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World

In praise of encyclopedias

27 June 2023

6:00 PM

27 June 2023

6:00 PM

Simon Winchester recalls the time — he was not yet three — when, stepping into his rubber boot, he was stung by a wasp.

He rates this penetrating moment as his first “acquisition of knowledge.” Readers of his many books may thank that wasp for starting Winchester on his ever-widening path to further knowledge.

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