…my grandma having this set of very unique books, The Richards Topical Encyclopedia in her sun room is one of them!
One of my pet theories is that most professions require extremely specialized knowledge – heart surgeon, carpenter, PhD researcher, appliance repair person.
Librarian is one of a very few (teacher? politician?) professions where being an extreme generalist is to your benefit – knowing a little bit about a lot of different areas of knowledge.
(And I agree with the author of the linked blog post – #14 was the best as a kid – “Leisure Time Activities” including games, recipes, myths, magic and more! On the other hand, I couldn’t even open #3 – I think – as a kid because it had pictures of snakes!)
