Now that the Encyclopedia Britannica is going to an online-only format, one of many things we’ll miss is the accidental poetry on the books’ spines. In the age of endless digital information, volumes like Accounting-Architecture and Birds-Chess point to the tomes that contain everything you’d need to know and nothing more. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Encyclopedia Britannica Spines”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I grew up in a house that was lined with bookcases.
And there was something so solid and so ponderous and almost august about the big encyclopedias on them.
In our house, we had World Book and Childcraft and Comptons, and later we got the Encyclopedia Britannica.
And I was thinking about those books that I no longer own and that I miss because of a recent blog post by the writer Nicholas Carr.
Grant, as you know, the Encyclopedia Britannica has ceased publication of its print version.
It’s going to be strictly online only.
And Carr points out that while that’s great, we’re also going to be losing something.
We’re going to be losing those handsome, gilded spines, you know, those volumes on the shelf that look so imposing and inviting at the same time.
And specifically, we’re going to be missing those pairs of index words that tell you where the volume begins and ends.
And I want you to just listen to the names of the first few volumes of the 15th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica and just let your mind drift.
See what you imagine.
Ooh, okay.
Okay, this is almost going to be like a poetry reading.
Volume 1, Accounting Architecture.
Volume 2, Arctic Biosphere.
Volume 3, Birds, Chess.
Volume 4, Chicago Death.
Volume 5, Decorative Edison.
Volume 6, Education Evolution.
And Volume 7, Excretion Geometry.
Those are poetic.
They do tell you quite a bit about what you’re in for.
They do.
They do.
They make it so inviting.
I mean, how can you resist?
There are no petty subjects there.
No, none at all.
I love that.
I also love Islam Life, Number Prague, and United Zoroastrianism.
I have a number of multi-volume dictionaries at home, and they have the guide words on the spine as well.
The Century Dictionary and the Scottish National Dictionary.
I’m going to have to go home and find out what those guide words tell me.
Oh, that’s cool.
It’s probably more poetry, right?
And they’re beautiful.
They’re leather-bound, gold-embossing, and they tell you something about the importance of what’s inside, don’t they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think we’re going to lose some of that sensuousness.
Well, this is the show where we talk about all kinds of reading and words and how we use them.
If you want to talk language, call us 877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
