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Post by yonzabam on Mar 14, 2012 19:06:27 GMT -1
It was my favourite shelf in the library, back in the days when I visited libraries. Now, after 244 years, they've stopped publishing the books, although a digital version will continue. It was first published in Edinburgh in three volumes in 1768. The top year for sales was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold. Just six years later, that had dropped to 40,000. That's an incredible change in just six years, and I haven't really come across an explanation for it, although the early Internet will have been an important factor. The explanation from the owners is that 'a printed encyclopaedia is obsolete the moment you print it'. But that's only true for a very small portion of the knowledge the encyclopaedia contains. Only 8,500 sets of the 2010 version have been shipped. They'll rocket in value, as many people will want to own the final edition as a family heirloom. Ach, well. All things must pass. www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9142412/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-stops-printing-after-more-than-200-years.html |
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Post by ozneil on Mar 14, 2012 19:23:55 GMT -1
Guy on radio says print edition is $1,160.0 annual subscription to it on web is $69.00. Thats one of the reasons they have stopped printing it.
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Post by westender on Mar 14, 2012 21:25:08 GMT -1
Acht, don't get me started. This was a heartbreak for me today; but in a wider context, it is wrong and it is worrying. Some things must not; and a trustworthy, throughgoing, proper encyclopaedia of the whole of human knowledge is one of them. This news is SHITE. Shite, shite and thrice shite.   |
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Post by peony on Mar 15, 2012 13:06:42 GMT -1
It's truly shite when you realize that it will be replaced by Wikipedia. I doubt if you could find a high school senior who could research a topic properly, let alone place a foot note.
I'm not kidding when I say that more and more kids are plugged in and tranquilized with tv and other electronics. They don't seem to have much curiosity. It's terrifying.
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Post by minime on Mar 15, 2012 16:25:42 GMT -1
Sad tho' it may be, things move on and if things hadn't then we'd all still be looking at the stone-carved edition of the EB and that would take up quite a lot of space plus cost an arm and a leg. So I'm sure there are very good practical and economical reasons for the demise and that seems fair enough.
Now where did I put my Kindle (please be aware there are alternatives of a better or worse kind of electronic reader).
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Post by peony on Mar 15, 2012 17:16:35 GMT -1
Of course that is true.
I worry about future generations believing that all the information on the internet is good, true and the entire story. I'm not so worried about the new form as I am about the lack of diversity of sources.
Coming from a very rural area where self reliance is considered desireable, I worry about the extensive reliance on all things electronic.
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Post by yonzabam on Mar 15, 2012 18:06:41 GMT -1
It's truly shite when you realize that it will be replaced by Wikipedia. I doubt if you could find a high school senior who could research a topic properly, let alone place a foot note. I'm not kidding when I say that more and more kids are plugged in and tranquilized with tv and other electronics. They don't seem to have much curiosity. It's terrifying. I've noticed the 'lack of curiosity thing', too Peony. And I also find it a bit disturbing. They don't explore like we did as youngsters and they don't seem much interested in the natural world, either. Last week, I was in the park and I noticed two oystercatchers, a gull and two ducks in a farmer's marshy field, about 40 yards away. They were in a small wet patch about 20 feet wide. A middle aged woman was walking past me at the time and I pointed out this unusual combination of rarely seen birds (except for the gull) to her. She was as fascinated as myself and stood there for a few minutes watching them. If it had been a youngster, I wouldn't have bothered. They'd probably have thought I was some sort of weirdo. Well, I am, but that's beside the point. |
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Post by ozneil on Mar 15, 2012 19:21:53 GMT -1
I was listening to a guy from Encyclopedia b rittanica's head office in Chicago. He was saying they have stopped their print edition and is now being published on DVDs and will continue to be available, by subscription, on the net.
You talk of lack of curiosity. I dont think so, lots of people certainly arent but just think of the 1000s of young backbackers swarming all over the world being curious.
We get them here of all ages and nationalities all wanting to know about everything. To me its wonderful to sit and chat to them & listen to where they have come from , where they have been. I usually chat to them on the Manly ferry. It takes half an hour & they want to know about everything. I have met Europeans, Americans, Canadian, all nationalities including Chinese, Indian & Japanese, not many from Africa though all exploring
I know used to drive people nuts in Scotland. If I saw a monument I had to get out to see what it was about. Some weird & wonderful reasons.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2012 20:39:21 GMT -1
I totally see the reasons why printing hard-back copies is not the way to go.
It's far more efficient, with the tools we have now, to keep information completely up to date on the net. Any database is obsolete the minute you print it, expensively.
I think there's an element of snobbishness going on here. As if owning and displaying hundreds of pounds worth of encylopaedias in your living room somehow indicates that a person of learning lives there.
As Oz rightly says, people are travelling more now rather than sitting in their living rooms; they are getting out to see the stuff we only read about.
The thing is, Yonza, not everyone's that interested in birdlife or similar, young or old. Having the Britannia at home in printed volumes ain't gonna make any difference to that.
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Post by ozneil on Mar 16, 2012 21:06:56 GMT -1
Its not just youngsters that back pack.
We met a lovely American couple from Raleigh South Carolina (or is it North). Both retired in their 60s. He was a retired car (ford) salesman and she a full time mum with 6 kids. One of the kids was a captain with United Airlines so they could travel free anywhere in the world. They said they travelled business class or first free then stayed at backpackers hostels & travelled by bus in the countries they visited to make the money last. They both thought the young people they met in these hostels were fantastic nearly always treating them with respect that they certainly didnt expect.
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