Casualties of Modern Technology- CliffsNotes (3 of 12)

Today, students have more creative, easy ways to cheat, or they just use Wikipedia. (Ironically, we used Wikiepedia for research on CliffsNotes*).

But, back when I was in high school in the mid-1980s, everyone who was too lazy to read titles like "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane, sought the CliffsNotes version. Other CliffsNotes, including everything from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" to contemporary novels, such as "Less Than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis.

While looking for images for this entry, we also came across a hilarious satire: "CliffsNotes for The Karate Kid."

The CliffsNotes were started by the late Cliff Hileglass (1918-2001) of Lincoln, Neb., who got the idea from a Canadian. The series started with 16 Shakespeare titles.

But, today, Wikipedia can usually provide info for even the most obscure of titles with the exception of this great 2010 novel called "The H-Bomb and Jesus Rock" by John Manderino about growing up in the 1960s, which I read a few months ago. Perhaps, if Manderino is reading this, he can fill me in!

*- Don't forget the 's!' Yes, many of us used to call them CliffNotes, but it is actually Cliffsnotes and to make matters even more confusing, they used to be called Cliff's Notes. The company is still in business, and published many titles, by the way.