I just got one in the mail about 20 minutes ago. 3 more to go! I started collecting them back in March. I bought most of mine from Thrift Books and Better World Books. I am finding them usually from $3-7. Thriftbooks is really bad about sending the wrong years but usually they are cheap enough that it doesn't matter much.
Thanks for the video, Jim. I would love to see how these would have evolved to the current day. I can't think of anything comparable to these volumes for today's audience and I look forward to your future videos on the set .
Interesting! Looking forward to deep dives into these, especially to see what they didn’t include in the main set… the Internet really does seem to have been the death of these, but there is a revival generally in well-published individual books of classics, like the Penguin clothbound books… to produce whole sets now would probably be too costly… makes me wonder too how much these were previously, and if they really were affordable for the “every man” to get a liberal education… or maybe libraries became more popular and so a decline in people buying them in the 90’s? 🤔
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the Internet surely was a death knell. The same thing happened with encyclopedias. Do any print encyclopedias still exist? We used to see Britannica, World Book, Funk and Wagnalls, Colliers, and more. Now, we're left with wikipedia, which don't get me wrong is useful, but...sigh...not the same. Good point about the revival of nicer hardcovers. Ironically, social media may have added fuel to that fire, as in beautiful young people showing off their nice books. Also, there's a longing for the tangible that should not be discounted.
@greatbooksbigideas I have several print encyclopedias and I read the entire World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid because I couldn't stand stupid TV shows so when someone was watching something dumb which was most of the time I would just grab a volume off the shelf and read a couple of articles and ended up just reading the whole thing that way
Jim (or anyone in the audience), do you have a copy of "The Worlds Great Thinkers," a set of 4 volumes published in 1947 by Random House Books? I'm interested to get the opinion of anyone who has this set. As with many of these older book series, it's frustrating to find any reviews, summaries, or other information on them to help determine whether they might be worth buying for someone who may have other books which touch on the same subject.
Thanks for covering this extension to The Great Books. It really was a heroic effort to keep the great books relevant for modern times.
Just stumbled on your channel - very nice conversations. Thanks!
Thanks! Hope you stick around!
I just got one in the mail about 20 minutes ago. 3 more to go! I started collecting them back in March. I bought most of mine from Thrift Books and Better World Books. I am finding them usually from $3-7. Thriftbooks is really bad about sending the wrong years but usually they are cheap enough that it doesn't matter much.
I think some of my copies came from both those sellers (via eBay). Good time to stock up on them!
Looking forward to seeing a summary of each volume
Thanks, I'll cover the 1961 book soon.
Thanks for the video, Jim. I would love to see how these would have evolved to the current day. I can't think of anything comparable to these volumes for today's audience and I look forward to your future videos on the set .
You and me both!
Interesting! Looking forward to deep dives into these, especially to see what they didn’t include in the main set… the Internet really does seem to have been the death of these, but there is a revival generally in well-published individual books of classics, like the Penguin clothbound books… to produce whole sets now would probably be too costly… makes me wonder too how much these were previously, and if they really were affordable for the “every man” to get a liberal education… or maybe libraries became more popular and so a decline in people buying them in the 90’s? 🤔
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the Internet surely was a death knell. The same thing happened with encyclopedias. Do any print encyclopedias still exist? We used to see Britannica, World Book, Funk and Wagnalls, Colliers, and more. Now, we're left with wikipedia, which don't get me wrong is useful, but...sigh...not the same. Good point about the revival of nicer hardcovers. Ironically, social media may have added fuel to that fire, as in beautiful young people showing off their nice books. Also, there's a longing for the tangible that should not be discounted.
@@greatbooksbigideas Agree about the tangible! Think that’s why things like LPs/records are also making a comeback…
@greatbooksbigideas I have several print encyclopedias and I read the entire World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid because I couldn't stand stupid TV shows so when someone was watching something dumb which was most of the time I would just grab a volume off the shelf and read a couple of articles and ended up just reading the whole thing that way
@@greatbooksbigideas I know World Book still prints encyclopedias (2023 for sure)
Jim (or anyone in the audience), do you have a copy of "The Worlds Great Thinkers," a set of 4 volumes published in 1947 by Random House Books? I'm interested to get the opinion of anyone who has this set. As with many of these older book series, it's frustrating to find any reviews, summaries, or other information on them to help determine whether they might be worth buying for someone who may have other books which touch on the same subject.
I don’t have that set and have no familiarity with it. I hope someone in the audience can help!