But that’s exactly what an encyclopedia is. The internet isn’t Wikipedia. The real difference was that the library was now in your living room. You didn’t have to hope they had the material on hand and wait weeks for something specific if they didn’t have it already on hand.
There’s also just the idea that, with a library, you already have to have an idea of what to look for. You’re always browsing by genre in an alphabetical, organized fashion. With the internet, it could become discovery-based. One link could lead you to 13 others and those all branched again. You never knew what to expect.
A book contains either one really clear idea, or a reference with no substance to a bunch of random stuff.
But that’s exactly what an encyclopedia is. The internet isn’t Wikipedia. The real difference was that the library was now in your living room. You didn’t have to hope they had the material on hand and wait weeks for something specific if they didn’t have it already on hand.
There’s also just the idea that, with a library, you already have to have an idea of what to look for. You’re always browsing by genre in an alphabetical, organized fashion. With the internet, it could become discovery-based. One link could lead you to 13 others and those all branched again. You never knew what to expect.
A book contains either one really clear idea, or a reference with no substance to a bunch of random stuff.
Imagine if encyclopedias had ads