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HarryT · 12-07-2014, 11:58 AM

Having now got the 11th/12th edition, it's interesting to compare it to the modern 15th edition.

Size-wise, the two are pretty similar: both consist of 32 volumes, and occup the same amount (roughly 6 feet) of shelf-space.

Content-wise, though, they are very different.

The 11th edition is what I suppose we all think of a traditional encyclopaedia: it's arranged alphabetically and, although there's an index and cross-references, you really need to know what you're looking for.

The 15th edition is much more of a research tool, and is in 3 parts: a 1-volume "Propaedia", which breaks down all human knowledge in a series of hierarchical classifications. Then there's the 17-volume "Macropaedia", which is an alphabetical listing of long, in-depth, articles (eg the article on "United States of America" is 310 pages long); Macropaedia articles tend to be "overviews" of a whole area of knowledge. Finally there's the 12-volume "Micropaedia", which is an alphabetical list of much shorter articles about specific people, places, things, etc. You can use it either "top-down" or "bottom-up": eg if you wanted to learn about American History, you could first look in the "Propaedia", and you'd find Part 9, "The History of Mankind". Look through its contents and you'll find Division 6, "The modern World to 1920" and Division 7, "The World Since 1920". Within Division 6 we have topic 964, "European Colonies in the Americas from 1492 to 1790", and 965, "Development of the United States and Canada from 1763 to 1920. Turn to topic 965 and you get a hierarchical listing of American history with top-levels of "The United States to 1865" and "The United States from 1865 to 1920", within the first of these divisions you have "Establishment and Consolidation of the United States", and so on, about 4 levels deep. Finally, you have a listing of Macropaedia and Micropaedia articles which cover each subdivision. So it's a great way to do structured research, and you really can't do the same with Wikipedia.

Which of the two is better? For research, unquestionably the 15th edition. But for general reading, the 11th often has much longer and more detailed articles. Eg, to pick one random example from the first few pages of each, the 11th edition has a 12-page article on "Abbeys", whereas the 15th has a third of one page!

12-07-2014, 11:58 AM	#30
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Having now got the 11th/12th edition, it's interesting to compare it to the modern 15th edition. Size-wise, the two are pretty similar: both consist of 32 volumes, and occup the same amount (roughly 6 feet) of shelf-space. Content-wise, though, they are very different. The 11th edition is what I suppose we all think of a traditional encyclopaedia: it's arranged alphabetically and, although there's an index and cross-references, you really need to know what you're looking for. The 15th edition is much more of a research tool, and is in 3 parts: a 1-volume "Propaedia", which breaks down all human knowledge in a series of hierarchical classifications. Then there's the 17-volume "Macropaedia", which is an alphabetical listing of long, in-depth, articles (eg the article on "United States of America" is 310 pages long); Macropaedia articles tend to be "overviews" of a whole area of knowledge. Finally there's the 12-volume "Micropaedia", which is an alphabetical list of much shorter articles about specific people, places, things, etc. You can use it either "top-down" or "bottom-up": eg if you wanted to learn about American History, you could first look in the "Propaedia", and you'd find Part 9, "The History of Mankind". Look through its contents and you'll find Division 6, "The modern World to 1920" and Division 7, "The World Since 1920". Within Division 6 we have topic 964, "European Colonies in the Americas from 1492 to 1790", and 965, "Development of the United States and Canada from 1763 to 1920. Turn to topic 965 and you get a hierarchical listing of American history with top-levels of "The United States to 1865" and "The United States from 1865 to 1920", within the first of these divisions you have "Establishment and Consolidation of the United States", and so on, about 4 levels deep. Finally, you have a listing of Macropaedia and Micropaedia articles which cover each subdivision. So it's a great way to do structured research, and you really can't do the same with Wikipedia. Which of the two is better? For research, unquestionably the 15th edition. But for general reading, the 11th often has much longer and more detailed articles. Eg, to pick one random example from the first few pages of each, the 11th edition has a 12-page article on "Abbeys", whereas the 15th has a third of one page! Last edited by HarryT; 12-07-2014 at 12:03 PM.