E = Encyclopedia

"Wash the bones, bring the body, leave the heart behind." Tea Obreht, The Tiger's Wife

 E is for Encyclopedia.

An Encyclopedia is a collection of knowledge - history, science, art, people, whatever you want to know - hard bound, organized by alphabet and number, sitting shiny on a bookshelf. The dictionary, predates them, inspired them. A dictionary tells you what a word or topic is, but an encyclopedia explains it. Encyclopedias used to be a staple in most households and remain so in libraries. They're great for research, dependably true and easily citable. 

If this sounds a lot like Wikipedia, it is and it isn't.

They were the inspiration for Wikipedia, and for many 'modern' digital encyclopedias, but they are unalterable after publication, facts embedded in ink on paper. Wikipedia is open source, meaning anyone can publish an entry or alter one. The internet offers us all the knowledge we could ever want, but at a price: Everything you read on the internet isn't always true. Public opinion often alters the facts...

Kids today will never know the joys of research papercuts and the panic when an entry is too small, the frantic search through the library encyclopedias for more information, checking the reference books in non-fiction section to supplement the knowledge gained from the encyclopedia, and the mile long bibliography... Let's not forget that old book smell.

There is now only one set of general research encyclopedias still in print: World Book Encyclopedia. I can't help but wonder what happens to the facts when this goes out of print. Do they stay the same? Or does everything change? Or will today's cancel culture eventually erase yesterday's facts regardless of how they are presented?