What's an Encyclopedia?

By now, most of you have probably heard the news that Encyclopedia Britannica will not not be printing any new editions of their books. It essentially signals the death of the physical encyclopedia.

If I let nostalgia get the best of me, I would call this "sad news", but the truth is, I haven't opened an encyclopedia since high school. So why should I be upset with this? Digital encyclopedias have an exponential amount of information and can be updated instantly.

The Britannica is not going out of business -- they will now focus exclusively on their digital version and will thrive in the school system.

Still, it's hard not to think back to walking around in grade school libraries and seeing the rows of different encyclopedias lined along the shelves. I would be amazed at the wealth of information they contained...

But those days are over. The Internet is simply more efficient. And that's that. One day I'll tell my child about looking things up in a book. That's how we discovered information. He or she will be amazed that something like that used to exist. It's just another thing we can add to the list of things that once had a great purpose but are now extinct.

...I'm really starting to sound like my parents.