The New York fascination started when Thompson was 9 and his parents bought two encyclopedias.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

Textbooks, encyclopedias and wall maps may take time to catch up with the new country.

ECONOMIST: How to start a nation: Trappings of state | The

He reads encyclopedias ... he just doesn't know how to talk to people.

CNN: One man's story: When an autistic child grows up

As a result, they are able to deliver services at much cheaper prices than traditional car-rental companies, hotels, universities and encyclopedias.

FORBES: Is Trust Being Replaced By Reputation?

This sort of information, in much fuller form, is available in the encyclopedias that most atlas-owners will have on their shelves, or in specialist books they can quite easily lay hands on.

ECONOMIST: New atlases

So far, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has denied to the BBC that there is admin or editor recruitment problem, and the site still remains one of the largest encyclopedias around with no close competitor in sight.

FORBES: The Wikipedia Bureaucracy

Ordered a set of encyclopedias?

FORBES: Here's Something You'll Never Read on LinkedIn: Why Networking Won't Save You

In his Upper West Side office, Mark Kurlansky, author of The Big Oyster, a chronicle of the rise and fall of the bivalve in New York, is couched by a hotch potch of model ships, statuettes of jumping fish, an atlas, piles of novels, foreign language dictionaries, encyclopedias and loose papers.

FORBES: Oysters Are Back In New York City Waters