World Book Encyclopedia

Type: Book

As of November 2026, World Book Encyclopedia has been mentioned in one podcast episode on Ryan Hawk (Jan 2026). In the episode "Why Wikipedia Works When Trust Is Declining Everywhere Else," Jimmy Wales reflects on how the World Book Encyclopedia influenced his early interest in encyclopedias and knowledge sharing. He fondly recalls it as a childhood source of curiosity and learning, mentioning that his mom bought it from a door-to-door salesman and that he looked forward to its annual updates.

The World Book Encyclopedia is an American encyclopedia. World Book was first published in 1917. Since 1925, a new edition of the encyclopedia has been published annually. Although published online in digital form for a number of years, World Book is currently the only American encyclopedia which also still provides a print edition. The encyclopedia is designed to cover major areas of knowledge uniformly, but it shows particular strength in scientific, technical, historical and medical subjects.