Let Us Know What Reference Book You’D Choose

Sat., Dec. 23, 2000

“We’re drowning in information and starving for knowledge,” a Yale librarian observed back in 1985 - well before the Internet flooded us with exponentially more information.

His comment appears in “Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations,” a wonderful reservoir of wisdom.

Reference books such as “Simpson’s” have lost some of their indispensability since the advent of the Internet. But there’s still much to be said about picking up a volume, carrying it from room to room and plopping down in your favorite chair to peruse page after page of knowledge.

Certain reference books belong in every home - a good dictionary, a collection of quotations, maybe even an overview of fine art.

If you were to pick a specific reference book to put in a family’s 21st century core library, what would it be? And why would you choose that book?

We’d like to share your selection, and your reason, with other readers. Please send your pick, along with an explanation, to: Favorite Book, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99210-1615; or e-mail it to mikegu@spokesman.com.

We’ll run a list of readers’ favorite reference books in January.

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