World Book Encyclopedia
World Book Encyclopedia by World Bookby World Book
Shares rank 4 of 15 reference books by recommenders
People recommend it for broad coverage and browsing, which sparks curiosity and learning. The most common caveat is that much of its information is now outdated.
People recommend it for broad coverage and browsing, which sparks curiosity and learning. The most common caveat is that much of its information is now outdated.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Broad coverage of many topics
“the World Book Encyclopedia covered any topic a college girl could ask for at the time”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “A 12-year sequence of telescope images of a star and four planets orbiting” Browsing leads to interesting entries
“Looking things up in it usually meant encountering a number of other interesting entries in it.”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary school” Inspires a love of learning
“the love and awe of learning they inspired”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder/co-founder – Jung and Naiv: Episode 792 [video]”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Much of the information is outdated
“Most of the information in it is practically worthless today unfortunately”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Japanese used bookstores see 5x sales surge as books are being bought by the ton”
Other reference books people recommend
The four most recommended other reference books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encyclopaedia Britannicaby Jan Morris | 29 | 8 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 507 Mechanical Movementsby Henry T. Brown | 12 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Ashley Book of Knotsby Clifford Ashley | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
| World Book Encyclopediaby World BookThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| The Atlas of Middle-earthby Karen Wynn Fonstad | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the World Book Encyclopedia covered any topic a college girl could ask for at the time”
“Most of the information in it is practically worthless today unfortunately”
“Looking things up in it usually meant encountering a number of other interesting entries in it.”
“spending an hour looking at World Books that end up having little to know information”
“the love and awe of learning they inspired”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.