Britannica Stops the Presses

Last Updated on February 6, 2016

If you happen to be furnishing a nice study in your home and you feel that it wouldn’t be complete without a nice leather-bound encyclopedia, don’t waste any time acquiring one.

That’s because one of the best-known, Encyclopædia Britannica, has ended its print run. Britannica’s 32-volume sets will truly be history when the current inventory is depleted. At $1,395 a set, there are about 4,000 sets left.

But Britannica isn’t really dead. It goes on, as it has for some time now, as an online encyclopedia available to subscribers at $70 per year.

Does that strike you as a high price to pay? It definitely seems a bit high to me, particularly when a search in Wikipedia is free.

Sure, there’s less reliability in Wikipedia, since nearly any Tom, Dick or Harry with internet service can update it; but then there’s Google to provide further free searching to cross-check any facts that seem amiss.

Even at less than six bucks a month for Britannica, free is still more attractive.

And it’s not like Britannica hasn’t faced its own criticism: not so much for inaccuracy, but in outdated data. There are no annual updates per se, but rather larger updates that can come decades apart. In that time, a lot of information — and particularly a lot of how scientists and researchers interpret information — can change.

Still, there’s enough nostalgia in me to make me feel a little sad when an era comes to an end, even if I don’t currently own an Encyclopædia Britannica. (My parents purchased a set of World Book for me when I was in school.)

But online is the way of this 21st century. You can find it faster and easier. How can anyone expect less in the Information Age?

Your Turn:
Did you grow up with Encyclopædia Britannica? Do you currently have a set in your home?