PROGRESS IN DOCUMENTATION: WISE: A WORLD INFORMATION SYNTHESIS AND ENCYCLOPAEDIA

In 1936, when H. G. Wells presented his proposal for a ‘World Encyclopaedia’ to the Royal Institution, an action‐oriented response commensurate with the magnitude of his idea did not ensue. ‘It is a super university I am thinking of, a world brain; no less’, he said. The speech was printed in an obscure book titled World Brain, which is now out of print and hardly ever cited or discussed where it should be.