History Main / GreatBigBookOfEverything

--->It says, -41 is... "[[SceneryPorn Sit by a lake]]."
--->[[AltText It has a section on motherboard beep codes that lists, for each beep pattern, a song that syncs up well with it.]]

*** One artist actually ''did'' try to [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia print 106 volumes of English Wikipedia]] over 24 days in 2015, using the service [[https://www.lulu.com/ Lulu.com]]. (This was intentional; the artist was unable to obtain access to resources that would have allowed him to print out his original vision of 1,000 volumes, let alone the entirety of the site, which would have spread out over 7,473 volumes.) The project was replicated with [[https://be.wikimedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia_in_Ghent 68 pages of Dutch Wikipedia]] and [[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia:_from_Aachen_to_Zylinderdruckpresse 100 pages of German Wikipedia]] in 2016.

*** One artist actually ''did'' try to [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia print 106 volumes of English Wikipedia]] over 24 days in 2015, using the service [[https://www.lulu.com/ Lulu.com]]. (This was intentional; the artist was unable to obtain access to resources that would have allowed him to print out his original vision of 1,000 volumes, let alone the entirety of the site, which would have spread out over 7,473 volumes.) The project was replicated with [[https://be.wikimedia.org/wiki/Uitnodiging:_Wikipedia_uitgeprint_in_Gent German and Dutch Wikipedia]] in 2016.

*** One artist actually ''did'' [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia print the entirety of English Wikipedia]] over 24 days in 2015, using the service [[https://www.lulu.com/ Lulu.com]]. The project was replicated with [[https://be.wikimedia.org/wiki/Uitnodiging:_Wikipedia_uitgeprint_in_Gent German and Dutch Wikipedia]] in 2016.

* Both ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}'' games feature the Total Codex, a biography on every person who will ever live. During the first game, the narrator looks in it and reads about the Summoner, a man who will resurrect the Myrkridia and visit untold horrors upon the land. He closes the book fast.

** Material in the manga (vol. 16) reveals that it's actually tapping in a magical version of the Internet, which can be both an advantage and a flaw: Information is always up-to-date, but you risk losing data [[{{Wiki/Wikipedia}} "arbitrarily deemed of lesser importance"]]. She has no problem accessing highly classified information, though.

** Parodied in "Twilight Sparkle Discovers Wikipedia". In this story [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] manifests as a magical talking book that uses flattery and its ease of use to tempt Twilight into using it. Princess Celestia ''hates'' it because it makes research too easy, and assignments must be long and tedious to prevent students from questioning the pointless busywork teachers give them.

* [[http://www.thewikireader.com/ The Wiki Reader]] is practically the closest thing on earth to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Being an e-reader whose 8 gigabytes of memory are almost exclusively dedicated to storing an offline (text-only) version of [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]].

* [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wiki]] strives to be one. Compared to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]], it is still in its infant stages, but, as Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability, it's definitely catching up.

Are on]] [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wikiiiii!]]''

* In the final season of ''Series/{{Angel}},'' Wesley gets access to a set of books which really do have all the information in the universe; however, they are magical (they can, on command, display the text of any book ever written), and their power becomes a plot point in one episode.
* ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' has a temperamental version in the Xenotome: Its pages are blank until it decides to show the Rangers something.
* In the early days of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', everything Clark and Chloe needed to know about the MonsterOfTheWeek could be found on either the Wall of Weird or the past issues of the Torch. Later it's from the Daily Planet archives.
* The Professor from ''Series/GilligansIsland'' has one, but instead of a single book, it's a BagOfHolding backpack that always had the right book on top.
* The Book of Changes in ''Series/GhostWhisperer'', 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 ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' have a book of knowledge filled with the usual things like conversion tables but also a lot of obscure information that would be important for their show. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Ref The Pocket Ref]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Second Doctor carries a 500-year diary, which he uses to keep track of his adventures and the information he picks up during them. It disappears partway into his run, but gets brought back up every so often.
** The archaeologist River Song's diary, a log of her adventures recorded on her own, combined with eyewitness accounts of the Doctor through the ages, as seen in "Closing Time".
* One of many, many tropes the Intersect in ''Series/{{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 NeuralImplanting.
* In ''Series/PairOfKings'' there is the Great Book with details of most of the island's monsters, though given the kings' personalities, it isn't shown often.
* The eponymous book of fairy tales in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' contains the entire history of the Fairy Tale Land (despite [[BiggerOnTheInside not being physically large enough]] to contain all the stories Henry is shown reading in it, especially since many of the pages are full-sized pictures).
* The Danish Advent Calendar show ''Series/TheJulekalender'', as well as its Norwegian and Finnish versions, featured a book which was supposed to hold answers to every question ever, including but not limited to "Where to get gasoline?" and "What was that?". Though given the shows [[AffectionateParody premise]], its ridiculousness was likely deliberate.
* The opening sketch of a ''Series/KenanAndKel'' episode had Kel reading from "The Big Book of Everything.". It even contained Kenan's favourite color (plaid). It also knew the plot of the episode, so Kenan quickly took it away before he could spoil the surprise.
* ''Series/TodaysSpecial'' has "Waldo's Magic Book of This and That" which contains magic spells, and which Muffy sometimes uses to play pranks on the rest of the cast.
* Played With/Subverted in ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' - it takes the form of several books, with entries apparently organized chronologically as Nick's ancestors encountered various Wesen and other phenomena, and learned how to deal with them by trial and error. This means any attempt to find information on a previously unencountered threat requires several people to spend hours flipping through thousands of pages in multiple languages and varying degrees of legibility and usefulness- on several occasions the information has essentially taken the form of "no clue how it manages to do what it does, but cutting off its head seemed to kill it". Nick has added several of his own entries, additions, and notations to the books when Wesen ''not'' in the records are encountered, or after discovering new information on and methods of dealing with dangerous Wesen.
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' has the eponymous 'Guide' which contains tips written by Ned and his friends to deal with school life.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** The Inhumans apparently have a reference book containing everything they have learned about their powers and how to use them over the course of centuries, which allows them to easily figure out how to train new members who have recently undergone Terrigenesis. Of course, the book contains everything ''they'' know, not everything ''there is to know'', as there are two Inhumans in the show (Gordon and [[spoiler:Raina]]) whose abilities are totally unprecedented.
** Season 4 introduces a ''malevolent'' example in [[TomeOfEldritchLore the Darkhold]]. The book is blank at first glance but then produces whatever information the reader desires, even if that information is well beyond the current scope of human knowledge. It [[TranslatorMicrobes formats itself to the native tongue of the reader]], even if multiple readers have different native tongues. However, as one might expect of something named [[ObviouslyEvil the Darkhold]], people who read it tend to be [[GoMadFromTheRevelation driven to madness]] and/or [[TheCorrupter evil in search of the power it offers]].

* ''Series/JustAddMagic'' revolves around a magical cookbook that can flip through its own pages to show the girls the exact magical recipe they need for the situation they're in.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has the Space Corps Directive Manual, a remarkably comprehensive list of regulations for spacefarers on how to deal with situations ranging from the commonplace (establishing a quarantine, keeping crewmembers informed in case of an emergency) to the singularly bizarre ([[ZeroGSpot properly performing oral sex in a zero-gee environment]], [[NoodleImplements something involving at least one live chicken and a rabbi]]). Unfortunately, its organization apparently leaves something to be desired, as said commonplace and bizarre situations are often referenced in directives that are listed right next to each other. This is a source of continuing embarrassment for Rimmer, who in the later series has got the book ''almost'' memorized, but keeps getting the last one or two critical digits wrong whenever he tries to cite it.
* ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' has Woz always carry around the ''Oma Advent Calendar'', which due to his being a time traveler sent back to make sure history stays on its predestined course, contains a summary of essentially the entire plot. Since his goal is to keep the future intact, Woz generally avoids providing details of what's in the book to anyone else unless it's something they need to know in order for the events in the book to continue.
* ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'' has the Book of Omniscience, which contains all knowledge of everything that is, was, or ever will be, as its central MacGuffin. Individual pages of the book are themselves smaller books that can be used as a TransformationTrinket, while multiple villains seek to gather all of the pages back together to gain access to its infinite knowledge. The BigBad [[spoiler:has already read the book once before, and was horrified by the realization that a book containing all knowledge means that creativity and free will are illusions, leading him to want to destroy the world in a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum just as it says in the book that he would.]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* The Martians' "Earrrrrrrrrrrrrth Book-book-book-book-book" on ''Series/SesameStreet'' comes off as one.
[[/folder]]

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' has a book called "the Invisible Codex" which is able to contain whatever information the reader most requires at the time. This is because it is an [[EldritchAbomination Abyssal meme]], and its granting information is a ploy to get the reader invested enough in it so that it can devour their soul.

* The official setting for ''TabletopGame/{{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 [[EldritchAbomination Kings of Edom]]. A mystically powerful slave, true, but a slave nonetheless.
* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' features The Kitab Al-Alacir, an ancient book that predates [[Literature/TheIliad the fall of Troy]], which describes the order of the universe. It's most famous for discussing "ether" as a concept, so it's most commonly held up as one of the most important texts to the Etherites (who will sometimes slip a promising Sleeper a copy in the hopes that reading it will cause them to Awaken), but its study has influenced several other groups, including the Solifacti, the Order of Hermes, and even a few members of Iteration X and the Void Engineers (who typically view discussions of ether within said book with a ScienceMarchesOn perspective InUniverse). Scattered interest in the tome can be found in nearly every Tradition, Convention, and Craft, with various levels of interest and figurative vs. literal belief.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4'' has the Kronorium, a mystical book that changes depending on the cycle and history.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' there is a big book of everything magical thanks to the local GadgeteerGenius / MadArtist's relentless efforts to [[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic analyze anything mystical into submission]]... let's just say it's ''big'' but as it was made by a "scientist" it also exists as an [[OmniscientDatabase ebook]] for the less technologically challenged.

* The podcast ''[[http://www.flat29.com/podcast/index.html Flat 29's Big Book of Everything]]'' purports to be this.
* In WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee the reviewers find out about their enemies' use of CripplingOverspecialization by consulting the Junior Woodchick's guide from the Donald Duck comics.
* The blog Blog/HowToHero aims to be a (tongue-in-cheek) complete and exhaustive (albeit still growing) guide to being a superhero. Covering situations like [[https://howtohero.tumblr.com/post/161045522320/lame-superpowers having lame superpowers]] or [[https://howtohero.tumblr.com/post/170895111167/how-to-disguise-yourself-as-a-human-when-you-are passing yourself off as a human when you're actually a sentient android]]

* "Tobin's Spirit Guide" from ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''. In ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', we find Egon has added to it.
** The ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'' team have a Ghostbusting Manual in the first episode, which details the features of Ghost Command, the equipment, and the Ghostbuggy. It is never used again.
* Speaking of Filmation, these show up a lot in ''Westernanimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' and ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''. Granamyr gives one of these to He-Man in ''The Dragon's Gift''.
* The Great Book of Gummi in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears''.

* The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior) series ''WesternAnimation/{{Stanley}}'', referring to a large book that has info on any animal in the world. ♪Iiiiiiiiiittttttt's the great big book of everything, with everything inside / See the world around us, this book's a perfect guide♪ This song is sung in every episode, and annoys Dennis the Goldfish to no end.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', the Fireside Girls have a guidebook that goes far and beyond camping or selling cupcakes. There are instructions on how to fix a TimeMachine or refuel a NASCAR racer or wrestle an alligator.
** They also have a Compendium Guide that’s bigger than that. Way bigger. "Carried to the Fireside Girl Lodge by helicopter and would take at least a week to record" bigger. When Candace tried to (and succeeded in) recording it in only a few hours, she strains her voice.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has two: The book that details Fright Knight and his defeat in one episode and another, a [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] book that tells a SadlyMythtaken version of PandorasBox. All conveniently held by [[MrExposition Sam]].
* In, Creator/ChuckJones' 1942 ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' short "WesternAnimation/TheDoverBoys," villainous [[DastardlyWhiplash Dan Backslide]] consults a ''Handbook of Useful Information'' for "How Best to Remove Young Lady from Tree (Fig. 1)."

* The Hero's Enchiridion in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is loaded with information on being a hero, from fighting monsters to romancing damsels in distress.
* On ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', Dragon Land is loaded with strange magical creatures and other latent magic such as a cat that makes you copy someone to a weather-vane that when spun makes everyone and everything go backwards. Fortunately, Max, Emmy, and the dragons can always consult Quetzal and his "big storybook," which is a full reference to these sort of phenomena, along with the recommended ways of dealing with them. There's another book called "the magic storybook" that may or may not be the same book.
* [[CatchPhrase According to my research]], Dorothy Ann on ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' 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 ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'', Birdgirl has a book for {{sidekick}}s that she uses when she is not sure what to do.
* The mysterious set of journals from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. Written by a visiting scientist, the books are filled with a plethora of knowledge concerning the mysterious stuff in Gravity Falls, [[spoiler: and when brought together, the journals unlock the secret plans to a powerful interdimensional portal.]] Amusingly, the show subverts the "conveniently omniscient" part, as there are some threats the book doesn't state how to conquer such as gnomes and powerful ghosts. It's [[DrivingQuestion a major question]] of the first season-and-a-half as to the exact identity of the journals' writer. [[spoiler: Turns out the author was Grunkle Stan's long-lost twin brother, the ''real'' Stanford Pines.]]
* The Great Book of Spells in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'', which Gargamel consults at the full moon for various purposes, including catching Smurfs. However, the book's answers hardly work out in the wizard's favor.
* Elspeth's spell book in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gawayn}}'' which is always able to provide the heroes with the next clue to allow them to continue their quest. Unfortunately, Elspeth hasn't worked out how to use it reliably yet.

* On ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Star's magic wand came with a manual that generally went unused by the titular character; both due to her GenkiGirl nature and because it was more a haphazardly-assembled collection of notes written by previous owners than a true guide, making it almost impossible to find any useful information in it. It eventually got stolen by Ludo [[spoiler: (under the influence of Toffee)]], who attempts to learn some spells from it during the latter half of the second season, [[spoiler: only for Toffee to gain the ability to [[DemonicPossession possess him]] and later trick him into accidentally destroying the book (since possessing him was all he really needed the book for)]].
* ''WesternAnimation/HongKongPhooey'': Hong Kong Phooey's Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu. Not that it does him any good...
* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'': In the first of three five-part story arcs, Kshin, searching Mandrake's library for something to do a book report on, stumbles across the Book of Enigmas. Initially, it appears to be a BlankBook, but, whenever Kshin needs help with something, the Book's pages change to provide him with the information he needs. In the end, it turns out that the Book is really a being from another dimension who has been exiled to Earth.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'': Dulcinea treats ''The Wee Compendium of Factes and Funne'' as if it was this, but it's actually a collection of moralistic couplets which she'll quote at the slightest opportunity. As the series goes on, the irrelevance and triteness of the ''Compendium'' entries increases, until Season 4 reveals [[spoiler: it was written in a weekend, and then [[CreatorBacklash completely disowned by the author]] after it only sold one copy (Dulcinea's).]] It gets played relatively straighter when the ''Compendium'' has some information about [[spoiler: the Crown of Souls, although even that was cribbed from another book]].
* As of season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'', a new element of the series is "The Big Book of X", an In-Universe book series that will sometimes be brought up by Sean, and will always relate to the topic of the episode. There's "The Big Book of the Sun", "The Big Book of Birds", "The Big Book of Eclipses", "The Big Book of Clouds", and possibly even more. Lampshaded by Mindy in "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E11PotatoesOnMarsBortronLeprechaun Bortron Leprechaun]]", when Sean pulls out the Big Book of Rainbows. She asks if he has a Big Book for everything. Sean says he doesn't yet, and that he's trying to complete his Big Book library.
* Penny's "computer book" in ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'', from which she would obtain vital information about the VillainOfTheWeek.

* O.Henry's short story ''The Handbook of Hymen'' features the Herkimer's Handbook of Indispensable Information, a possible UrExample. To quote:
--> I may be wrong, but I think that was the greatest book that ever was written. I've got it to-day; and I can stump you or any man fifty times in five minutes with the information in it. Talk about Solomon or the New York Tribune! Herkimer had cases on both of 'em. That man must have put in fifty years and travelled a million miles to find out all that stuff. There was the population of all cities in it, and the way to tell a girl's age, and the number of teeth a camel has. It told you the longest tunnel in the world, the number of the stars, how long it takes for chickenpox to break out, what a lady's neck ought to measure, the veto powers of Governors, the dates of the Roman aqueducts, how many pounds of rice going without three beers a day would buy, the average annual temperature of Augusta, Maine, the quantity of seed required to plant an acre of carrots in drills, antidotes for poisons, the number of hairs on a blond lady's head, how to preserve eggs, the height of all the mountains in the world, and the dates of all wars and battles, and how to restore drowned persons, and sunstroke, and the number of tacks in a pound, and how to make dynamite and flowers and beds, and what to do before the doctor comes--and a hundred times as many things besides. If there was anything Herkimer didn't know I didn't miss it out of the book.

* The ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series features Kolo's journal. First discovered in a hidden alcove in the Wizard's Keep in the third book, the journal provides information on dream walkers and the great war 3,000 years ago. In later books in the series, it seems even though the main characters have not one, but several, libraries of forbidden lore to consult, good ol' Kolo's scribblings are the first book they reference.

* Staple for Creator/GarthNix.
** The Atlas in ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'', which was written by [[{{God}} the Architect]] for [[TheChosenOne the Rightful Heir]]. Interestingly, the Atlas appears to be sentient, and it only shows the information its reader asks for. It also tailors its answer to what best suits the reader - when the protagonist first saw a strange, harmless-looking creature, the Atlas saved his life with a succinct reply - 'Scoucher - ''run''!'. [[PaintingTheMedium In sufficiently hurried and splattered handwriting, no less.]] Quite a benevolent tome, the Atlas.
** ''Literature/OldKingdom'' 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 ArcWords.
*** It's made clear that only a Necromancer can open the Book, and only an uncorrupted Charter Mage can close it. Since [[TheChosenOne 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 show up "In the Skin of a Lyon". The second is a cousin of the Book of the Dead called "The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting".
** ''Literature/TheSeventhTower'': Codex of The Chosen, a sentient book that most of all resembles a tablet computer that houses the whole of Internet and has Siri installed. It can display both text and images, even something akin to comics and gifs. The downside is it can't answer unless you formulate your request as a question and some of the information can be locked away by an order.
* The Good Magician's Book in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series. Well, he ''is'' the Magician of Information. Somewhat lampshaded in one of the Xanth books - the plot of that book shows the Magician when young, ''compiling'' the Book in the first place. After writing the book, circumstances led him to decide to forget the co-author, and since she had such a large part in writing it, he forgot all about compiling the information himself. It somehow updates itself, though, since it still always has the answer to any question somebody might ask of the Good Magician. Though not always in a form that anybody else can understand, which proves problematic when the Good Magician goes missing.
* The Grimmerie in Gregory Maguire's ''Literature/{{Wicked}}: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West''. Its usefulness is somewhat lessened by the fact that it takes years of work to learn how to read the language the book is written in, or to be born with the ability to read it by virtue of plot-significant messed-up parentage, like Elphaba (the Witch).
* The wizards' manuals in the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' universe. The fact that a manual contains any piece of information the wizard might want to look up is justified by the fact that they are created by the godlike PowersThatBe. 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.
** Also playing a significant part in the first part of the series are the ''Naming Lights'' (AKA ''The Book of Night With Moon'', containing the true descriptions of everything in the universe in the wizard's language, created by the PowersThatBe) and its shadow, ''The Book Which is Not Named'' (The Lone One's answer to the ''Naming Lights'', containing twisted descriptions of all that exists).
* The titular book from Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', an all-encompassing bible of encryption, seems to have a near-magical status to the Allied cryptographers. It is updated as the war goes on, and by the present day, has been scanned into PDF format.
* Also by Neal Stephenson, ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' 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, but because it is interactive (there's a live reader at the other end) it can also receive feedback from the reader, develop an extended knowledge and understanding of her current situation [[AppliedPhlebotinum and provide 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 Creator/PiersAnthony's ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' 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.

* Dorothy Ann in ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' always carried a book she called her "research" that conveniently had information about the day's subject matter.
* Subverted in '' Literature/TheCityOfDreamingBooks'' by Walter Moers. The BigBad 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 one sentence, over and over again: You have just been poisoned.]]
** This is a recasting of one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, "[[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 ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' has The Book of Gramarye which gives the Old Ones everything they ever wanted to know about how to use their powers.

* In Nick Kyme's TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 novel ''Literature/{{Salamander|s}}'', the Salamanders consult the Tome of Fire, left by Vulkan, to determine the [[BecauseDestinySaysSo significance]] of finding an artifact from Vulkan's hand, and an unprecedented eruption on their home planet.
** The Codex Astartes, from the same universe also qualifies for the Space Marines. It's supposed to contain tactical advice for ''every conceivable form of warfare.''

* Creator/WilliamHopeHodgson's OccultDetective [[Literature/CarnackiTheGhostFinder Thomas Carnacki]] gets all his info on the supernatural from the fictional Sigsand Manuscript.
* In ''Literature/TheGodsOfPegana'', Trogool (the Thing that is neither god nor beast) has a book that likewise contains everything that has and will happen. The audience is told that things happen ''because'' they are in the book.
* Ella's incredibly helpful (and self-disguising) book in ''Literature/EllaEnchanted''. Being magical, it can even provide detailed information about events as they occur.
* In the ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'' series, Glinda is in possession of a Red Book that contains real-time updates about things that are happening in the world. The entire world, not just Oz, which enables her to check up on Dorothy, Betsy, Trot, or any of the other semi-real-world characters who jump back and forth between Oz and the USA. She can look up what goes on with any of the characters at any time, and she uses it as an early-warning system and as a plot starter.
* ''The Book of Three'' from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' (also the name of the first book of the series) serves this purpose, being the chronicled [[RuleOfThree Past, Present, and Future]] of Prydain. It was once referred to as the "Book of If" by [[EccentricMentor 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 ''Literature/TheGirlWhoOwnedACity'', Lisa is stated to be guided by a "great book," which gives her most of her ideas on how to run things her [[CosyCatastrophe post-Apocalyptic]] kid enclave. The book is implied to be ''Literature/AtlasShrugged.''
* ''[[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 [[NeedleInAStackOfNeedles hide a leaf in a forest]] by tucking the Book away deep within the National Library.

* In James Stoddard's ''The High House'', the Book of Forgotten Things. Just everything you've ever forgotten.
* Coriakin, the ancient star-wizard from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', owns one.
* In the ''Literature/ElephantAndPiggie'' book "Elephants Cannot Dance", Piggie wants to teach 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."[[note]]The book doesn't say elephants can't ''try'' to dance, though.[[/note]]
* In the 1970s there was a children's book about a young girl who attracted friends from among the "popular" girls by carrying her witch aunt's book of spells and home remedies, which she ''implied'' was this type of book. She would tell them, for instance, that spiderwebs for healing had to be gathered at midnight by a redhead. When they laid hands on the book themselves, it just said spiderwebs.
* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', which succeeded in anticipating both Wikipedia and eBook readers several decades before their invention.
** Also the Encyclopaedia Galactica, which is much more accurate than the Guide but much less popular. This is primarily for two reasons. First, the Guide is slightly cheaper; and second, has the words "DON'T PANIC" inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.
*** The Guide can also be transported from place to place without the need for several freight trains.
* Given the large number of quotations from it and references to it, Creator/HPLovecraft's fictional ''Necronomicon'' is apparently a Great Big Book Of Everything you ''really don't want to know.''

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Creating the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' was the stated purpose of the Encyclopedia Foundation. Every scientific fact, feat of engineering, and history of the Empire, stretching back for over ten thousand years, is available. However, Hari Seldon appears on their fiftieth anniversary to say, "The Encyclopedia is, and always has been, a fraud". Despite the fraudulent basis to the colonization of Terminus, the Foundation continues to write and publish volumes. [[spoiler:''Literature/FoundationsEdge'' mentions that it became [[TheWikiRule a continually updated electronic database]].]]

* ''Literature/TheReader2016'' has a book that contains seemingly endless information about the history of the world. It's later revealed that [[spoiler: the book in the story contains everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will, and the actual book the reader is reading is an excerpt from the book in the story. Sefia even has a moment of existential fear that she may one day open the book to find herself reading the book while reading the book.]]
* The eponymous ''Literature/TheBookOfAllHours'' is believed to be this, as an absolute record from God's perspective of the history of reality. Reality, it turns out, is ''extremely'' complicated and the Book may only be a metaphor for the entire chaotic mess of existence, which is itself described in terms of Vellum and Ink (as if the universe is a crumpled-up piece of vellum while the LanguageOfMagic is like writing on that surface). Except one character ''finds'' the Book early on, which for him turns out to be an ever-expanding map that lets him walk out of the Earth he knows and into the broader multiverse. Why yes, it's a MindScrew series.
* ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' contains a more limited but still remarkable example: the Headmistress has a large book locked up in her office that contains everything there is to know about the school, including a set of maps that shows every location in the school, including all the secret passageways. And it's always accurate: if something in the school changes, the information in the book changes to match. "Know-It-All" Knowles uses her PhotographicMemory to memorise the maps so the heroes can navigate the secret tunnels and later complains that she can feel her memories changing as the book updates to include the changes wrought by the climactic battle.
* ''Literature/ItsNotTheEndOfTheWorld'': Karen's friend Val, whose parents are also divorced, owns a book for divorced children which she considers ''the'' authority on the subject and quotes from as though it were the Bible.

* Tao, in the '80s toon ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'' had an encyclopedia from the civilization that built the Seven Cities of Gold. Used more for plot exposition than DeusExMachina.
* The ''Universe of the Four Gods'' books in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''.
* * ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}:''
** Bokomon of ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' carries around the "Monoshiri Book", literally "The Book of Knowledge", which has all the knowledge of the Digital World in it. However, it doesn't have data on things that have never existed before (including the final forms of the heroes and villain), and Bokomon makes it his life mission to add the missing information based on his travels with the Chosen Children.
** Baalmon carries around the Red Book of Appin, which holds within all of Baalmon's knowledge. Baalmon will grant anyone a page from the book, provided they're willing to hand over their soul in return.
** Not quite a book, but Ancient Wisemon has full access to the Akashic records, allowing him to know all that was and all that will be.

* It's teenage delusions we're talking about, but Sanae from ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'' believes ''Mabinogion'', a tome she "received" from a certain "Forest Summer", is one.
* In ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars New Stage 2'', BigBad Kage used a book that contained everything about the previous seven Pretty Cure teams. He used it to avoid their attacks, then steal away their fairy companions and transformation devices. [[spoiler:Too bad it didn't help when [[Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure Mana and her friends]] came along.]]
** That book returns in ''New Stage 3'' [[spoiler:with Mana's team in it]] and is used by Mamuu to keep the heroines from freeing the children from her dream world. [[spoiler:While it proved to be a problem with the Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure team, Mamuu didn't expect [[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Nozomi]] to have a problem with her dream world.]]
* Downplayed but nonetheless present in ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Koro-sensei is so CrazyPrepared that whenever he writes a book for his students about a particular subject, it ends up being a {{Doorstopper}} loaded with all kinds of information. For example, his guidebook of Kyoto he prepared for the school trip there contained info such as maps, popular sightseeing sights, Kyoto's Top 100 souvenirs, what to do if a five-story pagoda collapses, coping with food that accidentally gets stuck in your throat, "How to comfort yourself when seeing couples flirting by the Kamo river makes you feel lonely", and more seriously, what to do when a friend has been kidnapped.

* The Junior Woodchuck Guidebook in Disney's ''[[ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Uncle Scrooge]]'' comics (and subsequently in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'') (and any other Duck story where it is needed. It is always there when a [[ScoutOut Junior Woodchuck]] needs it).
** This is one of the few examples where there really ''is'' a detailed origin explaining how all that knowledge ended up there. Actually, there are two:
*** A lengthy Creator/DonRosa story-arc once revealed that [[spoiler:it had been condensed from the entire content of the Great Library of Alexandria (with the lost history of South America and Asia added later). The library was a storehouse of ancient knowledge that was tragically lost to history through a series of disasters, culminating in a fire during the time of the Roman Empire.]]
*** Another, more obscure 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 [[spoiler: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".]]
** The aspect of the Guide containing more text than could possibly fit into a single volume is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Creator/DonRosa in a story where Donald Duck asks one of the ducklings "how that much knowledge can fit into such a tiny book", and the duckling answering him "It's explained in appendix 137Q." However, other comic creators explained it by saying that there are actually numerous volumes that make up the complete Guide, just like any large encyclopedia. They always happen to have exactly the volumes of the Guide applicable to the topic at hand, though, and it is often {{handwave}}d.
** Interestingly, there are three cases where the book was ''missing'' something:
*** In "''ComicBook/ALetterFromHome''", 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.
*** In the stories about the Guidebook's origin, it is revealed that the guidebook doesn't contain its own history or the identity of its author.
** In one story, Donald actually manages to find a piece of information in the book that's not only missing, but flat-out ''wrong''. Specifically, it lists a local hill outside of Duckburg as being five feet shorter than it actually is. This revelation nearly destroys the entire junior woodchucks, and send Huey, Dewey and Louie into depression, until Donald has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, and, using information he steals from the book, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome moves enough dirt to the top of the hill to increase its height by five feet]].
** In one origin story that tells how the boys joined the Junior Woodchucks, they are first given a booklet-sized "light version" for applicants, which is said to "contain only the equivalent of a couple encyclopediæ".
** One interpretation by the German fans' group [[FunWithAcronyms D.O.N.A.L.D.]] says that Creator/CarlBarks had a vision of Duckburg (which really exists, in AnotherDimension or so), but the "book" he saw in his vision was really a kind of smartphone, and its pages were more like wiki pages - but since those didn't exist on Earth at that time, he drew a book instead.
** The impossibly vast amount of knowledge contained in the Guide has actually backfired on the boys on at least one occasion. In the FiveEpisodePilot of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', they try to look up how to stop their plane from crashing, and they can find the entries for driving or flying all sorts of obscure vehicles ''except'' "an ordinary airplane!"
** The trope is [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in the [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017 revival series]]. Huey still carries the guidebook with him at all times, but its information is limited to whatever has been proven/researched by scientists at the time. Whenever the group experiences anything supernatural on their adventures, Huey adds it to the book himself.
* The Disney Duck Comics Universe is vast enough, and the stories are numerous enough, to contain another totally unrelated example. Magica de Spell has a spell book which was much more like a traditional Book of Shadows. The nieces once got hold of it by accident when it was switched in the grocery store with Aunt Daisy's old recipe book. They mixed up one of the formulas, which attracted a dragon; there was an entry on this, too; "To get rid of a dragon, say 'Odds bodkins and green-eyed goblins!'" Meanwhile, Magica was turning out delicious cupcakes, to her uttermost disgust.

* The Abstract in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''
* Marvel Comic's ComicBook/DoctorStrange owns (or owned) the ''[[WhiteMagic Book of the Vishanti]]'', containing any spell or obscure tidbit of mystical information he might need. There is also its opposite [[BlackMagic ''The Darkhold'']]. Each contains spells or information to perfectly counter something in the other.
* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' series features Destiny of the Endless, who has a book chained to his arm that details everything that has ever happened, or ever will happen.
* One appeared in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis: Superman Beyond'', and was so heavy that Franchise/{{Superman}} and [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] working together could barely lift it. And it was only a single page, said to contain every page created in all possible realities. Ultraman read enough of it to be driven insane.

* In the first issue of the ''ComicBook/StanleyAndHisMonster'' mini-series, Stanley finds ''The Heterodyne Boys Big Book of Fun'' in his attic. Every adult Stanley shows it to seems to have fond memories of it but hasn't seen a copy in years, and it appears to contain instructions on how to build almost anything.
* The Book That Tells Everything from ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything". It's capable of answering every question and solving every problem, except that it never warns the consulter of the book the consequences of using its solutions.

* In ''Son of Vulcan'', the current Vulcan Mikey Devante has access to the Encyclopedae Vulcanis, the collected lore of everyone who had ever borne the mantle of Vulcan.
* In ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'', Danny receives a chronicle of the lives of all the previous Iron Fists that only he can read.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* Parodied in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ThoseLackingSpines'' with the ever-handy guidebook which contains anything the protagonists need to know about a given world.

* ''Fanfic/{{Intercom}}'' carries over the universal information of the human mind found in Mind Manuals. They even use it as a way to show the potential and the dangers of actually trying to bring a host's individual psyche inside itself during Lucid Dreaming.
* ''Fanfic/DisneysWarACrossoverStory'' has the Book of Legends, in which every single Disney story has been written down by Yen Sid. It's a cataclysm, of course, when the Horned King gets hold of it and decides to use this newly-acquired knowledge about worlds other than his to revive every villain and recruit them as his personal army.
* ''Fanfic/MariaCampbellOfTheAstralClocktower'': The most revered book on proper behavior is ''The Noble's Proper Etiquette Reference and Manual of Propriety and Action'', a massive DoorStopper written by an anonymous author. Maria uses it to teach Katarina about proper etiquette. Katarina, on the other hand, flatly says that she knows her mother wrote it, since it's basically a long list of everything she ever yelled at Katarina about.
-->'''Katarina:''' There's a section on climbing trees, farming, fishing and taking baths with your younger brother. So I'm pretty sure mother wrote it.\\
'''Maria:''' The author of this text is a complete mystery.

* The Map of time in ''Film/TimeBandits'' tells the protagonists where all the holes in the universe are, and drives the plot. Whenever the heroes get stuck they consult the map.

* ''Film/MirrorMask'' both {{lampshade|Hanging}}s and plays this straight with ''A Really Useful Book''. The book, a small pocket-sized volume that appears to have some degree of sentience, consists of various pieces of advice written on its pages. In addition, the book always opens the relevant page. [[spoiler:In fact, after Helena is forced to tear out most of the book's pages, the ''one page'' she didn't tear out still contains a piece of relevant advice. A repeated piece of advice, but still useful.]]
** More obviously lampshaded, yet (somehow) simultaneously played straighter, with a book Helena comes across earlier in the same library: ''The Complete History of Everything''. More useful for {{exposition}} than immediate advice, though.
* Tobin's Spirit Guide from ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' and [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} its related media]].
* Dana Carvey's ''Film/TheMasterOfDisguise'' features a pop-up book that provides extremely specific information relating to any situation at hand on whichever page is randomly opened to.

* The Book of Secrets from the second ''Film/NationalTreasure'' movie. Filled with almost everything a [[ConspiracyTheorist 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 ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkboyAndLavagirl''.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': Old Biff picks up [[MacGuffin Gray's Sports Almanac]] in 2015 and delivers it to himself in 1955. The book reports the results of every major sporting event from 1950 to 2000, and yet it's thin enough to be confused with Biff's girlie magazine.

* The archaeologist River Song's diary in ''Series/DoctorWho'', a diary of her adventures recorded on her own, combined with eyewitness accounts of the Doctor through the ages, as seen in "Closing Time".

** They have a Compendium Guide that’s bigger than that. Way bigger. "Carried to HQ by helicopter and would take at least a week to record" bigger.

* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' - Handbook for the Recently Deceased. Though it can be difficult to parse the meaning of the knowledge inside, as it "reads like stereo instructions."

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', one of Mario's partners has a book with information and pictures of every enemy in the game. This even includes [[spoiler:Princess Peach after being possessed by the final boss]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'', the Codex Of Ultimate Wisdom. Unfortunately, ''reading'' it is a bit tricky (the entire fourth game is spent finding the darn thing; in [[VideoGame/UltimaV 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).
* ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' 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.

''Great Big Book of Everything with everything inside!''\\

-->-- '''[[TropeNamer Harry and Elsie]]''' [[OncePerEpisode every time the book is mentioned or seen]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Stanley}}''

-->-- '''Harry and Elsie''' [[OncePerEpisode every time the book is mentioned or seen]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Stanley}}''

** And then they run into monsters that aren't really ''anywhere'', because they're old enough to predate human history, or they've just been created.

* The Great Book of Spells in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', which Gargamel consults at the full moon for various purposes, including catching Smurfs. However, the book's answers hardly work out in the wizard's favor.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', one of Mario's partners has a book with information and pictures of every enemy in the game. This even includes [[spoiler:Princess Peach after being possessed by the final boss]].
** However, it does not have infinite knowledge; this is demonstrated when Goombella {{lampshade|Hanging}}s that it doesn't answer her real question: [[{{Hammerspace}} where all the hammers come from]].
** It doesn't have [[spoiler:Doopliss's name]].
** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' has the Dark Prognosticus, a book which has prophesied every event of the game. The villain, Count Bleck, has it, and often quotes directly from it, with the effect of [[ThirdPersonPerson narrating his own life]].
* Rosalina's Storybook from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' has elements of this, if the second game's ending has credence.
* The Traveller's Tome in ''VideoGame/{{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.
* ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' 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.
** And for the ten-odd chapters where you ''don't'' have the diary, then you have either the map or good ol' fashioned ingenuity.

* Both ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}'' games feature the Total Codex, a biography on every person who will ever live. During the first game, the narrator looks in it and reads about the Summoner, a man who will resurrect the Myrkridia and visit untold horrors upon the land. He closes the book fast.
** The prequel expands on this a bit. For instance, Conacht knows from the book that he'll come back as Balor and has his lieutenant hide all his magic items. It doesn't tell him the lieutenant will come back as Soulblghter and just hand them back. He also twice has world-changing magic items built according to instructions he got from the Codex prophesying he would have them made.
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'', 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]]."

* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has an appearance by the Tome Of Tropes, which is all but explicitly this very wiki in magical book form. Reading this particular trope page in it isn't advised, as it tends to [[RealityBreakingParadox make the book implode violently]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'', the Codex Of Ultimate Wisdom. Unfortunately, ''reading'' it is a bit tricky (the entire fourth game is spent finding the darn thing; in [[VideoGame/UltimaV 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 [[OmniscientDatabase Logbook]] in the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy''. Your [[EnemyScan Scan Visor]] can, within a few seconds, tell you nearly everything about anything, and while [[HyperAwareness ultra-detailed analysis]] may be able to tell you most of it, you sometimes wonder: where does your [[CoolStarship Gun]][[ArtificialIntelligence ship]] learn the name of an inter-dimensional creature that no being off-planet has ever even heard of?
* Histoire of the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series ''is'' (it has been implied that when it comes to book fairies like Histoire and [[ItAmusedMe Croire]], the book is their true form, and the girl sitting upon it is merely AFormYouAreComfortableWith) a recording of the history of Gamindustri, and 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 [[RuleOfThree three days]] if she gets lucky to up to [[RuleOfThree three months]].

* An even earlier attempt, maybe the first, was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_%28Pliny%29 "Naturalis Historia"]], by Pliny the Elder. It was his attempt to compile all the worldly knowledge of his day into a single work. Unfortunately, the world of his day knew little about volcanoes, and Pliny died amidst the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, before the book's final revision.

** Subverted in the [[CanonDiscontinuity controversial]] joke 1st edition AD&D module ''[[TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}} Castle Greyhawk]]'', in which Ye Secret Tome of Inestimable Knowledges turns out to be [[spoiler: Ye Secret Tom of Inestimable Knowledges, a cat with keyholes in his belly into which players may insert magic keys to get clues about the rest of the module]].

* 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 ''[[WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' TV series.

* The Hero's Enchiridion in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''.

* The ultimate form of all Wikis, given the LawOfWikiExpansion.