I had a set of Funk and Wagnall as a boy because Brittanica was too expensive. I lost confidence in it very quickly when I looked up my home state of South Carolina. Under climate it clearly stated that snow falls ONLY in the mountains. It’s true that we don’t have a lot of snow but where we lived in the North central part far from any mountains we probably had measurable snow an average of twice a winter. I figured that if they were so careless on something like that I probably shouldn’t depend on it too much.
Wow. Memories ...
I got mauled mercilessly in several classes in Jr HS when I turned in work that relied too heavily on F n W as the principal source. I just KNEW I had presented ONLY facts and details provided by a supposedly authoritative source ...
The lesson I learned was to be prepared to challenge ANY ‘authoritative source’ and to provide myself with a sufficient quantity of alternative sources.
I haunted libraries and bookstores for years afterwards — and now the Internet — and never let myself fall into that particular trap again. ( Found a few others, along the way, but that’s a tale for another campfire ... )
21stCenturion