
R.I.P. Donald J. Sobol, Encyclopedia Brown Author, 1924-2012 - tokenadult
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/07/donald-j-sobol-encyclopedia-brown/
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boredguy8
Donald Sobol is probably, apart from my parents, a big reason I have a mind
that works. R.I.P. Encyclopedia Brown. Your 25¢ per day + expenses brought
justice to those who had little other hope. And bravo for expensing an
occasional sundae to the adults, too.

And of course how _could_ they call it the FIRST Battle of Bull Run when there
hadn't been a SECOND ONE YET?

~~~
natrius
That's the one Encyclopedia Brown book that I actually remember! Was it
particularly popular or something?

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natrius
According to Amazon and Wikipedia, "The Case of the Civil War Sword" was part
of the very first Encyclopedia Brown book, which probably explains why we
remember it.

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shasta
Those books were like the MacGuyver TV series for me - loved them as a kid,
but upon revisiiting them as an adult wondered what the hell I was thinking.
Oh well, I guess he knew his audience. RIP.

~~~
rprospero
I had a slightly different experience. I loved the Einstein Anderson books as
a kid, but could never get into the Encyclopedia Brown stories, since I could
never understand the ending explanations. Coming back as an adult, I felt
unnecessary vindication in finding how many of the ending explanation simply
didn't make sense.

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConvictionByCount...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConvictionByCounterfactualClue)

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConvictionByContr...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConvictionByContradiction)

Still, I also recognize that the books were a great introduction to mysteries
and deduction for a lot of students and his passing does sadden me.

~~~
DrStalker
As a child I felt the endings were less about deductive reasoning and more
about "ha ha! here is a clue I wrote about in a way to deliberately make you,
the reader, not attach importance to it!"

Having said that I did read all the Encyclopedia brown in the School library
so they were still good, just not great.

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at-fates-hands
Like many other people here, I absolutely loved the series and would rush to
the school library to get the next book in the series. It taught me at a young
age to be very logical and think through problems.

Bugs Meany and Sally, you will be missed.

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brudgers
I read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown and the Great Brain up until the time I
discovered Robb White.

~~~
RickHull
The Great Brain series was awesome and inspirational. Definitely recommend to
any budding young (7-15?) hackers afoot.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain>

~~~
waterlesscloud
I re-read them a few years ago, they were still fun. Combining the pioneer
days feel with complicated schemes is a winning plan.

Other favorite childhood series- The Mad Scientists Club and The Three
Investigators.

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atacrawl
I've never been much of a reader, but I absolutely loved these books when I
was a kid. Finding one I hadn't read yet at the school library was like
finding hidden treasure. RIP Mr. Sobol, you brought many children a lot of
joy.

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ChuckMcM
That was sad to read, I read these stories and loved them. I agree that they
had the ability to make you think about what had to be true in order to
'solve' the particular case. An excellent critical thinking tutorial.

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PakG1
I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books so much, they were the model for my short
stories I wrote for school, back at that age. :)

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anulman
Those books were the impetus for my first startup: a mystery and math problem
solving stand.

I had no customers (something about a 5 year old with a bristol board setting
up shop on a tranquil suburban street strikes me as ineffective...), but I've
kept the poster I made as a 5 year old kid to stay humble.

Thank you and R.I.P. Donald Sobol... you're the reason I do what I do.

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steveplace
This is one of a few things that made me want to be smarter as a kid.

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jamesaguilar
Encyclopedia Brown was my shit when I was a young boy. I hope it was a
fulfilling life and he knew how much he did for us.

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FiddlerClamp
He also wrote "Two-Minute Mysteries", starring Dr. Haledjian, his companion
Octavia, and the bounder Bertie Tilford.

Good times.

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tomrod
I loved those books. Sorry to hear about his passing. RIP.

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ajtaylor
I read more Encyclopedia Brown books than I can count. One at a time just
wasn't enough. This reminds me that I need to see if my daughter is interested
in reading them...

Sorry to see you go Mr. Sobol, but thank you for the wonderful books!

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ineedtosleep
Rest in peace. Loved his books, but I always sucked at his mysteries. Because
of that, his books made me retain semi-trivial information (e.g. dogs can't
see color as well as humans do) that I have no regrets over.

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darren
Topless Robot did a good summary on how ridiculous some of the "mysteries"
were:

[http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/07/the_10_most_ridiculously...](http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/07/the_10_most_ridiculously_difficult_encyclopedia_br.php)

~~~
SilasX
Wow, number 9 pretty ridiculous. The perp used the Roman numeral IIII instead
of IV, and that's what jewelers do, so it must be the jeweler (and this
particular one)? And most expensive watches don't even follow that?

(On a side note, I have seen IIII in the 4-spot on clocks, but only in a few
places in San Francisco.)

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kennywinker
First book I ever read was an Encyclopedia Brown book. Sad to hear it.

