We had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. My mom also bought me a children's set of encyclopedias when I was 7 or 8. I remember asking my mom if I read them all I would be smarter. She told me yes, and so I read all of them.

I didn't, but wished that I did. We have little money and few books. There was also no public library in the small town, but during the school year, I used the school libraty constantly.

My grandparents had a set of World Book encyclopedias from 1964-ish. He bought the yearbook update every year. I read those books retry much cover to cover over the years. Helped open my eyes to the world beyond.

I had The World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica. I liked The World Book better. They were preinternet surfing for interesting tidbits of knowledge or for some in depth research.

We had the World Book Encyclopedia and I LOVED it. It was a great source of knowledge for me, and when I couldn't get to the library, it provided for hours of reading, where one article might spark interest in something else, which lead me yet another and another... It was like going on science and history sites on the internet.

We had a tall bookcase in Haiti, with several sets of encyclopedias that I used to read as though they were books. I especially loved the 19th century set that belonged to my grandparents..it showed girls how to ride sidesaddle.

The science section showed a picture of a "spaceship" "hurtling through space at a mile a minute!" that looked like the Wright brother's version, with sail-like wings, open decks like a ship and couples strolling around on deck (IN SPACE) in their long, poofy dresses, and men in top hats.

I LOVED it..

I had both a set that they got for me as a kid and my father's set from when he was a lad, interesting to compare the two.

Yep, Encyclopedia Americana. Every year we'd get a new volume of updates and corrections. I think I learned a lot reading those volumes; much better than Wikipedia.

By the time I was 16 I could recite entire World Book articles by memory on the most random of topics! ???

Yes had quite a few books too

Me too, rainy day reading

Sure did. I used to plagerize it for my schoolwork.

As a child we had none. Later on I got a set of outdated ones that we kept around. We used them often during high school coz they were in the study hall room.

They were the closest most accessible source of any real knowledge. That and the periodical card catalog at the town library. Columbia Encyclopedia I think was the set at home.

Little known tidbit - the whole set is called an encyclopedia. It has many volumes, but not many encyclopedias.

We did and I loved looking at them but the minute we got them they were already outdated. Love instant access to random trivia.

One massive set years ago, purchased so I would have as my kids grew. Damned if I know what happenened to them.

Yeah, an old Book of Knowledge set, my siblings made fun of me for reading it so much.

I did. I loved looking through them. I would often have multiple volumes open at once.

brittanica. i liked to page through them when i was a kid

We had the encyclopedia Britannica