It's not a criticism, it's an observation.
Knowledge: seek and ye shall find
Mike Cox

Encyclopedia. I still remember how to spell it from the Walt Disney song. There was something magical about an encyclopedia. It contained unlimited knowledge. Anything you needed to know was in there, in easy to find alphabetical order. There were even color pictures.

My parents bought a

set of World Book Encyclopedias

when I was seven. The volumes were bright red with blue trim. I'm not sure if my dad thought they

were better than Encyclopedia

Brittanica or got a better price. Either way, we owned a set, and I was hooked.

I spent hours thumbing through each volume, reading anything the least bit interesting, and putting my own spin on new found knowledge. Being a true southern boy, I assumed we lived in South America.

I wasn't familiar with any of the South American animals pictured but recognized a few of those from North America. I figured they must have followed the good climate south.

Lee Eaton, who lived next door, pointed out we all lived in North America and the South American animals were from another continent. I didn't mind being corrected but didn't like the guy's attitude. I thought Lee was a smart aleck Yankee, even when he was correct. He wasn't the last one I would encounter.

So much of what I saw for the first time in my encyclopedia stuck with me. To this day, I can identify birds and snakes from pictures in theWorld Book. I became interested in the War Between the States after reading some of the details. A photo of a weird mask stuck with me for years and has given me several nightmares.

Today, we have the internet. It is easier to navigate, contains more information, and can be updated instantly. But you can't hold the internet in your hands or take it outside and sit under a shade tree in the early fall. I can't decide which one is better.

Last week, I read an article about using old encyclopedia pages to make holders for your CDs and DVDs. Fold a couple of pages, then glue around the edges. It was an ingenious way to recycle unwanted stuff, a lot better than throwing them away after they start to mildew from being stored in old, damp boxes.

But the idea made me sad. There was magic in those volumes. Lots of kids learned to read, explore history, and ask why by reading the pages of encyclopedias. Today's world is changing at a rapid pace, and there is no place for quaint things like encyclopedias. Many things we thought were revolutionary are now obsolete.

I suspect there are still wide- eyed little kids who see things for the first time on a web page and are struck by how interesting the world around them is. They understand knowledge is a wonderful thing and realize they never forget the things they seek out alone. Being smart will never become obsolete. Even if some know- it- all like Lee Eaton thinks he's smarter.