I remember a time in school when a teacher asked what we liked to read, and one child replied, “Encyclopedias.”
I inwardly rolled my eyes and thought, “Oh my God! What an unimaginative sycophant!” (Well, maybe not those words, but you know . . .)
Today, I apologise.
In the library, I opened a volume of the World Book encyclopedia set, and it was like stepping into a world of knowledge far more beautiful than Wikipedia with its five hundred hyperlinks per page. I read up to prepare for a class ahead, and was amazed at how exciting it is to peer at black and white pictures, to turn the page, to flip through articles that are totally unrelated, and to remember that as a child, I did not know Google or Wikipedia.
I left the library feeling deeply satisfied and unimaginably thirsty for more.
I love encyclopedias. How outdated I am.
Leave a Reply