encyclopedia

He was about 12 when his family bought the first set of encyclopedias that he can remember.

For many, it is the modern-day encyclopedia—a site written and edited by volunteers that aims to offer, as Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales once said, free access to “the sum of all human knowledge.”

It’s an extraordinary tool—camera, compass, communicator, encyclopedia, studio, lifeline.

It’s easy to imagine the same kid in an elementary school library, reading about these things in the World Book encyclopedia during a rainy recess.

I loved reading books about dogs as a kid, whether they were encyclopedias of breeds or classics like “Hank the Cowdog.”