Encyclopedia Britannica (2024)

FAQs

Has anyone ever read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica? ›

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World is a book by Esquire editor A. J. Jacobs, published in 2004. It recounts his experience of reading the entire Encyclopædia Britannica; all 32 volumes of the 2002 edition, extending to over 33,000 pages with some 44 million words.

Britannica's content is among the most trusted in the world. Every article is written, and continually fact-checked, by our experts.

The Encyclopedia Britannica contains carefully edited articles on all major topics. It fits the ideal purpose of a reference work as a place to get started, or to refer back to as you read and write. The articles in Britannica are written by expert authors who are both identifiable and credible.

The Internet has rendered vintage encyclopedias obsolete and today the value is primarily from people looking to have a set similar to the one that they grew up with. A complete 1967 white britannica encyclopedia sells for $50 or so at auction and for $120 to $150 from antique book dealers.

It's said that he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica at age nine and would pore through science fiction novels for more than 10 hours a day. When asked how he learned about rockets, Musk reportedly said, “I read books.” His voracious reading habit was essential to launching his history-making career.

Encyclopædia Britannica also argued that a breakdown of the errors indicated that the mistakes in Wikipedia were more often the inclusion of incorrect facts, while the mistakes in Britannica were "errors of omission", making "Britannica far more accurate than Wikipedia, according to the figures".

What if I don't want to become a premium member – can I still read Encyclopaedia Britannica for free? Visitors do have free access to a limited amount of digital content on Britannica.com. Britannica Kids, however, requires a premium membership to view content.

Despite that, some people and organizations apparently still buy paper encyclopedias. Evans said that sales of the print edition are "in the thousands" and that World Book always prints just enough copies to satisfy demand. Enlarge / The Encyclopedia Britannica, a competitor of World Book, ended its print run in 2012.

Trust Britannica Library as a reliable source with objective, fact-check, and unbiased content that is written by experts and vetted through rigorous editorial process.

Recycling encyclopedias

Call your local library and ask if you may donate your set to be sold. Put it up for giveaway on freecycle.org. If they're really old -- say, more than 100 years -- call a rare bookseller and ask if they're worth anything.

When did Britannica stop making encyclopedias? ›

In March 2012, the company announced that the 2010 edition would be the last printed version.

Long before Google or Wikipedia, there was only one thing to turn to…the encyclopedia. Back then, the Encyclopedia Britannica, one of the most popular versions of the books, sold anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000.

If one were to read the entire printed edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (2002), consisting of 32 volumes, 33,000 pages, and 44 million words, it would take a reader 153 days.

Poor Zywiec. For years, this Polish city (population 32,000) has had the distinction of being the final entry in the print edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the last word in the 44-million-word opus.