The Book of All Species

According to the article "The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required" in the New York Times, if Scientists created the Book of All Species, a single volume made up of one-page descriptions of the 1.8 million known species, the book would have to be more than 300 feet long. The bookshelf would also require the ability to expand because scientists estimate that there are 10 times more species waiting to be discovered.

Though it sounds surreal, scientists are building a Web site called the Encyclopedia of Life (www.eol.org). On 2/28/08 its authors, an international time of scientists, will introduce the first 30,000 pages, and within a decade they predict that will have the other 1.77 million.
The encyclopedia will have a budget of about 50 million in its first five years.