Our Encyclopedias

Well, they aren't exactly encyclopedias. We have a set of Childcraft books that are nice to read. If you are familiar with Childcraft the name should be enough. If not, read on. I was reading one last night and it was about how things change. Here is an example of it. Take note of the words in italics: "Today it is easier to write a letter. You have pencils, stick pens, fountain pens,and ball point pens. You write on paper that is made from wood and rags. And instead of using sand to dry wet ink on a piece of paper, you use a blotter." Let the record show that I have never even seen a blotter and that these book are from Mydadmark's childhood. Here is another example: "Many years ago, men worked hard copying stories down on paper. They wrote each word by hand. Sometimes it took months to copy stories onto paper. Can you imagine how tired your fingers would be after copying for a whole month? Today, there is an easier and faster way to copy down words. You can use a typewriter." This tells you the age of our books.

I'm sure that when this was copyrighted in 1964 the author was proud of how up-to-date and modern our country was. That's nice.

But now it is 2007 and we have laptops and i-pods and printers and fax machines and cell phones and hybrid cars and we are making gigantic islands in the middle of the ocean where there used to be nothingness! I just thought it was funny that the book was talking about how "modern" we are when we think of all of the "modern" things it talked about as old-fashioned. I mean, If someone made a book nowadays about how things change it would list as "old" all the things that this book lists as "modern".

MaddieLynn