Customer Reviews

The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual: Noteworthy Achievements, Events, Feats & Blunders of Every Conceivable Kind

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Seems to me I first read this book - possibly an earlier edition - around 20 years ago, & I still quote from it and mimic its wonderfully snide, ironic tone. It covers every possible piece of weirdness in an absolutely hilarious way. A joy to read over & over. I've gotta hunt down that almost mangled-with-use copy of mine...

Felton and Fowler's hilarious volume citing the best, worst, and most unusual in movies, music, sports, art, literature, etc. (according to the authors, their own book is the worst ever). This book has long been a favorite of mine, and I was thrilled to find out that this book was still in print and highly recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by the unconventional.

Some of the articles include: "The Most Unusual Jazz Band" (the Hilton Sisters, Daisy and Violet, siamese twins joined at the hip); "Most Unusual Reformer" (an imposing woman named Carrie Nation who was active during the turn of the century; her mother thought she was Queen Victoria); and "Most Unusual Auction" (a certain body part belonging to Napoleon cited as a "dried up object", which was set to be auctioned for a staggering amount). One of the funniest and most absorbing reference works ever (once you get into it, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to put down), well written and filled with illustrations which serve to verify some of the far-out stories. To anyone who enjoys the "Guinness Book of World Records" and the like, I heartily recommend it.

This is a very strange book. Unlike most books, you can feel free to open it anywhere and find something interesting. Felton and Fowler have come up with many odd entries: Worst Senatorial Rationale, Most Unusual Concession to Modesty, Best Cucumbers, etc. You will learn that the world's worst acronym is PUMCODOXPURSACOMLOPOLAR (which stands for Pulse Modulated Coherent Doppler-Effect X-Band Pulse-Repetition Synthetic-Array Pulse Compression Side Lobe Planar Array), and much, much more.

I read the whole thing on a trip to Iceland, and on occasion could not stop laughing (even on the plane). The book's only drawback is that it is actually a compendium of two previous books published a few years ago, so it is not totally up to date with recent world silliness.

Read the book and laugh. You won't be able to stop yourself.

I received this book as a gift from my aunt just a couple days ago. It was late at night and I was cramming for an exam. I noticed the book's title and discovered that it was a book of unbelievable accomplishments, which I love. I decided to leaf through the book and read just a few anecdotes of these noteworthy accomplishments by both man and nature....

....and I couldn't put it down. It didn't take long for me to push all those history notes clear out of my head. I only intended on reading a few stories and I wound up reading hundreds! They are absolutely hilarious! Like the story of the "best pen":

One day a guy paid $400 for steel-banded tires that were said to be bomb-proof and spike-proof. But later he wound up puncturing them by running over a ball-point pen, and the pen still wrote afterwards!

Are you hungry for more of these stories? Then pick up this book! It's got stories on movies, literature, food, science, technology, nature, psychology--anything you want to know! Just don't buy it if you have a exam coming up. I haven't gotten mine back yet and I don't think I did very well on it.

This book is outstanding! When we first receive it as a present my husband and I both sighed inside thinking it was some boring historical work........we were wrong! The authors have done a wonderful job in packing this book with some of the most interesting, amazing and unusual facts you would have a hard time to find elsewhere! Great job!
Some of the facts are down right crazy, some are interesting and some almost unbelievable, but they are all true. They cover many topics such as, The Fine Arts, The Movies, Music, Food, and Life Styles, just to name a few. Here is an example of what you will find between the pages of this book. Did you know that
a 61 year old man donated 189 pints of blood in his life? Unbelievable, but true! How about reading the worse poem ever written? I have to agree it was pretty bad!
All in all this book is a winner! We share many of the tid bits that we are reading with friends and family and have a great time
with the knowledge we have obtained. Well worth your money and your time!

Am I the only one who had a problem with the fact that this is a 30 year old book (1976) that was merely repackaged to look new? Look through it... you won't find a "best, worst or most unusual" from any date more recent than 1976.

This book is outstanding! When we first receive it as a present my husband and I both sighed inside thinking it was some boring historical work........we were wrong! The authors have done a wonderful job in packing this book with some of the most interesting, amazing and unusual facts you would have a hard time to find elsewhere! Great job!
Some of the facts are down right crazy, some are interesting and some almost unbelievable, but they are all true. They cover many topics such as, The Fine Arts, The Movies, Music, Food, and Life Styles, just to name a few. Here is an example of what you will find between the pages of this book. Did you know that
a 61 year old man donated 189 pints of blood in his life? Unbelievable, but true! How about reading the worse poem ever written? I have to agree it was pretty bad!
All in all this book is a winner! We share many of the tid bits that we are reading with friends and family and have a great time
with the knowledge we have obtained. Well worth your money and your time!
Shirley Johnson/Reviewer

Got this from my bargain hunting family one xmas.

Anyway i read about this guy named James Bartley who survived being swallowed by a whale (yes, in this book:)) I thought, "whoa, thats crazy" I ended up telling a few poeple about it cause it kept coming to mind. Anyway, now that a handful of decades have passed, turns out the tale lacks in truthiness. outdated triva books are pretty weak.

Oh, i find the organization of this book to be, well, random seeming. (like this review)

One thing this trivia book does have on others though is they are not kidding about "unusual." These poeple are right, who are saying, these are rediculous stories. I just wish i could know it was all true. I'll have to double check other parts now.

Although i haven't read the book yet I did buy the book from amazon. i have been trying ot get this book for about 1-2 years. Last year I went out of town to try and get this book and the store was sold out. I was very dissapointed so instead of driving everywhere I decided to call different book stores and I called just about ever bookstore in my area. When i called all of these bookstores I got the same response "No, I'm sorry we don't have the book here". So fianlly after failed attempes of trying to buy this book I went to my local boarders to see how i could get this book. Well the lady suggest that I buy it off of their website online. well at the time I was against buying things offline. So then a few years pass and then last night when I was doing my college homework, I was thinking abotu this book. So then that night I bought the book from amazon and I'm now waiting for it to be shipped and for it to also arrive. I look forward to reading this very interesting book. I first saw this book in a christmas magazine and i'm so very happy that after years of searching for it, I have bought it, even though the wait time is a month. So i Look forward to reading this very interesting looking book

It is sooo good and sooo funny