I had both a set that they got for me as a kid and my father's set from when he was a lad, interesting to compare the two.

We had a huge set. Which was a good thing, because while most people my age grew up with an internet connection, I didn't until I bought my first smartphone at 19.

We had the World Book Encyclopedia and I LOVED it. It was a great source of knowledge for me, and when I couldn't get to the library, it provided for hours of reading, where one article might spark interest in something else, which lead me yet another and another... It was like going on science and history sites on the internet.

We had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. My mom also bought me a children's set of encyclopedias when I was 7 or 8. I remember asking my mom if I read them all I would be smarter. She told me yes, and so I read all of them.

We had two sets. One from the 60s and one from the 80s that also published yearly updates. Sometimes I'd just sit and read whatever caught my eye. Early version of falling down a Wikipedia hole! ?

We couldn't afford them, but I would sit for hours at the library reading theirs. I still do quite often, I'm not really very old but I tend 2 b old school on a lot of things. One of them being I'm terrible with computers! Lol, in fact I only found this site by accident

Wow! This topic hit a button in the 'way back' machine. I spent an inordinate amount of time sprawled out on the livingroom floor perusing various volumes of the Encyclopedia Britanica. Good times! Solitary, but good. Nothing like random information to make a body feel good!

My grandparents had a set of World Book encyclopedias from 1964-ish. He bought the yearbook update every year. I read those books retry much cover to cover over the years. Helped open my eyes to the world beyond.

We had the encyclopedia Britannica

brittanica. i liked to page through them when i was a kid

I didn't, but wished that I did. We have little money and few books. There was also no public library in the small town, but during the school year, I used the school libraty constantly.

I did. I loved looking through them. I would often have multiple volumes open at once.

I had The World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica. I liked The World Book better. They were preinternet surfing for interesting tidbits of knowledge or for some in depth research.

We had a set of Grolier Encyclopedias along with the annuals that came every year. I loved those things. Now I'm a librarian and I teach people how to find reliable information online.

Yeah, an old Book of Knowledge set, my siblings made fun of me for reading it so much.

I grew up in the 70's...which was an awesome time to be a kid in southern California. Anyway...my parents bought the whole set of Funk & Wagnall's encyclopedia set. Even came with this huge atlas.
Oh man...I read those books cover to cover! I was voracious. So much cool info! The glossy pages...the pictures...I was in heaven.
A few years later, my dad bought me the entire set of Funk & Wagnall's wildlife encyclopedias and I read all those too. Cover to cover. Multiple times. I can tell you things, man...lots and lots of things....

Yup we had a set. But to use the Britannica I went to the public library.

If you had a set of those - you were rich!

Oh, wow, what memories. I adored reading them. We also had a set of How Things Work!

We did and I loved looking at them but the minute we got them they were already outdated. Love instant access to random trivia.

Little known tidbit - the whole set is called an encyclopedia. It has many volumes, but not many encyclopedias.

They were the closest most accessible source of any real knowledge. That and the periodical card catalog at the town library. Columbia Encyclopedia I think was the set at home.