Alexa……. Tell me everything I need to know

My daughter has officially hit the age of having to write reports for school. Book reports, famous people reports, etc. I guess the days of coloring and stick figures had to end sometime.

So the latest report is on Albert Einstein. She choose to write about him from all the historical figures in the history of world. When I asked why she choose him the answer was typical, at least from her “I don’t know”. That’s followed up with me saying “how can you not know”? Which is quickly answered with   (voice becoming agitated) “I don’t know dad, I just picked him….”. Alrighty then, I’m sure whatever is happening on Teen Titans is really important and impossible to break away from. But I’m digressing away from my original topic.

I think back to when I wrote reports in school. The trusted resource in my house was the set of World Book Encyclopedias that were proudly displayed on a bookshelf in our den. A-Z and then some supplemental years delivered after my parents bought the original set. I loved those encyclopedias. Sure they helped write reports. I basically copied them right into the report. But they were so much more. You could go and look up countries you wanted to study and most of them had those clear plastic pages with map layovers showing the different history of the country’s borders. You could read about athletes you never saw play. If you wanted to know about it you could find it in those faux leather bound books.

The times…. They have changed. As my daughter prepares to write about Albert Einstein she grabs pen and paper, sits down and very softly says, “Alexa, when was Albert Einstein born”? Alexa is of course our home based personal assistant. Developed by Amazon, they were the rage of this past holiday season. As card carrying Amazon Prime members my wife and I thought it would be a great way to listen to our Prime music accounts. So I bought one, wrapped it, and my wife acted surprised when she opened it Christmas morning. I’m always excited to have new technology in the house. My father in law was amused by it. My daughter was interested but there were video games to play at the time and I thought she had forgotten it was even in the house. So imagine my surprise when she starts using it to write her report. I had to stop myself and decide if it was right that she was doing so. I mean, someone is telling her the answer! But is it really that different than googling something? Or copying it out of the World Book of Encyclopedia? So I allowed it to continue.

“Alexa, was Albert Einstein married”?

“Alexa, what did Albert Einstein invent”?

“Alexa, when did Albert Einstein Die”?

After each question, furious scribbling took place to make sure to capture everything Alexa had to say. And in the end a quality report was completed. It’s funny when I think back how I got my information (newspapers, magazines, etc.) and how my daughter will never understand what it was like to have to chase information. With Kindles, IPads, IPhones data is instant. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an avid reader and I can already tell she’d rather have a book in her hand than to read it off of a device. And for that I am thankful.

After the report is completed I read it and am impressed. I tell her so and I tell her to say thanks to Alexa. She does, and Alexa replies “you’re welcome”. “When I was a kid we didn’t have the internet” is what I tell my daughter. She looks at me with a pained “that world never existed” look on her face.  

The next day I google to see if they still make World Book Encyclopedias. I’ve decided that maybe they’d be a good addition to our bookshelf and the memories I’ve had of my youth have played no small role in that decision. They are available!!! The 2016 version can be had for the low price $1,099.95.

“Alexa, does Amazon sell old World Book Encyclopedias”?