Download Knowledgebase / Suggestions for Research Sites

[lesah]

I wasn't sure if this was better here, or somewhere in the Education sub-forums. I'm not in school, though. This is just for personal use; for fun and for research.

At a glance: Looking for downloadable encyclopedias/knowledge-bases (non-Wikipedia, already have), and suggestions for research sites.

More Info: I'd like to find any encyclopedias or databases of knowledge for offline use/downloadable. They can be general knowledge or topic-specific. Anything nature-specific, from a conservationist or naturalist or scientific view is great. And anything science.

Some of my research needs are for writing short stories, so really, any reputable source of info is useful. (Examples: history of the old west, history of civilization, animals, weapons or gun history, nature encyclopedias, etc.)

Thank you in advance if you're able to respond. I appreciate it.

 

[DEvens]

Um...

The requirement that it be downloadable seems kind of arbitrary.

For purposes of short story writing it would seem that you don't need scholarly academic journals, at least for the most part. If there turns out to be an error in fact (who shot first at a given gun fight) it would seem not to be all that important for this application.

Maybe what you want is a Kindle and an account at Amazon?

 

[lesah]

Hi DEvens,
Thanks for the reply. True, the downloadable part isn't necessary, as I can print PDF's of webpages. I don't have internet at home, so downloading a full or partial database would be more convenient.

Even if it's not downloadable, if you or anyone has any preferred sites you go to for research, knowledgebase, etc., that would be helpful. I'd like to find alternatives to wikipedia. It's great for getting a definition or overview, but since there's been so much continued controversy over a small pool of editors, articles being biased, etc., I'd like to have several places to double and triple check info.

Thanks.