KIRO says goodbye to print Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica’s announcement that it will stop
publishing print editions for the first time in over 200
years inspired strong reactions from many who held fond
memories of the collection.

“It makes me sad,” said 97.3 KIRO FM host Dori Monson who began
his quest to read the full World Book Encyclopedia as a 7-
year-old.

“I would pick out one World Book and I would read it cover
to cover and it would take me weeks to read, and then I’d
put it in backwards until I read the entire World Book
Encyclopedia.”

Monson said it took him two years to read it all.

“When I saw that Encyclopedia Britannica is not going to
print anymore, it made me really sad,” said Monson. “It
was such a huge part of me discovering this world.”

97.3 KIRO FM reporter Rachel Belle said she never had her
own set, but wanted one desperately.

“I remember when they came door-to-door, I begged my mom
to buy it and she wouldn’t buy it,” said Belle. “I wanted
it maybe even worse than I wanted a bike.”

Ross and Burbank host Dave Ross said he’s
the proud owner of a 1984 edition, which he still enjoys,
but his most notable encyclopedia memory comes from a set
his parents had.

“It’s actually kind of an embarrassing episode in my
life,” said Ross. “I had a book bag, which I’d bring to
school. One day I needed the A volume of the World Book
Encyclopedia because I think we were doing a unit on
Athens or something, but I also had this interest in
hydraulics. So on the way home one day, with the A volume
of the World Book in my book bag, I decided I would use my
book bag to dam up the drainage ditch on route 132 and see
how high I could get the water to go.”

He said he added some rocks and dirt to the backpack dam.

“It worked great. I created a wonderful waterfall,” said
Ross. “But I was under the mistaken impression that my
book bag was waterproof, which it was not.”

“My mom finds this when she gets home and she can’t
believe it. Nothing matches anymore now. The A is this
puffy mess of wrinkled paper. She opened that thing and
she literally put a napkin between each one of those pages
to dry it out. It never quite worked,” said Ross. “Every
time I go home, I see that volume, and it serves as a
reminder of my childhood folly.”

The book-form of Encyclopedia Britannica has been in print
since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in
1768. It will stop being available when the current stock
runs out, the company said. It can still be found online
at www.britannica.com

“It’s a sad day,” said Ross at the announcement.

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The
Associated Press contributed to this report.