GROLIER ELECTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA HERE 

Three years ago I wrote a column about the work being done to put the entire 21 volumes of the Gutenberg version of the ACADEMIC AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA" on a compact disc. The 1991 version is out, it's great and after I opened it up I stayed up all night. Don't laugh. You might too. MACWORLD MAGAZINE SAYS "... it makes research seem like a game." Learning is fun.

This 4.5 inch Compact Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) disc, the same size as the musical disc, holds 10 MILLION WORDS, spread through 33,000 articles. Type in a title, subject, word or phrase and in seconds the search is completed and the desired information appears on screen. This general reference work has the latest information on science, contemporary life, sports and government, as well as in -depth articles on literature, art, music, history, etc. Once on screen you can read the information as is, or print it out.

And you can listen too. Sound features hundreds of bird and animal sounds, selections from famous musical compositions, samples of dozens of musical instruments, and excerpts from famous speeches throughout history. Wonder what a balalaika sounds like? Play it and find out. Need a coyote call for your answering machine? Lift it from here. A Peregrine falcon sound for that message for a bill collector? It's all here. President John F. Kennedy's first inaugural or George Washington's farewell address? All here too. Boring converts to fun with this productive tool.

Dull, dry, static print leaps to life when sound is added to the equivalent of 10,000 pages of print. Maps of the entire world show the area those countries cover and their salient features. Two thousand magnificent full-color and black-and-white pictures, all with captions, illustrate the text and make knowledge retrieval exciting. Learning will never be the same. On top of everything you save two feet of shelf space by using this CD instead of 1,500, (550-megabyte) 5.25 inch floppy discs or the equivalent in old-fashioned print books.

With the new software up to 15 "windows" are viewable simultaneously (in both Macintosh and IBM), both with optional mouse support. Electronic "bookmarks" can be established, text can be saved to notepads, complete or partial articles can be diverted to a file or completely printed out. Built-in hypertext-like links offer powerful crossreferencing and browsing. If trouble surfaces that can't be solved via the manual or the software provided it can be eliminated through the use of toll-free technical phone support provided by Grolier.

In the tough depression economy of the "dirty thirties" and also during the 1940s some families made a conscious decision to purchase encyclopedia and forego, perhaps some, more entertaining option. Subsequent studies have shown that the offspring of families who made that positive, tough decision reached higher levels of influence and affluence than the children of families who made other choices. A computer, is comparable to the encyclopedia of yesterday, coupled with this electronic encyclopedia on CD-ROM can provide the speed, content and incentive for children to reach higher goals than ever before. And instead of being mired in the Gutenberg era of the dull, dry, static print, they are introduced to today's world of electronic communications where sound and color brighten up the learning process. It's a far, far better world they'll find with this "intelligence amplification tool", than when I went to school -- one that operates at a speed commensurate with today's rapid action.

The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia does require a Macintosh, or sophisticated IBM computer and a CD-ROM drive. More information: Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc. Sherman Turnpike, Danbury, CT 06816. Phone: 203/797-3500 or for technical support when purchased: 800/356-5590.

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