Var.
We had a big dictionary when I was a child. It was a magnificent book full of words I hadn't learned yet, with a glossy section in the centre that displayed various bits of interesting categorical information - planets, birthstones, zodiac signs. This hefty tome was just one of a small reference library we kept. My parents loved books as much as I do. The ones I remember best were the mythology, the series on plant, animal and mineral identification, and a heavily illustrated book of World War I airplanes (Snoopy's Sopwith Camel and the Red Baron's Fokker were in there.) And of course, the set of encyclopedias was a particular treasure. Everything you wanted to know about was in there, at least to some degree, and we used them often. Whenever we asked Mom a question she couldn't answer, she'd take us to the encyclopedia and look it up with us. It was like Mom's spare brain. I suppose that habit empowered us to bec...