorite. Happy browsing with your 'new' old set.
Thanks! I’ll keep an eye out for that Britannica edition!
Unfortunately my father lost his eye sight this past year. But because of that he was finally willing to part with 1988 World Book set. There's also about a decade's worth of updates and some science books he had also bought through them. I'm about halfway through A right now, and I plan on reading the whole series.
I'm sorry about your father's eyesight. I've never tried to read any volumes cover to cover. Instead, I like to hop around within and between volumes. Lots of ways to read them!
I collect encyclopedias too and I still read them
Awesome! What are your favorite editions?
@greatbooksbigideas I have quite a few and they all have unique personalities. Starting from the first set my grandparents gave me way back in the early 1960s I have the Golden Book Encyclopedia, The Golden Home and High School Encyclopedia, The World Book Encyclopedia from the 70s which has the transparencies for frog and human anatomy, Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia which I acquired 1 volume at a time from the local grocery and took to college with me, Grolier's Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia Britannica. I also have The Book of Knowledge set from the 60s, The Book of Popular Science and The World Book Science Encyclopedia. And I have year books for most of those. And I still frequently pull out a volume and read it when I don't have anything else to do. I especially like to do that after I finish a regular book kind of like warming down after working out
Another great video Jim. I may be one of the younger subscribers, I remember seeing The World Book collection in my library when I was growing up in the 90's (my local library still has a full set!) but my interest was only piqued when they came out on CD ROM. As I get older, I find myself gravitating more towards physical books and shunning using online resources as the only means of acquiring information. A few years ago I purchased a full set of The Encyclopedia Britannica (1987) and I go to that when I want to explore a topic for the first time, only then do I go online to supplement what I read. My approach may seem back to front, but I find it more rewarding, and I find the information sticks much better.
Thanks for the comment and thanks for subscribing! That's so cool that you have a Britannica set. Does that have the macropedia and micropedia? How did that all work? I think your approach is entirely legit, btw. Start with the print books as a basis and go online for updates and additions. I wanted to talk about the enhanced comprehension but failed to mention it. I think you're right about the stickiness factor.
@@greatbooksbigideas I got my set in a charity store for what was approximately $55, clearly never used. It contains the full set of both the Micro- and Macro- pedia, along with a huge Britannica Atlas and a yearbook. What makes the set stand out is the Propædia volume, which was in fact created by Mortimer J Adler, serving as a compendium of all the major disciplines, breaking down all of the subjects into their constituent parts and functioned as a huge study guide. It comes in handy for when I want to go in depth on any particular subject from the beginning and acquiring a respectable amount of breadth and depth.
The world book series definitely seems more "approachable" and lends itself to the "dip in dip out" method. Britannica on the other hand takes a more serious tone, it's layout isn't as attractive, more scholarly, but I'm sure some people have no issue there.
As for my approach: If I'm not following the Propædia, then I'm consulting the Index first, which normally leads to the Micropedia, culminating in a deep study of one or more articles in the Macropedia (and some of these are fantastic). It allows me to build up the connections slowly, which admittedly takes longer than a quick browse on Wikipedia, but it's a web of your own creation, and that's something missing from the digital alternatives. How many times have we gone online to search for something and 20 minutes later, we have lost track and find ourselves looking at something completely disconnected? How much have you learnt in that time? How much do we actually recall?
One of my favourite quotes which sums up my reason for such an approach is by Nicholas Carr from his book "The Shallows - What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" (which I highly recommend): "The Net seizes our attention only to scatter it […] a cacophony of stimuli short-circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively"
Great price on your set! Adler did Herculean work on both the GBWW Syntopicon and the Britannica. One of these days maybe I'll score a Britannica set. I've read the Carr book. It's excellent! Sven Birkerts' book The Gutenberg Elegies comes to mind. He has some good quotes about the differences between reading online versus paper books. He talks about the skimming tendency in much the same spirit.
What an awesome find Jim, congratulations!
Thanks 👍
Nishchal/Nishchhal?💅