All the knowledge in the world : the extraordinary history of the encyclopedia / Simon Garfield.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780063292277 (hardcover)
- ISBN: 0063292270 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 390 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
- Edition: First U.S. edition.
- Publisher: New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2023]
- Copyright: ©2022
Content descriptions
General Note: | "Originally published in Great Britain in 2022 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Ltd."--Title page verso. Date of publication from publisher's website. |
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-379) and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Aah, here comes Andrew Bell -- Backstory -- Chalcenterocity -- Damask silk -- Ephraim Chambers (gentleman) -- Fabuleux! -- Germination -- Hamilton's choice -- Information overload -- Jahrbuch -- Knowledge -- Liberation? -- Method -- Novelties -- Otlet, Paul -- Pantology -- Questioning -- Rule Britannica? -- Selling -- The single volume -- Unprecedented -- Valedictory -- Wikimania -- Extinction -- Yesterday -- Zeitgeist. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Encyclopedias and dictionaries > History and criticism. Reference books > History and criticism. |
Available copies
- 2 of 2 copies available at Kenton County.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erlanger Branch | 030.9 G231a 2023 (Text) | 33126020795930 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Independence Branch | 030.9 G231a 2023 (Text) | 33126020795922 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
Delves into the history of the encyclopedia from Ancient Greece to today and examines what has been lost in the digital age of infinite information. - Baker & Taylor
The New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type delves into the history of the encyclopedia from Ancient Greece to today and examines what we have lost in the digital age of infinite information. 50,000 first printing. - HARPERCOLL
From the âdeliriously cleverâ (Boston Globe) Simon Garfield, New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type, comes the wild and fascinating story of the encyclopedia, from Ancient Greece to the present day.
New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
"A brilliant book about knowledge itself.â âDeirdre Mask, author of The Address Book
âGarfieldâs witty history captures the obsessive, quixotic and sometimes error-filled quests of thoseâfrom Pliny the Elder in the first century A.D. to Wikipedians in this oneâwho have attempted to corral all the worldâs information into a single source.ââNew York Times
The encyclopedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, a good set conveyed a sense of absolute wisdom on its reader. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indira Gandhi helped millions of children with their homework. Adults cleared their shelves in the belief that everything that was explainable was now effortlessly accessible in their living rooms.
Now these huge books gather dust and sell for almost nothing on eBay. Instead, we get our information from our phones and computers, apparently for free. What have we lost in this transition? And how did we tell the progress of our lives in the past?
All the Knowledge in the World is a history and celebration of those who created the most ground-breaking and remarkable publishing phenomenon of any age. Simon Garfield, who âhas a genius for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delightâ (The Times), guides us on an utterly delightful journey, from Ancient Greece to Wikipedia, from modest single-volumes to the 11,000-volume Chinese manuscript that was too big to print. He looks at how Encyclopedia Britannica came to dominate the industry, how it spawned hundreds of competitors, and how an army of ingenious door-to-door salesmen sold their wares to guilt-ridden parents. He reveals how encyclopedias have reflected our changing attitudes towards sexuality, race, and technology, and exposes how these ultimate bastions of trust were often riddled with errors and prejudice.
With his characteristic ability to tackle the broadest of subjects in an illuminating and highly entertaining way, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating and important part of our shared past and wonders whether the promise of complete knowledgeâthat most human of ambitionsâwill forever be beyond our grasp.