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Everything Explained: On the Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition
- Animats 10y agoThat dates from a time when it seemed that you could fit all important knowledge into a modest set of books. Also from that era are the Harvard Five Foot Shelf of Books, and the full set of Audels Manuals. The Harvard Five Foot Shelf covered everything important in the liberal arts. The Audels Manuals, circa 1920, covered, in one encyclopedia sized set, everything a mechanic needed to know, from plumbing to auto repair to machine tools.
- ternaryoperator 10y agoSeveral years ago, I bought myself a copy of the original 11th edition. It is a marvelous work, and it's a fascinating read especially to see how the world looked to the leading British minds in pre-World War I England. It was definitely written for rich English readers. At times, this takes on an almost comic aspect. For example, here is some text from early on in the entry on static electricity (aka here as "electrostatics"): "The reader possessed of no previous knowledge of electrical phenomena will best appreciate the meaning of the terms employed by the aid of a few simple experiments. For this purpose, the following apparatus should be provided: 1) two small metal tea trays and some clean dry tumblers, the latter preferably varnished with shellac varnish made with alcohol free from water; 2) a rod of sealing wax or ebonite and a glass tube, also some pieces of silk and flannel; 3) a gold-leaf electroscope, etc." The instructions for the experiments go on for pages and pages. There then follows the theoretical explanations, including detailed analysis using tables, calculus, complex diagrams. Amazing WRT to its comprehensiveness, its formality of tone, as much as its failure to consider the needs of readers who might not be well-heeled, but still desirous of the information.