Described by its
authors as a compendium of curious facts and information, in its essence The Book of Lists is a reference book. Along with The Guinness Book of Records and Ripley’s Believe It or Not, The Book of Lists forms a significant part of popular culture. Like other books of this nature, the focus is on providing “infotainment” (the mantra for the new age), an interesting mix of
information and entertainment. Originally published in 1977, The Book of Lists has spawned a whole industry of imitations.
The Book of Lists is about
people – ordinary people and the not so ordinary events that occur in their lives. Both trendy and trend-setting, The Book of Lists
contains a fascinating mix of true to life stories and amusing anecdotes.
Whatever it is, there is one thing it certainly is not – it is not boring to read!
The Book of Lists contains something in it for people of all tastes and sensibilities. There is a
section on “War, Politics and World Affairs”, a section on Crime, a section on Sports, a section on Travel and even (for the literary minded) a section on Literature. The list of topics is almost as exhaustive; from
famous people who were expelled from school to mothers of infamous men, The Book of Lists has it all.
If a criticism must be made – as it must – it is that the book’s pretensions to seriousness sometimes falls short. “Men Who Cried in Public” one can understand, but “Famous Noses”?? Unlike some other books, photographs and illustrations have been kept to a bare minimum. This is something of a drawback in this
age of multimedia (whoever said that a picture is worth a thousand words), but perhaps unavoidable given the limitations of space.
Exhaustively researched and updated by its authors, The Book of Lists contains a synopsis of contents at the beginning of each chapter. This feature makes it easy to refer to for the researcher or to browse for the casual reader. It is a truism that we live in the Information Age, where there is a premium on the ready availability of information, and as a product The Book of Lists reflects the requirements of the era.
It has taken a lot of effort and creativity to compile this “List of Lists”, and for that the authors deserve credit.
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