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I bought an encyclopedia

optoutproject.net

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Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#21

Post by jiehong »

bawolff wrote: post #11

What a confusing rambly article. I read the entire thing, and I'm still not sure why he bought an encyclopedia. It seems like the stated main reason is so he can talk to his kids about how different sources are written and constructed. A noble goal, but it seems like a paper encyclopedia is pretty incidental to that goal. Quite frankly, it seems like the real reason is the author has nostalgia for his encyclopedia gr…

I think the last paragraphs say it clearly:

    Our information literacy project must start somewhere, preferably far enough from the meandering blather of generative systems that when we encounter them, we have the tools under our belt to evaluate their results.

    And that, ultimately, is why I bought an Encyclopedia.

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#22

Post by cxr »

For the reasons given in the article, the author and readers here who are convinced might also consider getting a copy of Pocket Ref.

https://sequoiapublishing.com/product/pocket-ref/>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Ref>

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#23

Post by pixelmonkey »

This article reminded me that many years ago I used to make PDF compilations of related Wikipedia articles using some tooling developed by PediaPress, and then read those offline on my laptop or iPad. I recently encountered one such compilation of cryptography & security related articles in my EBooks folder, and noticed the PediaPress metadata on the PDF. Apparently PediaPress is still around, and its tooling is still open source:

https://pediapress.com/code/

I also Google'd around a bit on this topic and it looks like there is an alternative set of tooling, wiki2book, focused on doing the same thing, but generating EPUBs that look good on e-reader devices. It also smartly doesn't require a modified/extended MediaWiki server, handling the quirks of the live Wikipedia instance specifically. Here is the info on that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/189qqxe/wiki2boo...

https://github.com/hauke96/wiki2book

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#25

Post by noefingway »

cxr wrote: post #22

For the reasons given in the article, the author and readers here who are convinced might also consider getting a copy of Pocket Ref. https://sequoiapublishing.com/product/pocket-ref/ > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Ref >

Cheers for PocketRef! Another tool in my farm shop.

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#26

Post by surfingdino »

cjk2 wrote: post #9

This article is mostly fluff. There's garbage in encyclopaedias as well and little possibility of finding errata. It also teaches the kids that you should trust one canonical source of information, which is bad. Teach your kids critical thinking instead.

> It also teaches the kids that you should trust one canonical source of information, which is bad.

And teaching the kids to trust the source that cannot give them facts and changes the answer every time you ask the same question is good?

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#27

Post by simpaticoder »

ClosedPistachio wrote: post #2

Similarly, I purchased a copy of "Bosch Automotive Handbook" [1]. For $65 it will literally walk you through every component of a vehicle, from the metals required, the fuel, to the electronics. It's presence on my bookshelf is meant to be aspirational. https://www.sae.org/publications/books/content/bosch10/

If you're looking to be inspired to take the plunge into car repair, check out M359 Restorations YouTube channel[0]. It's a one-man shop in Frankfurt that specializes in BMW restorations. It's a good look into what it takes to do projects like this well: the tools, the space, the knowledge of the secondary market and parts suppliers, and when/how to repair a component rather than buying a new one. He does use repair manuals for some things, especially engine rebuilds, but a lot of what he does is based on "what looks right" to a person doing this for the last 10-15 years.

As a beginner looking to start with minimal infrastructure, he does some of his restorations outside his shop, often in borrowed personal garages of subscribers. Project Salt Lake City is a good example [1]. For someone looking to do a more advanced repair (arguably the most advanced possible) there are some good engine rebuilding videos, especially with Project Frankfurt[2].

One thing I find surprising is that he still uses a lot of 3rd party services. AC dis/charging, wheel alignment, tire mounting and balancing, dynamo measurement, block reconditioning, head and supercharger refreshes, and even car detailing (which he seems to be actively trying to avoid doing despite his instincts because it is a huge time sink). He is a dynamic, adaptable node in a fascinating, specialized capital network.

0 - https://www.youtube.com/@M539Restorations

1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a9rCI2zfPM&list=PLBcFoVFuPC...

2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqZoNwKeOM&list=PLBcFoVFuPC...

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#28

Post by Perz1val »

isolli wrote: post #19

That's my intention too. As soon as we're done moving houses, I will buy the latest print edition of the French Encyclopædia Universalis, from 2012. A childhood memory I have is that my friends who had one at home had a much easier time doing their homework. I had to go to the library, and was never sure to find information on the topic I was looking for, whereas they had everything at their fingertips. (Thinking bac…

Maybe they wanted you to search for the purpose of learning how to search for information. To be honest, this would make sense, but I suspect the real answer is something stupid that doesn't make sense

Re: I bought an encyclopedia

#29

Post by globular-toast »

pixelmonkey wrote: post #23

This article reminded me that many years ago I used to make PDF compilations of related Wikipedia articles using some tooling developed by PediaPress, and then read those offline on my laptop or iPad. I recently encountered one such compilation of cryptography & security related articles in my EBooks folder, and noticed the PediaPress metadata on the PDF. Apparently PediaPress is still around, and its tooling is stil…

I used to take advantage of the browser's "work offline" functionality. This started to work less and less reliably, even by the early 2000s, but Wikipedia still worked nicely. I would dial up at night when everyone was asleep and click through to all the pages surrounding some topic, like internal combustion engines. Then the next day I'd work offline and digest it all. I was sad when I clicked a link that hadn't been cached, but somehow having only the limited amount available meant I actually did read it all. Nowadays it's all available and lots of people don't seem to read anything ever. Sigh...

There is an app for Android called Kiwix that lets you download the whole of Wikipedia for viewing offline. I keep meaning to do it but never got around to it, though.

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