I can (vaguely) remember when I was a child and the encyclopedia salesman used to come door-to-door promoting the World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Britannica as an important investment for a family. They weren't cheap, so most people could only afford one set, if at all. Retail stores, especially larger grocery chains, would offer special promotional programs where you could get the first volume or two (usually Index and Letter A) for free and then pay a small amount each week as the next volume installment became available -- until you had the complete set. However, if you missed a week or the store run out of copies you could never finsh completing the set. It seemed that many homes that I went into had the first few volumes of the set, so if a school or interest topic didn't fall between volumes A and C, you were in trouble if you didn't have easy access to a public library.
Now, with the proliferation of information on the Internet, you can have access to your very own reference library, containing not one, but several fullencyclopedia sets, plus dictionaries, thesauruses and a wide range of other informational resources, without requiring any more physical space than taken up by your personal computer. And the price is right!
Here is your personal starter library set of references:
| Refdesk.com | References, Facts, News -- Free and Family Friendly. Huge information resource. |
| The Reference Desk | Martindale's reference site, linking to a wide variety of information from calculators (over 19,500!), to translators, word maps, schedules, patent and trademark, interactive sign language and Braille, plus much more. |
| Bartleby.com | Access to Hundreds of Major References, Verse, Fiction and Non-Fiction works with cross reference search capability. |
| Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, contains search features. |
| Merriam-Webster Online | Online versions of Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus |
| Reference.com | Providing a free online Dictionary, Thesaurus (Roget's) and Encyclopedia in addition to a Premium (Fee) option. |
| Wikipedia | Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia being written collaboratively by contributors from around the world. See also the Wiktionary, a multi-lingual dictionary. |
| OneLook | Think of this web site as a search engine for words and phrases: If you have a word for which you'd like a definition or translation, it'll quickly shuttle you to the web-based dictionaries that define or translate that word. If you don't know how to spell the word, it'll help you do that too. No word is too obscure: More than 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries are indexed by the OneLook® search engine. |
| Music Dictionary | Online music dictionary: entries contain links to corresponding web sites. |
| More Music Links | Classical, Old-Time, Americana, Theater, Theory, Instrumental and Misc. music links for reference, education and enjoyment. |
| Free Data Lookups | Demographics, SIC codes, ZIP-City-Phone, U.S. place names, Street names, ZIP distance, ZIPs in a radius, ZIPs by country, Canadian addresses, Worldwide place names, Area codes in a radius, Nearest post office accepting bulk mail, Non-profit Organizations, Copywriting tips, Income tax Stats, Direct marketing tips, and more. |
| Online Conversions | Convert just about anything to anything else. Over 5,000 units, and 50,000 conversions |
| Encyclopedia Britannica | Access to general information and links - requires registration and fee for access to in-depth information. |
| Scholastic for Kids | Web site for kids provided by Scholastic, the children's books publisher. |
| News Resources | Web News sources worldwide. |
| OurDocuments.com | Geared for teachers to create enthusiasm for the subject, ourdocuments.gov presents the writings that shaped American history - many of which are a wonderfully lively read. Here you can read the 100 speeches, memoranda, letters and proclamations that shaped this country. |
| U.S. Documents | Text of Important U.S. Documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights). |
| Operating Manuals Online | Live Manuals Online. This place was selected as one of Yahoo! Internet Life's "50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites" and its easy to see why! Go here the next time you lose the manual to your answering machine, VCR, office equipment or a myriad of other products around the house or office. All you need is the model number and you can access the product's manual -- and even better, see simulations showing how the features work. If you misplace your operating manual about 3 hours after you get home with your latest gadget, this place is for you! |
| Today In History | Find out what other famous people were born on your birthday or what historical events happened on your birthday or anniversary, etc. |
| Name Statistics | Ever wonder how many people share your first or last name? This little site answers the question! (Also lists the top first and last names for male and female as well as top baby names for previous year.) |
| Acronym Finder | Decode acronyms - search this database of more than 172,000 abbreviations and acronyms. |
Click here for more general resources on my web site.
For real estate resources, help and support services in acquiring or selling properties in, visit my web site: LawrenceYerkes.com
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).
Copyright 2007 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.
