Letter: Books vs the Internet
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Sir: Nick Edmunds (Network, 20 January) does not mention when his time of 15 seconds to discover the population of Zambia using the Internet search engine Alta Vista started - presumably all switched on and fingers on the keyboard.
Reading this at the breakfast table I felt challenged, looked at my watch, got up, went across to a small number of reference books, chose The Universal Almanac, 1997, consulted the index, found page 531 and was informed that the population of Zambia was 9.4 million for 1995, returned the book to the shelf, sat down. Which took 45 seconds.
The printed page still has a lot going for it.
HARRY MACKLEY
Newcastle upon Tyne
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