Pictured above (on the top shelf in my study) are my World Book Year Books for years 1981-2018. My earlier 1963-1980 yearbooks are tucked away in my study’s closet: that’s 56 books in total. The books on the shelf are so high that I cannot reach them unless I haul in a ladder from the garage. They are mostly for décor – to make my study appear more studious.
World Book Encyclopedias
As best I can remember my parents – in the 1960s, probably 1962 – purchased a set of World Book Encyclopedias, to give their two kids a leg up in school. There was nothing intently equitable about that decision. I don’t know the exact (copyright) date of that encyclopedia set because, during a recent house remodel, my wife banished them from our house. On a positive note, that banishment did free up some bookcase space to store the now closeted yearbooks.
For those too young to remember, encyclopedia sets – like World Book sold – were hardcopy versions of a very slimmed down Wikipedia. The World Book Encyclopedia was a bit more “worldly” than some of its more academic competitors (e.g., The Encyclopedia Britanica). The World Book was designed for young students, young adults, and their young parents.
The first World Book Encyclopedia, in eight volumes, was printed in 1917. Field Enterprises Educational Corporation bought the company in 1945. Scott & Fetzer bought that company in 1978 and Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) bought Scott Fetzer in 1986. The company was a cash machine in those days, as 50,000 or so door-to-door salesmen (some teachers or former teachers) scoured the country looking for sales. Who better to convince a parent to buy a set of encyclopedias than Junior’s teacher?
While Buffett is noted for his attention to business fundamentals (e.g., balance sheets, income statements, cash flows), he has special connections with some of his purchases on a more personal/gut level, e.g., Coca Cola, See’s Candy, Dairy Queen, BNSF (Warren likes trains). In his 1986 annual letter, he acknowledged that World Book was a “special” company:
“Charlie [Munger] and I have a particular interest in the World Book operation because we regard its encyclopedia as something special,” Buffett wrote. “I’ve been a fan (and user) for 25 years and now have grandchildren consulting the sets just as my children did.”
World Book’s annual pre-tax earnings peaked at about $32 million in 1990. By 1995, the pre-tax earnings had fallen below $9 million. Question: What happened?
Answer: As the personal computer industry matured, hardcopy encyclopedias became less popular than CD-ROM/DVD encyclopedias (e.g., Microsoft Encarta) and online encyclopedias (e.g., Wikipedia). The latter started in 2001 and had over two million “articles” online by 2007.
World Book continues to be an ever-shrinking part of Berkshire Hathaway. To the company’s credit (and maybe Buffett’s), World Book continues to print encyclopedia sets, mostly direct sales to schools and libraries. World Book Encyclopedia has lasted longer than its hardcopy competitors and, ironically, Microsoft’s Encarta, which went out of business in 2009.
World Book Year Books
The first World Book Year Book (as a book) was published in 1962. It was an immediate success; more than two million copies were sold. My parents apparently missed the 1962 edition, but to keep their set of encyclopedias abreast of the times, they purchased The 1963 World Book Year Book. They continued to buy the subsequent editions until I later took possession of the encyclopedia set and the yearbooks they had accumulated.
IMPORTANT: It should be noted that, while The 1963 World Book Year Book was published in 1963, it was “reviewing the events of 1962.” Thus, you must mentally adjust your thinking if you are searching out a particular happening by date. I always found this to be a bit confusing.
The books (covers, paper, and binding) have held up well over the years. The cream and green covers, with their gold trim, look as good as the day they arrived in the mail. While the contents of the yearbooks changed subtly over the years, the feel of the books seemed to be consistent (with each other and with the initial set of encyclopedias purchased).
During the first years of publication, each book started with expert commentaries on the world, nation, business, science, education, sports, and the arts (e.g., Isaac Asimov on Science, Red Smith on Sports). After a few years those commentaries disappeared.
Initially, there were also several “Special Reports” on a variety of changing topics (e.g., “The Living Ocean” in 1963) in each yearbook. One of those special reports would feature plastic overlays (e.g., various surface levels over a map of the ocean floor). The overlays were kind of cute, a bit gimmicky, and gone by 1968. I suspect that they were a pain to insert and bind. Over time, the “Special Reports” were merged with the A-Z articles. Other sections would come and go (e.g., “A Year in Perspective,” “The Year on File Quiz”), as the editors tried to pep up an otherwise bland history book.
Each yearbook would come with a series of sticky tabs, for the A-Z articles and “Special Reports,” which you could paste in the original encyclopedia set to help you find fresher information (e.g., “APPLE, INC.” to “ZOO” – in the photograph above).
The yearbooks were great for keeping track of the things that changed (e.g., elected officials, census data, Olympic records, notable deaths, and who won the World Series). Each year, when the yearbook arrived, I would thumb through it, read an article or two that got my attention, and then put it on the coffee table – intending to come back for more. But I seldom did, and the yearbook would soon be shelved.
Each year, after I inherited the set, I was faced with the decision as to whether I should continue to buy the latest yearbook. The system that World Book used to market the books was genius – an early example of the subscription systems used now by the likes of Netflix, Apple+, Hulu, and ESPN. The price of an individual book was not ridiculous.
World Book put the ball in the customer’s court. Unless you canceled (after getting a warning mailing) you received the next yearbook. You always had the right to examine and return it (if not pleased), but the book was deviously packed to the extent that you had to rip the book out of the packing (destroying any chance of easily returning it). So, year after year, until 2012, I reluctantly and grudgingly added to my set of yearbooks.
In 2012, for some reason, I threw a tizzy fit and wrote the company a letter about my displeasure with that year’s edition of the yearbook. I took exception to the way they had ignored the record flooding of the Missouri River in the Midwest, the way they ignored Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign, and the negativity in their article on the Roman Catholic Church. To be fair, I also noted:
“I realize that it is difficult to include every important event in a year book but if you can spend a half page (447-448) on the two main reasons “why people wear clothing,” – without even suggesting that modesty might also be a factor – seems to indicate that your editing needs some attention.”
Per my request, they refunded me $44.90, and I went on and stupidly bought the 2013-2016 yearbooks. Looking back, the yearbooks had deteriorated from the beginning. The initial books contained about 630 pages and weighed over two pounds. By 2005, in a series of steps, the page count had fallen to 496 pages. The 2016 World Book Year Book featured a major revision in style with much bigger fonts, more “stories and events,” fewer A-Z articles, and only 480 pages. I was done! It should be noted, however, that World Book continues to publish yearbooks to this day – the last is the 2025 edition (covering 2024).
So, what do you do with a set of old encyclopedia yearbooks? For now, they will continue to grace my study (and closet). I shudder to think what the “present worth" of all my previous (e.g., $44.90) payments might be. I have noted that individual books and sets online are priced at three to eight bucks a book. So maybe my 56 books, a continuous set, in good condition (with a few underlines, etc.) might be worth $250-$300? But they never were a financial investment; they were an educational investment - for me and my family. I think they were (at least initially) a good investment.
The Glory Years and Nebraska Football
To capture all the yearbooks on my study’s shelf, I had to widen this blogs photograph to include some of the shelf space below and a framed poster of Tom Osborne, one of the two legendary Nebraska football coaches. The poster entitled “25 Years of Excellence” depicts the eighteen championship rings that Osborne’s teams won: twelve Big Eight championships, three Orange Bowl victories, and two national championships (1994 and 1995). In the photograph, you may have noticed the 1994 and 1995 yearbooks were pulled a bit forward in deference to those national championships.
It dawned on me that the photograph depicted the “glory years” for both Nebraska football and the World Book Encyclopedia. Nebraska has claimed the national title in football five times – two of those times as noted on the poster; also, in 1997 (no ring shown?), 1970 and 1971. The latter two years were under the leadership of Coach Bob Devaney. Those glory years were so long ago that their corresponding yearbooks are buried in my closet.
The glory years will never come again to World Book. Those days have past and will never return. Berkshire Hathaway will hopefully achieve financial glory again (since I own a miniscule portion of their stock) but how about Nebraska football?
Tomorrow (August 28, 2025) Nebraska will take the field for the first time in the 2025 season, taking on the Bearcats from Cincinnati. Will some sort of glory return to Nebraska football this year? I have followed the hype a bit leading up to the first game and I have drunk some of the Kool-Aid.
I suspect that it is too much to expect a Big Ten championship (in an 18-team league) or a national championship this year. I suspect that it is too much to expect that amount of glory to return this year. I will settle for a “Top 25” national ranking this year. Go Big Red!