Bypass Avenue

The encyclopedia was my “internet” back in 1965.

My parents bought the 1965 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia, presumably to help us with schoolwork as we were growing up. I took to the books with awe and fascination as I could read short articles about all kinds of wonderful things.

I especially loved reading about the space program, the human body with its transparent layers that labeled all of the internal organs, bones, etc.. There were articles about all of the Presidents of the United States as well as all of the States of the Union. The nice thing about this set is that World Book sent out a yearly update edition that brought articles up to date. Major re-writes of old articles and new entries such as computers were regularly featured in the annual yearbook.

Flying cars were predicted to glide over a cushion of air.

We also had the old Childcraft books for children that came with the encyclopedia. This 12 volume set included childrens’ stories, articles on the arts, poetry, animals, holidays, the universe,  history and technology. It was in this book that I read an article about the future of the automobile: They predicted flying cars in 1965.

I’m still waiting for that to come true.

The World Book Encyclopedia was and still is a wonderful treasure trove of knowledge… all bound and on paper. The next time you are at a library spend some time going through the pages.