This is a fascinating book about the history of the human race and its
heroes, both widely famous and scarcely known,
of the last millenium.
The authors admit that their classification and rankings are somewhat
arbitrary and subjective, but they based it on the five following
criteria:
1. Lasting
influence 2. Effect on the sum total of wisdom and beauty in the world (not
always a positive one)
3. Influence on contmeporaries
4. Singularity (originality) of contribution
5. Charisma (fame: to what extent were they household names to their
contemporaries and to posterity).
There is a list of people chosen for this book. There is an index at
the end of the book. In between, there are paragraphs of information
about the subjects' lives and contributions or source of fame.
This book is not only interesting in its own right, and as a guide to
further research and study, but it is also a Trivia lover's dream.