Encyclopedias Can Open Doors
Rachel Lynn
For anyone who has read a great deal, The World Book Encyclopedia probably has several positive associations in the memory banks. I remember as a kid I started learning from encyclopedias by using the children’s classic sets. From there, I started reading about all the issues related to my adolescent stage. Finally, by sneaking behind my parents’ backs, I researched all the more adult issues. After reading all the fiction that I could find, I resorted to the Compton Encyclopedia and The World Book Encyclopedia as well as other research resources.
On the other hand, my brother stuck strictly to the encyclopedias. He read through them as if they were novels as he stretched out in Dad’s recliner working his way from A through Z. Volume by volume, he completed the entire encyclopedia set without doing much talking at all. My mother said he would grunt if spoken to, but other than that he seemed to deem words as unnecessary.
Of course, being the genius that he was, my brother attended college and went into Military Intelligence. I can imagine that he probably read all the other encyclopedias that exist just to compare their information.
As my brother closed himself off to read the encyclopedias, I remember dreaming of becoming a writer when I grew up. I even considered writing entries for encyclopedias. This is a great family site http://www.massreleases.com. Forgetting all about this childhood dream, I went on to college and became a professor. Later as I searched for ways to become a freelance writer, I found a request for submissions for a literary encyclopedia. After applying, I continued to write for web content while forgetting all about the application. Finally, the editor made contact to offer some selections of book reviews and literary surveys that would be added to an online database. Personally, I consider it to be the perfect job.
Since my brother is now an MIS, I envision his reading online encyclopedias. Although he still doesn’t talk or write much, he can access information online and email when he does have a few words of love and encouragement. As we are all busy in this world of technology, it is nice knowing we can even get the number one encyclopedia, The World Book Encyclopedia, online.
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