Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica.

When I was around seven my family invested in two sets of Encyclopedia Britannica; both the grown-up version and the junior version. Today encyclopedias seem to be a thing of the past, but I tell you I loved that Junior Encyclopedia Britannica.

During my third grade year one of my favorite pastimes was doing extra credit reports for school. I know this screams NERD, but luckily that word was unheard of back then. I'm thinking they never covered the topic of plagiarism in third grade because my reports were all copied word for word from that golden volume of knowledge. 

Now the crazy thing is, that I still have possession of those treasured reports. After writing them I would fold a piece of construction paper in half, and make a cover for each. I find it interesting what I chose to report on back then; sweet potatoes, kelp, snakes, Aztecs, and North Carolina. 

I'm not exactly sure what caught my eye about the state of North Carolina, except that I had never been there. I remember being quite fascinated by the little natural resource symbols on the maps provided for each state. It was during this time period that I first researched the term conservation, so apparently I must have been an environmentalist as well at this age. 

A few years after Chuck and I got married I insisted on us purchasing a set of World Book Encyclopedias, which I still own to this day. I have these visions of perusing through them with my grandchildren. 

It's because of my love of encyclopedias that I fully understand my affinity for the i pad.  It's my hands-on, miniature set of encyclopedias always ready to quench my apparent need to know. 

Interestingly enough, I've just realized that my daughter's name sure looks a lot like the name of my favorite encyclopedia. Must have been one of those subliminal things!