Great Big Book of Everything: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
→Video Games: clean up |
→Literature: Replaced redirects |
||
(25 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Our friends need our help! Please turn to the time travel section of your Fireside Girls Handbook."''
|'''Isabella Garcia-Shapiro''', ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''}}
The '''Great Big Book of Everything''': The one-stop shop for all your plot needs. [[How Do I Shot Web?|Need information]] about the [[New Super Power|super-power you've just been given]]? On the first page. Want to find the only way to kill the [[Big Bad]]? It has a detailed entry.
Whoever wrote this book must have damn-near infinite knowledge. It has all the facts you need and has them at the moment you need them! In fact, it seems like new information just appears in the book all the time, [[Deus Ex Machina|as the plot requires]].
Every villain, even the really tiny ones, or the ones who have been [[Sealed Evil in
Effectively a [[Magical Database]] in paper format, it provides the information to the cast so that they can keep the plot moving without spending hours sifting through a library. Sure, some of it is an [[Ass Pull]], but it helps us get to the ass-kicking.
Line 15 ⟶ 16:
Compare with [[Library of Babel]] and [[Tomes of Prophecy and Fate]]. Contrast [[Blank Book]].
If it's evil, then it's a [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]. Supertrope to [[Big Book of War]]. This trope is [[Do
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime
* Yue's power in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is this, complete with an actual book that finds everything she needs. In ''Negima!?'', Nodoka's "Armor" power has the same ability.
** Material in the manga (vol. 16) reveals that it's actually tapping in a magical 'net, which can be both an advantage and a flaw: Information is always up-to-date, but you risk losing data [[Wikipedia|"arbitrarily deemed of lesser importance"]]
*** On the other hand, she has no problem accessing highly classified information.
* In ''[[Pokémon (
** James uses a bunch of Pokemon cards in place of a Pokedex.
* Tao, in the '80s toon ''[[
* The ''Universe of the Four Gods'' books in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''.
* Bokomon's Book of Knowledge in ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' mostly fits this, although it doesn't seem to have data on things that have never existed before (including the final forms of the heroes and villain).
* The Clair Bible in ''[[Slayers]] NEXT'', or at least the manuscripts of it. The actual Clair Bible turned out to be something a little more complex.
** The manuscripts handled this fairly realistically: most seem to be monographs, with little or no information on other subjects(and thus could easily be part of a massive library). The trope's slightly [[Deconstructed]] when we find an attempt to make a ''complete'' manuscript, though.<ref>it's a giant library of stone slabs</ref>
* What Noah from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' is trying to do. {{spoiler|He sucks anything interesting into his book. Anything up to (so far) and including the son of the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] [[Grim Reaper|of]] [[Shinigami|Death]], who may or may not be the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Order. He also has at least one Cthulhu trapped in the book.}}
==
* The Junior Woodchuck Guidebook in Disney's ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
** The aspect of the Guide containing more text than could possibly fit into a single volume is usually explained by saying that there are actually numerous volumes that make up the complete Guide, just like any large encyclopedia. How they always happen to have exactly the volumes of the Guide applicable to the topic at hand, though, is [[Hand Wave|handwaved]].
** One ''[[Donald Duck]]''-magazine story had Donald getting annoyed at the book's seemingly infinite wisdom and asked the Woodchucks about who the author was. Cue panic as not even the top generals know. They then had to keep Donald tied up so he would not go to the newspaper with the information that "the Woodchucks follow advice that could as well be made up". In the end they ''do'' find the author's house, but decide that knowing who he is will ruin the magic behind the mystery. The shadowy author is then seen looking at them as they leave, contemplating that "if my book contains better knowledge than that, then I don't know it myself".
** Interestingly, there's an occasion where the book was ''missing'' something - in "A Letter From Home", it doesn't list the order of the heads of the Knight Templar, much to their shock.
*** In another story it was discovered that it doesn't cover information that the Woodchucks are supposed to have learned in school, and will flat-out tell them it.
* The Book of Oa of the [[Green Lantern
* The Abstract in ''[[Runaways]]''
* Marvel Comic's [[Doctor Strange]] owns (or owned) the ''[[White Magic|Book of the Vishanti]]'', containing any spell or obscure tidbit of mystical information he might need. There is also its opposite [[Black Magic|''The Darkhold'']]. Each contains spells or information to perfectly counter something in the other.
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[
* One appeared in ''[[Final Crisis]]: Superman Beyond'', and was so heavy that Superman and Captain Marvel working together could barely lift it.
* The Absorbacon in [[Silver Age]] ''[[Hawkman]]'' comics.
== Fan
* Parodied in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' fanfic ''[[
* In the ''[[
== Films ==
* The Map of time in ''[[Time Bandits]]'' tells the protagonists where all the holes in the universe are, and drives the plot. Whenever the heroes get stuck they consult the map.
* The "Sex Bible" from ''[[American Pie]]''. Though, [[Exactly What It Says
* ''[[Mirror Mask]]'' both [[
** More obviously lampshaded, yet (somehow) simultaneously played straighter, with a book Helena comes across earlier in the same library: ''The Complete History of Everything''.
* Tobin's Spirit Guide from ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' and its related media. In the second movie, Egon also references a book of occult history called ''Magicians, Martyrs, and Madmen''.
* Dana Carvey's ''Master of Disguise'' features a pop-up book which provides extremely specific information relating to any situation at hand on whichever page is randomly opened to.
* ''[[
* The Book of Secrets from the second ''[[National Treasure]]'' movie. Filled with almost everything a [[Conspiracy Theorist|conspiracy nut]] would love, and more on top of that. Most importantly the information the team is currently looking for, and, a hidden detail on page 47, which may come into play in the third film, if one ever comes out.
* Max's dream journal from ''[[The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl]]''.
== Literature ==
Line 69:
* From the same author as the above, [[Garth Nix]]'s ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' books feature a classic Great Big Book of Everything, called the Book of the Dead. It ''seems'' to have a finite (but very large) number of pages, but nobody's sure; they do know it contains ''everything'' one needs to know about Necromancy- but you can only let it fall open to the passage it wants to, can only turn as many pages at a time as you really need to, and won't remember what you read afterwards until you have to. Since this is not a unique artifact, it does raise the interesting question of where new copies come from. The only constant is the last page, which contains the [[Arc Words]].
** It's made clear that only a Necromancer can open the Book, and only an uncorrupted Charter Mage can close it. Since [[The Chosen One|the Abhorsens]] are the only people to meet ''both'' criteria, it's likely they possess all the copies and may be responsible for keeping it up to date.
** Two other books similar to the Book of the Dead are also shown. the less powerful "In the skin of a Lyon". the second is a cousin of the Book of the Dead called "The Book of Rememberance and Forgetting".
* The Good Magician's Book in the ''[[
* The Grimmerie in Gregory Maguire's ''[[Wicked (
* The wizards' manuals in the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' universe. The fact that a manual contains any piece of information the wizard might want to look up is [[Justified Trope|justified]] by the fact that they are created by the godlike [[Powers That Be]]. They even expand to contain more information on the kind of spells a particular wizard specializes in, so everyone's copy is different.
** In the second novel Kit pulls out an embedded fold-out oceanographic map when he needs to know how deep the ocean is at a particular location.
Line 78:
* Also by Neal Stephenson, ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' has ''The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'' which can teach martial arts, etiquette, computer programming and nanotech engineering. Probably a good few other useful things too. Not only does it contain seemingly all knowledge in the world, it can also get an extended knowledge and understanding of the reader's current situation [[Applied Phlebotinum|and provides her with helpful advice and knowledge she'll need to handle dangerous situations]]. The Primer looks like a regular book, but it's actually an extremely advanced computer.
* The Book of Magic in [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Apprentice Adept]]'' series contains everything there is to know about the various forms of magic on Phaze. When researching a particular spell, the entire book shifted to become a volume on that type magic.
* Parodied in ''[[
** Add to that, the vast majority of the prophecies were directly regarding her own descendants. So if you weren't a descendant, or closely interacting with one, you probably wouldn't find anything useful.
* Dorothy Ann in ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'' always carried a book she called her "research" that conveniently had information about the day's subject matter.
* Subverted in '' The City of Dreaming Books'' by Walter Moers. The [[Big Bad]] gives the hero an old Grimoire and tells him that all the answers to his question are written on page 333. {{spoiler|the page only contains on sentence, over and over again: You have just been poisoned.}}
** This is a recasting of one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140831150134/http://preview.tinyurl.com/25dgrhg The Story of Yunan and The Sage Duban]", one of the tales nested in the "Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinn". It also involves tricking someone into turning the pages in a book that has been poisoned.
* Susan Cooper's ''[[The Dark Is Rising]]'' has The Book of Gramarye which gives the Old Ones everything they ever wanted to know about how to use their powers.
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** [[Harry Potter and
** Justified, it was Snape's old text-book which he improved with his personal notes, and while it's never stated how good is he at Potion Crafting compared to other experts in the topic, he seems to be quite knowledgeable in it, also said spell was unique and Snape seemed to take quite some pride for inventing it.
** It's also quite remarkable how much plot-relevant information can be found in ''Hogwarts: A History''.
* In Nick Kyme's [[Warhammer
* In Richard Bach's ''Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah'', there is a book called "The Messiah's Handbook," which tends to open to a page with a relevant insight to the reader's current situation. Its most poignant insight: {{spoiler|"Everything in this book may be wrong"}}. This revelation shocks and distresses the main character.
* William Hope Hodgson's [[Occult Detective]] [[Thomas Carnacki]] gets all his info on the supernatural from the fictional Sigsand Manuscript.
* In ''[[The Gods of Pegana]]'', Trogool (the Thing that is neither god nor beast) has a book that likewise contains everything that has and will happen. We are told that things happen ''because'' they are in the book.
* Ella's incredibly helpful (and self-disguising) book in ''[[Ella Enchanted]]'' (moreso in the book than in the movie).
* In the ''[[Land of Oz
* ''The Book of Three'' from The ''[[Prydain Chronicles]]'' (also the name of the first book of the series) serves this purpose, being the chronicled [[Rule of Three|Past, Present, and Future]] of Prydain. It was once referred to as the "Book of If" by [[Eccentric Mentor|Dallben]], who mentioned that the prophecies in the book could easily have not occurred. Oh, and it has magic smiting powers to keep away the unworthy.
* In ''[[The Girl Who Owned a City]]'', Lisa is stated to be guided by a "great book," which gives her most of her ideas on how to run things her [[
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140611075234/http://www.annecoale.com/web4pics/bookofsand.pdf The Book of Sand]'' by Jorge Luis Borges is a short story about the titular book, so named because "neither sand nor this book has a beginning or end". The book is of unknown origin and has seemingly infinite pages, which are numbered non-consecutively with arbitrarily large numbers; one page number was mentioned as being a number raised to the ninth power. There is no way to find a particular page a second time (although it's not specified whether or not the protagonist tried using bookmarks). The actual content of the book's text is unknown, as it's written in an unknown language; but there are simple illustrations every 2000 pages, which the protagonist quickly fills up a notebook recording. It is impossible to find the first page or the last, as new pages seem to spring up between the cover and the reader's finger whenever he tries. When the protagonist becomes obsessed with the book and determines to be rid of it, he considers burning it, but is afraid that the burning of an infinite book would itself be infinite and would cover the world in smoke, so he instead decides to hide a leaf in a forest by tucking the Book away deep within the National Library.
* [[Tom Holt]]'s ''May Contain Traces of Magic'' features a Book of Human Knowledge which is mass-produced by the sorcerous corporation J.W. Wells and co. However, the book only shows the viewer what he or she ''needs'' to know at the time, not what that person specifically wants to look up, unless you know the cheat codes.
* In James Stoddard's ''The High House'', the Book of Forgotten Things. Just everything you've ever forgotten.
* Coriakin, the ancient star-wizard from ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', owns one.
* In ''Elephants Cannot Dance'', Piggie wants to teach her friend Gerald to dance, but that's something elephants just cannot do. He proves this to her by handing her a book titled "What Elephants Can Do."<ref>The book doesn't say elephants can't ''try'' to dance, though.</ref>
* [[The
** Also the Encyclopaedia Galactica, which is much more accurate than the Guide but much less popular.
* Given the large number of quotations from it and references to it, H.P. Lovecraft's fictional ''Necronomicon'' is apparently a
== Live-Action TV ==
* The [[Renamed Tropes|former trope namer]] Book of Shadows from ''[[
** There are quite a couple of episodes, especially in later seasons, where the [[Monster of the Week]] is ''not'' referenced in the Book of Shadows, because it is too obscure to have been encountered before.
** The book repeatedly turns to the right page on its own. It is implied that one of the ancestors turns the pages. It is also implied multiple times that the ancestors can add and remove notes at any time.
Line 118:
** In the last seasons, the sisters increasingly check out the library of the magic school instead, which seems to be much more comprehensive.
** Careful watchers have noticed that the content of the book changes; for example, Phoebe at some points adds information on Cole, the human form of Balthasar - but the information is gone at later points, replaced by either blank pages or completely different information. This is actually the result of the prop and art department placing new or different pages into the book based on the episode. It's easier to open the book near the center of the book, so pages were often moved around. The actual prop had three posts to put in removable pages so new entries could always be added as needed.
* The diary of John Winchester in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has been dubbed the [[Charmed
** This is true for the first two seasons, but Sam and Dean become much less dependent on John's journal during Seasons 3 and 4. They use Bobby's library as a resource more often now, and they have to search more to find information about the [[Monster of the Week]]. Then in "Weekend at Bobby's", his [[Lower Deck Episode]], we find out what happens when he needs a certain book from a closed library; he simply breaks in and steals it.
* The diary of Laura Palmer from ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', which was Defictionalized as a companion book to the seres.
* In the final season of ''[[
* ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' has a temperamental version in the Xenotome: Its pages are blank until it decides to show the Rangers something.
* In the early days of ''[[Smallville]]'', everything Clark and Chloe needed to know about the [[Freak of the Week]] could be found on either the Wall of Weird, or the past issues of the Torch. These days it's from the Daily Planet archives.
* The Professor from ''[[
* The Book of Changes in ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', well, ''changes'' every so often to include the latest vague supernatural prophesy. It's also a last-minute [[MacGuffin]] at the end of season four.
* During their "shopping" episode (showing where they get all their stuff), the ''[[
* The archaeologist River Song's diary in ''[[
* One of many, many tropes the Intersect in ''[[Chuck]]'' embodies at one time or another. The Intersect is a massive database of secrets and information vital to national security, uploaded to the protagonist's head in the first episode, and accessed involuntarily whenever he needed to know something related to that week's plot. Later upgrades included such things as combat skills, all of which went to whoever had the Intersect at the time via [[Neural Implanting]].
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[
* [[Dungeons
** ''[[
** In ''[[Ravenloft]]'', the lich-king Azalin owns a magic book that records the biographies of all of the sentient inhabitants of Darkon (Uncoincidentally, the very first biography the book recorded is of Azalin, which began writing the very moment he stepped into Castle Avernus for the very first time). Newcomers to Darkon eventually lose their memories of having ever lived elsewhere due to the book magically editing their memories concerning their origins. There are only two ways to recover or preserve a foreigner's memory, in that either Azalin or one of his enslaved scribes personally edits that particular entry, i.e., like writing "the ambassador from Nova Vaasa is not subject to Darkon's memory-eating," or by having the afflicted person leave Darkon. The primary problem with the latter is that such new natives never find a reason to ever leave Darkon
* ''[[Traveller]]'' : The AAB the Vilani Repository of Knowledge, a great big library of everything.
* The official setting for ''[[Champions]]'' includes the Cryptonomicon, which contains "all the mystic knowledge of the pre-Atlantian ancient world". The "tome" is actually in the form of a puzzle box that must be studied and solved in order to gain its knowledge. Unfortunately, it is also a trap: the more the puzzle box is studied, the more the scholar's soul is warped until eventually he it converted into a slave of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Kings of Edom]]. A mystically powerful slave, true, but a slave nonetheless.
Line 146:
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Paper Mario:
** However, it does not have infinite knowledge; this is demonstrated when Goombella [[
** It doesn't have {{spoiler|Doopliss's name}}.
** ''[[
* Rosalina's Storybook from [[
* The Traveller's Tome in ''[[Okami]]'' even gives you information on hidden god powers - with a treasure chest popping out of nowhere to give you information on whatever new power you gain
* ''[[Uncharted]]'' opens with the recovery of Sir Francis Drake's Lost Diary, by his remote descendant, Drake. The Diary then serves in this regard for adventures in both the Amazon Jungle and an uncharted island in the South Pacific... somehow, it always has the key for whatever puzzle stands in your way.
Line 158:
* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'', Lezard Valeth states that he found the Philosopher's Stone (this version granting all knowledge), but that people have to work to get any knowledge out of it. He later clarifies by saying that a more accurate description of the Philosopher's "Stone" is the "[[Doorstopper|ten-billion page codex]]."
* In ''[[Blaze Union]]'', Nessiah's [[Spell Book]], [[Security Blanket|the Revelation of the Gods]], is reputed to be one of these. {{spoiler|Byff has technically been sent by his master to steal it.}} Its all-inclusiveness is justified by the fact that its owner {{spoiler|is over a thousand years old}}.
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' has an appearance by the Tome Of Tropes, which is all but explicitly
* In ''[[Ultima]]'', the Codex Of Ultimate Wisdom. Unfortunately, ''reading'' it is a bit tricky (the entire fourth game is spent finding the darn thing; in the fifth game, it is stored on a faraway volcanic island with guardians that only let you pass if you're on a Sacred Quest; in the sixth game, it still is, and your final quest is to send it back to the void).
* The eponymous Elder Scrolls from ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series. They exist partially outside of time and thus possess knowledge of things to come for those able to read them. They also possess various time related powers because of their unusual nature. They have a bit of [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] flavor to them too, since ordinary mortals can't read them without suffering terrible consequences, the ''least'' of them being permanent blindness.
** To a lesser extent, Hermaes Mora's Ohgma Infinium. When a player reads it, they immediately gain 5 levels in all stats of a chosen path. But then the book dissolves [[Subverted Trope|before]] [[Go Mad
* The [[Magical Database|Logbook]] in the [[Metroid Prime]] series. Your [[Enemy Scan|Scan Visor]] can, within a few seconds, tell you nearly everything about anything, and while [[Hyper Awareness|ultra-detailed analysis]] may be able to tell you most of it, you sometimes wonder: where does your [[Cool Starship|Gun]][[Artificial Intelligence|ship]] learn the name of an inter-dimensional creature that no being off-planet has ever even heard of?
* Histoire of ''Hyperdimension Neptunia'' is a recording of the history of Gamindustri, and soon knows everything about the world. The downside is she has to look up the information before she can use it, which can take anywhere from three days if she gets lucky to up to a month.
Line 168:
== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[Exiern]]'' the wizard Faden's magic encyclopedia is supposed to be one of these, in that you ask it a question and it brings up a passage that relates to your situation. Its specialty is delivering the information in the most insulting manner possible and seems to [http://www.exiern.com/?p=1020 pick on protagonist Tiffany].
* ''[[Goblins]]'' feature the [http://www.goblinscomic.com/06262005/ Paladin's Handbook]. Apparently full of good advice, but may have worked better if read ''before'' a described situation arises.
== Web Original ==
* In [[Zero Punctuation]]'s review of [[Heavenly Sword]], when Yahtzee questions the meaning of the word "twing-twang", his avatar is briefly seen looking it up in a book titled "Words That Exist".
* The podcast ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110520012255/http://www.flat29.com/podcast/index.html Flat 29's Big Book of Everything]'' purports to be this.
== Western Animation ==
* "The Book of KND" from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. Apparently when it is found by the first kid to fight against adults ever, it already has every information he needed from building tree-houses to building sophisticated kid weaponry.
* "Tobin's Spirit Guide" from ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]''. In ''[[
* The ''[[
* The Great Book of Gummi in ''[[Adventures of the Gummi Bears]]''.
* The Golden Grimoire, which Eric (who's been temporarily infused with Dungeon Master's powers) once attempts to use to send himself and his friends back home in the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
** Also, in one of the choose-your-own-adventure books, Sheila (or better said, the reader) must help the good witch Agnes to recover her stolen spellbook. Said 'book contains, among other incantations, a very powerful spell that can be used to fight the dragon Tiamat {{spoiler|via enchanting her seven heads and turning them against each other}}. Obviously, you have to go through lots of crap for it, which includes going against [[Big Bad]] Venger alone {{spoiler|and resisting his offer to actually ''[[Enemy Mine|co-work]]'' to put a stop to Tiamat (which leads to a Bad End in which Tiamat is defeated, but [[The Bad Guy Wins|Venger still wins]] because you're forced to let him take Agnes's spellbook away.)}}
* ♪Iiiiiiiiiittttttt's the great big book of everything, with everything inside / See the world around us, this book's a perfect guide♪ - In the Playhouse Disney show, ''[[Stanley]]''.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* In, [[Chuck Jones]]' 1942 ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' short "[[The Dover Boys]]," villainous [[Dastardly Whiplash|Dan Backslide]] consults a ''Handbook of Useful Information'' for "How Best to Remove Young Lady from Tree (Fig. 1)."
* The book of rules in ''[[The Fairly
* ''[[Mucha Lucha]]'' has the Code of Masked Wrestling, which even detailed what to do when you are [[Bound and Gagged|tied up]] in the middle of three bad guys using [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|their signature attacks]] against you. {{spoiler|In a word, [[Prepare to Die|say your prayers]].}}
* The Hero's Enchiridion in ''[[
* In ''[[Dragon Tales]],'' The Magic Story Book serves as both an anthology of stories and an all-purpose guide to Dragonland. Complete fiction and non-fiction in one text!
* [[Catch Phrase|According to my research]], Dorothy Ann on ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'' carries a book with answers to every possible scientific question. At least, answers sufficient for an elementary-school kid's needs.
* The titular Book of Virtues in ''[[Adventures
* ''[[Thundercats 2011
* In [[Winx Club]], Faragonda gives the titular group a book that details every part of their newest transformation, Believix.
* In ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
== Multiple Media ==
* The ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' from ''[[The
== Real Life ==
* Early attempt: ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10766/10766-h/10766-h.htm Enquire Within Upon Everything]'', a Victorian domestic reference.
** "Whether You Wish to Model a Flower in Wax; to Study the Rules of Etiquette; to Serve a Relish for Breakfast or Supper; to Plan a Dinner for a Large Party or a Small One; to Cure a Headache; to Make a Will; to Get Married; to [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|Bury a Relative]]; Whatever You May Wish to Do, Make, or to Enjoy, Provided Your Desire has Relation to the Necessities of Domestic Life, I Hope You will not Fail to '[[Title Drop|Enquire Within]].'"—Editor.
* ''[
** ''
* ''Dr. Ankowitschs Kleines Universal-Handbuch'', containing a large variety of practical and some of the rather bizarre points of information, from how to clean a feather boa to the break-down schematics of BMW Isetta 250-model's chassis. Sadly this book is apparently only available in Germany and Finland.
* The 44th edition of the ''CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics'' is another candidate and expanded far beyond what the title suggested, unlike later editions.
* Rutters were a combination of a downplayed version of this and [[Treasure Map]] (they were after all for the purpose of getting, well, treasure). They were a custom in Medieval times of Ship's Captains keeping almanacs including a series of charts usually with the harbors disproportionately enlarged (that is after all a place where you absolutely have to come closer to shore than needed to take landmarks). Other things include local navigational notes, commentary on customs and politics needed to get into the local market without [[Culture Clash]], and regular business contacts. Some rutters were secrets of a family or merchant house and passed down as an inheiritance. Toward the end of the Middle Ages some printers started publishing more generic rutters for anyone traversing a given route.
* [[The Talmud (Literature)|The Talmud]].▼
**There were overland versions of this. One famous one in American history is ''The Prairie Traveller'' which was a guidebook for migrants on the Oregon Trail.
* Does the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' count?
* Another possible real-life influence on this trope: ''[http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Reference-Library-Encyclopedia-Information/dp/B000MPSO6U The Everyday Reference Library]''.
* William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England.
* [[The Other Wiki]], which often seems like [[The
* [[Captain Obvious|The internet]], duh.
* The 1911 edition of the ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' was thought to be this when it was released, covering practically everything involving scientific and historic study known at
* [[This Very Wiki]] strives to be one. Compared to [[The Other Wiki]], it is still in its infant stages, but, as [[There Is No Such Thing
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fictional Document]]
[[Category:Fictional Media]]
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Suspiciously Convenient Index]]
[[Category:Information Desk]]
[[Category:Great Big Book
[[Category:
|