less_retarded_wiki/encyclopedia.md
2023-08-20 23:14:29 +02:00

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Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia (also encyclopaedia, cyclopedia or cyclopaedia) is a large book (or a series of books) providing structured summary of wide knowledge in one or many fields (such as mathematics, history, engineering, general knowledge etc.), usually in a form of alphabetically ordered articles on terms used in the field. Paper encyclopedias are often printed in several volumes as their scope is too great for a single book. The largest and most famous encyclopedia to date is the online Wikipedia created by volunteers in free culture spirit, however Wikipedia suffers from significant issues such as censorship, high political propaganda and low quality of writing, therefore it is important to also stay interested in other encyclopedias such as Britannica or LRS wiki.

Similar terms: encyclopedias are similar to dictionaries and these works often overlap (many encyclopedias call themselves dictionaries); the main difference is that a dictionary focuses on providing linguistic information about the terms and has shorter term definitions, while encyclopedias has longer articles (which however limits the total number of terms it may contain). Encyclopedias are also a subset of so called reference works, i.e. works that serve to provide information and reference to it (other kinds of reference works being e.g. world maps or API references). A universal/general encyclopedia is one that focuses on human knowledge at wide, as opposed to an encyclopedia that focuses on one specific field of knowledge. Compendium can be seen almost as a synonym to encyclopedia, with encyclopedias perhaps usually being more general and extensive.

Notable/Nice Encyclopedias

Here is a list of notable encyclopedias, focused on general knowledge English language ones that are preferrably publicly available (or easy to get).

{ See also https://wikiindex.org/. ~drummyfish }

name year legal status format ~articles comment
Britannica 11th edition 1910 PD (old) 29 vol. 40K legendary enc., part of "Big Three", digitized (gutenberg), uncensored facts on race etc.
Britannica online ...now proprietary online 130K bloated, high quality articles, ads
Citizendium 2006... proprietary? (NC) online 18K Wikipedia alternative, censored, faggots have unclear license
Conservaedia 2006... proprietary online 52K American fascist wiki, has basic factual errors
Desk Reference Encyclopedia 1995 proprietary 1 vol. 800p 200K? by James Hughes, nice illustrations, quality articles { I bought this, it's nice. ~drummyfish }
Encyclopedia Americana 1903 PD (old) 16 vol. longer articles, part of "Big Three", scanned on archive.org
Encyclopedia Dramatica 2004... PD (CC0) online 15K informal/fun/"offensive" but valuable info (on society, tech, ...), basically no censorship, no propaganda
Illustrated Family Encyclopedia 1997 proprietary 2 vol. 920p 5K kid-friendly, nice pictures, USA bias, piratable
Infogalactic 2016... CC BY-SA online 2M Wikipedia fork, no SJW censorship, FOR PROFIT (you can buy article control lol), can't make accounts
LRS wiki 2021... PD (CC0) online/elec. 500 best encyclopedia, focused on tech/society, no censorship
Metapedia 2006... GFDL online 7K Wikipedia fork, online, no SJW censorship, ATM limited account creation, "pro-European" fascism
Microsoft Encarta ...2009 proprietary electronic 62K Micro$oft enc., low quality articles (errors), MS propaganda (no free software etc. lol), is on archive.org
Simple English Wikipedia 2001... CC BY-SA online 200K Wikipedia with simpler language and simpler explanations, censored
The Nuttall Encyclopaedia 1907 PD (old) 1 vol. 16K short articles, oldschool, digitized (gutenberg)
Vikidia 2006... CC BY-SA online 4K "Wikipedia for kids", probably as censored as Wikipedia
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary 1864 PD (old) paper 476K short descriptions, digitized (gutenberg)
Wikipedia 2001... CC BY-SA online 6M largest and most famous, EXTREME PSEUDOLEFTIST CENSORSHIP AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA, free culture
Old Wikipedia 2001 GFDL online 19K archived old Wikipedia, less censorship, https://nostalgia.wikipedia.org
Pears' Cyclopedia 1897 PD (old) 1 vol. 740p contains dictionary, general knowl. maps, reference etc., scanned on archive.org
The World Book 1917... proprietary 22 vol. 17K best selling print enc., large, probably high quality
The World Book 1917 1917 PD (old) 8 vol. 3K nicely readable
Uncyclopedia 2005... proprietary (NC) online 37K parody, fun enc.