E.B. before E.T.
The Encyclopedia Britannica was another member of our family. It loomed over us, like an old bubby. It lurked, hulking and dark in its own custom-made bookcase, which also contained a slot to hold the optional World Atlas, which we also had. AND, we subscribed to the annual updates for at least 10 years. Those were piled on top of the bookcase. A big presence in our house. Silent and gloomy. An Eeyore-type entity. An alien being.
Our own personal E.T.
I used to love looking things up and I loved learning whatever I could. But for most of the years we had it, I only understood a bit of what was written about each subject. I specifically remember reading about the Apian Way in Rome, and the pine trees of Rome (which also happens to be the name of a beautiful piece of music by Respighi). But the history that was woven into the story of these subjects was much too complex for me at ages 10, 11, 12, even with an occasional drawing or grainy gray photo. There were SO many words in such small type. It was exhausting to plow through, read it, retain, and ultimately, interpret and write about it. Inability to get to that last step led to plagiarism.
I remember that the set cost $875 in 1955ish when it was purchased. Don’t know if that included the annuals. Probably a package deal that included the bookcase et al. That was a huge amount of money considering that one semester at Syracuse University cost $500, room and board, another $500, art supplies and books, once again that much more. A lot for the time. Still, that $875 meant that the E.B. was a real investment for our family. It seemed like a good idea at the time. A worthy, once-in-a-lifetime investment.
I never remember Mother looking anything up. But Daddy did. I have a clear memory of him holding an open volume in his left hand and turning the pages with his right hand. I don’t think he looked up things that HE needed to know - after all, he WAS the World’s Greatest Authority. It seems to me that he was probably looking up things to help me out. It was so hard to find anything in those books. The World Book was SO much easier with lots of colorful illustrations. I wished that we had that, like most of my friends. But, noooooooooooooooooooo……….. WE had to have the Encyclopedia Britannica.
After I wrote this, I discovered that Julian Baggini knows exactly what I’m talking about:
And now when we want to learn something, we Google. Is it the same? Better? Worse? Discuss.
I will say this much for Google: unlike the occasional use I made of the E.B., I Google many times every day. It answers all my questions instantly, without even turning a page. Answers are just THERE. While the E.B. was intimidating and continuously pointed out how little I knew, Googling makes me feel very smart, and helps me a lot with crosswords puzzles.
I really enjoy Googling; “Who sang ‘Joy to the World?’” (Three Dog Night settled a bet.) “Name of the Italian restaurant on the upper east side of Manhattan with an indoor bocci court?” (I can still taste the veal piccata at Il Vagabondo.) “Who won the Peloponnesian Wars?” (I will have to read further to understand why - as Sparta won - the capital of Greece is Athens, which lost. I may even need to take a course at GW to understand this with any scholarly certainty.)
Then again, had we been sitting on our tushies Googling all the time, I might never have the sweet memory of Daddy standing there, book in hand, brow knit. And the mutual relief when he took E.B.‘s erudite answer and dumbed it down for me. We both smiled and felt very smart. And very close.
In retrospect, perhaps E.B. was a warm, benevolent and prescient teacher who knew exactly what’s what, and in the long term scheme of things, which memories would be the more highly cherished.