Jan. 27th
Atlas, Gazetteers, Road Maps, Etc.
First of all, I love maps. Really and truly. But the highlight of this week was the Gazetteer. OH MY GOODNESS...lots of great info on places from the small to the great. The best thing about these: PRONUNCIATION and not just from some scholar who has no idea about the local slang - they got the locals perspective on this one! NOTE: This is really important if you are traveling in the South and want to blend w/ the locals. If you hear the words, "you got a pretty mouth", you are going to be kicking yourself for not figuring out the local lexicon!
Feb. 3rd
General & Subject Encyclopedias
Well, as much as I love maps, I LOVED our first set of World Book encyclopedias we had growing up. Lots of interesting information, esp. the human body w/ see-thru overlays so you could see where all the muscles, veins and guts went. Pretty cool!
A word about the General: These are pretty basic and if you want to use a good one, where the authors are pretty respected in their subject fields, go w/ the Britannica. However, World Book's is a very good primer for young school-aged children, has great pictures and diagrams and is overall, very easy to use and understand.
A word about the Subject: These tend to hold their content "value" for 30-35 years, but older editions are still valuable - don't toss'em!! Some really interesting ones are:
- LGBT
- Southern Culture
- African-American
Overall takeaway - ALWAYS, ALWAYS start w/ the INDEX!!!! They are their to help you in both the General and Subject encyclopedias!
Okay...now go look up something fun like The Battle of Antigua or Grenada or Soccer and see what you find!
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