| lass="bottom-link"> | | | | shelf, now decades old. Recently, when some |
| | | | friends of mine and I were playing a DVD trivia |
| Summary — Books become out-of-date | | | | game, we were looking up some of the answers |
| and need replacing. The Internet doesn’t. | | | | in those encyclopedias and others on the Internet. |
| When I was a kid we replaced one set of | | | | It struck me that every book I own is, to at |
| encyclopedias with a newer set of the same type | | | | least a small degree, out of date. However, the |
| and brand. When the new ones arrived the whole | | | | Internet is constantly being updated. The latest |
| family unpacked them and sat around comparing | | | | advice on treating snake bite is added, as are the |
| the two editions. The new ones were crisp and | | | | most recent facts about actors and writers. The |
| clean, without finger smudges and worn covers, | | | | NASA site ( has the most modern facts about |
| and a different color. When it came to the articles | | | | other planets, and up-to-date pictures of them. In |
| inside, we found that lions hadn’t changed | | | | fact, I’ve been told NASA sometimes |
| at all in the ten years between editions, but the | | | | shoots live web casts, so we can see other |
| map of Europe was very different. We were all | | | | planets at almost the same moment as the |
| happy to have up-to-date reference materials, | | | | NASA scientists. |
| ignoring the fact that these too would become | | | | I like books, but I’m using the Internet |
| out-of-date just like the last set before it. | | | | more and more. Knowing I am reading the latest |
| That new’ set of books is still on the | | | | information is comforting. |