CNN Money reported that the Encyclopedia Britannica’s 2010 edition will be their last print version. Only the online subscription version will remain. I suppose this will increase the value of print editions for collectors.
As I wrote some time ago, I’ve never been a fan of encyclopedias. We wouldn’t allow them in the house while our children were growing up and we don’t have a general purpose encyclopedia now. The nearest thing we have to a general purpose encyclopedia is the eight volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I do consulted Wikipedia from time to time but I don’t take what I read in it all that seriously. Such tools, if properly written and properly used can direct one to important primary and secondary sources. Beyond that, if one wants to know about something, one should read at least two recent books and a couple of papers on the subject. Stay away from the encyclopedia. It might fool one into thinking that one now knows something. Will reading a couple of books and a few papers make one knowledgeable? Not real likely. But at least one will begin to see something of the scope of one's ignorance and that's the first step in learning.
Am I happy to see the print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica go? No, I’m indifferent to it. But I do believe that if one is going to make proper use of such a tool, one should avoid the $70.00 fee and consult Wikipedia.
Via Boing Boing