Almanac in the family
I tried digging through old posts to see if I wrote about my October tradition of buying/receiving a Farmer's Almanac. As much as I thought I did, it appears I never have. Expect that post next October. This post is about almanacs, but not the kind with weather predictions and planting tables. My other favorite almanac are the newsy kind, loaded with all manner of useful, trivial and historical information.
For several years in my youth, my grandfather always gave me the Reader's Digest Almanac and Yearbook he would get for free for subscribing to Reader's Digest. (I apologize for the choppy scan; this is hardcover and not easy to get on the scanner.) As an 8-year-old and beyond, I was interested in the news and was a sponge when it came to information. The almanac was the perfect source to soak my brain with facts. After the "World in Review" section was "Accidents and Disasters" -- because I often started at the beginning, I became an expert on catastrophes. I learned all about former presidents, nations of the world, U.S. crime rates and Academy Award winners. I would peruse the entertainers section to see how old celebrities were (did you know Dan Fogelberg was born in 1951?). I read all about the states of the union. But the section that captivated me the most was, not surprisingly, the "Sports" chapter. Not knowing what the Baseball Encyclopaedia was yet, the almanac had the most available information about baseball outside of my baseball cards. Looking at the almanac I scanned, I turned to the baseball standings for 1981 and discovered pen marks and some numbers. Thirty years ago, I wonder what I was trying to figure out from those standings. My almanac fascination was probably one of my first steps on my road to becoming a journalist.
Today, the idea of an almanac almost seems quaint. Every conceivable bit of trivia in that book from 30 years ago likely can be found online. Almanacs are still being produced (and I know I bought a World Almanac in the 1990s; doing a search revealed there is one for 2012), but I am past the point where I will sit down and peruse one out of curiosity. If I need a fact, I will find it on the Internet. Then, this happened ...
Ben has a school library day every week in which he gets to take a new book home. Usually, he brings home a Magic Treehouse book or something else aimed at kids his age. But this week, my kindergartner brought home "Scholastic Almanac 2011: Facts and Figures." (Pardon this photo as well.) Yes, the almanac allure still exists. I'm sure kid-tailored almanacs have been published for some time, but likely after I was a kid. There are a lot more pictures and kid-friendly features in this almanac compared with my old ones, but it was a wealth of information nonetheless. I wonder what was going through Ben's mind when he saw this book at the school library. Was it just the Harry Potter actors on the cover that enticed him to check it out? Did he look inside and think it was cool? Tonight, we browsed through the pages a little, and he was pointing out states on a U.S. map and planets of the solar system. He wanted to look at the football section. And thankfully, he didn't recognize a picture of Justin Bieber.
So, I'm thinking we need to buy a new kids almanac for both boys. When Lori found out what book Ben checked out, her response was "He is so your son!" I must admit, I liked how that sounded.
For several years in my youth, my grandfather always gave me the Reader's Digest Almanac and Yearbook he would get for free for subscribing to Reader's Digest. (I apologize for the choppy scan; this is hardcover and not easy to get on the scanner.) As an 8-year-old and beyond, I was interested in the news and was a sponge when it came to information. The almanac was the perfect source to soak my brain with facts. After the "World in Review" section was "Accidents and Disasters" -- because I often started at the beginning, I became an expert on catastrophes. I learned all about former presidents, nations of the world, U.S. crime rates and Academy Award winners. I would peruse the entertainers section to see how old celebrities were (did you know Dan Fogelberg was born in 1951?). I read all about the states of the union. But the section that captivated me the most was, not surprisingly, the "Sports" chapter. Not knowing what the Baseball Encyclopaedia was yet, the almanac had the most available information about baseball outside of my baseball cards. Looking at the almanac I scanned, I turned to the baseball standings for 1981 and discovered pen marks and some numbers. Thirty years ago, I wonder what I was trying to figure out from those standings. My almanac fascination was probably one of my first steps on my road to becoming a journalist.Today, the idea of an almanac almost seems quaint. Every conceivable bit of trivia in that book from 30 years ago likely can be found online. Almanacs are still being produced (and I know I bought a World Almanac in the 1990s; doing a search revealed there is one for 2012), but I am past the point where I will sit down and peruse one out of curiosity. If I need a fact, I will find it on the Internet. Then, this happened ...
Ben has a school library day every week in which he gets to take a new book home. Usually, he brings home a Magic Treehouse book or something else aimed at kids his age. But this week, my kindergartner brought home "Scholastic Almanac 2011: Facts and Figures." (Pardon this photo as well.) Yes, the almanac allure still exists. I'm sure kid-tailored almanacs have been published for some time, but likely after I was a kid. There are a lot more pictures and kid-friendly features in this almanac compared with my old ones, but it was a wealth of information nonetheless. I wonder what was going through Ben's mind when he saw this book at the school library. Was it just the Harry Potter actors on the cover that enticed him to check it out? Did he look inside and think it was cool? Tonight, we browsed through the pages a little, and he was pointing out states on a U.S. map and planets of the solar system. He wanted to look at the football section. And thankfully, he didn't recognize a picture of Justin Bieber.So, I'm thinking we need to buy a new kids almanac for both boys. When Lori found out what book Ben checked out, her response was "He is so your son!" I must admit, I liked how that sounded.
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