The Book of Lists [Paperback]

David Wallechinsky (Author), Amy Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

For the first time in a decade, The Book of Lists presents a unique collection of curious facts, unusual stats, and the incredible stories behind them. Served up with style and humor, the lists in this book will provide you with hours of entertainment--and give you dozens of facts to spark conversations and amaze your friends. HC: Little Brown.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Packed with more fascinating, trivial, vital and perverse non sequiturs than you can shake an encyclopaedia at." The New York Times Book Review; "A lot of fun." Wall Street Journal" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace created the first Book of Lists, published in 1977, with their father, Irving Wallace, and collaborated on three subsequent editions. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Lb Books (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316920290
• ISBN-13: 978-0316920292
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,273,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRIVIA BUFF'S DELIGHT, March 20, 2005

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Lists (Paperback)

How can one not love a book that probably has more trivia per page than almost any book written? And, what bettewr way to review a book of lists than to make a list of some of my favorite lists? So, here's my list of 6 of my favorite lists from the hundreds of lists in __THE BOOK OF LISTS__.

1. 10 Words you can't pronounce correctly

2. The 15 most boring classics

3. 10 memorable books that never existed

4. 18 famous brains, and what they weighed

5. 15 famous events that happened in the bathtub

6. 10 people not to invite to dinner

In order to give you a further insight into the book, I have listed below a few random facts that I found particularly interesting.

African Elephants have gestation periods of 640 days while Opossums have only 13 day gestastion periods. (These are the two extremes from a long list of gestation periods.)

A flock of crows is correctly known as a murder of crows.

Well before 9/11, Iraq had received military aid from the U.S., Great Britain, China, and the U.S.S.R.

Desi Arnaz worked as a bird cage cleaner before he became a bandleader, Gerald Ford was a male model before he entered politics, and Carol Burnett started her entertainment career as an usherette.

As you can tell, there is enough information here to add a thrill a minute to a trivia buff's life.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lifetime Reading!, January 5, 2000

By 

Ceci D. (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Lists (Paperback)

I stole this book off of my father's bookshelf when I was 9 years old, and have pored through it over and over since then. It has so many different kinds of lists in it.. everything from magazine and celebrity compiled lists to obscenely obscure trivia, and of course, those morbidly fascinating ones! My husband and I make an occasional game of opening to random pages and seeing if we can guess what's on the lists. I've bragged about this book to friends more often than any other and I'm shopping for another copy now because my poor copy's about to fall apart. Beware buying this one.. it's a longtime addiction. ;)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and educational too !, April 20, 2003

By 

David Hofmayer (Orinda, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Lists (Paperback)

Really, even though its got a lot of mindless fluff in it (that's fun to read I'll have you know) it also has lists that are fascinating and important from a historical or geographical standpoint, such as thirty new names for old places (i.e. Ethiopia for Abyssinia.) Besides that, the other lists are interesting even if inconsequential (like "seven remarkable messages in a bottle.") And I bet you didn't know that Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, had three breasts! Just another amazing fact that one can find in this praiseworthy book to discuss on long car trips . This book seems to have the affliction of becoming ragged through overuse, as almost every reviewer it seems will soon have to buy a new one. I guess that's just a testament to its fortitude and quality.