Customer Reviews

Book of Lists

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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. ;)

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.

"The Book Of Lists" never ceases to intrigue and fascinate me even when in truth I've been reading it so many times, and for quite long hours. Many faves include: "9 Stupid Thieves" (I laughed to tears at the story where, during the trial the defendant said to the witness who pointed at him as suspect, "I should have blown your ------- head off!... If I'd been the one that was there."), "Facts are stupid things" (slip-ups by politicians), "15 Strangest Stories" and little trivias like "things you didn't know had names"... oh, geez, there are loads to mention!! This is so entertaining, at times revealing and, very funny, utterly shocking ... absolutely educational and fun to read. Who knows, what have you read from the book might have any good use for you in your life.

This is so much better than (reading) those run-of-the-mill best-selling romantic paps. Always a refreshing read.

While this book is extremely entertaining, a lot of the entries in the original release have been proved to be urban legends (Catherine the Great being killed while getting intimate with a horse, girl impregnated by bullet that had passed through soldier's scrotum, etc.) or printed unconfirmed rumors as fact.

SO much fun to read, though! I love this book.

this is quite possibly one of the coolest books ever written. i wasn't much into school as a kid, but always win at trivia games because of this book and the other's written by it's authors. it's filled to the brim with fun, interesting, and amazing facts. you won't wanna put this book down.

I love this book. I am currently looking for it in it's first edition, so that I can give it to the best and most encouraging college professor I've ever had. What other book will list both the odd sexual habits of famous people, along with a list and description of recorded instances of spontaneous human combustion?!

This book is a great read. It's made up of 15 chapters that categorize the lists into subjects like People, Movies, The Arts, Sports, Animals, Crime, and much more. Each chapter has on average about 20 lists of interesting facts. Here are a few examples:

- 6 People Whose Names Were Changed By Accident
- 8 Almost Indestructible People
- 14 Movie Stars Who Fell in Love on the Set
- 23 Actors and Actresses Who Turned Down Great Roles
- 9 Cats Who Traveled Long Distances to Return Home
- 5 of the World's Most Oft-Sighted Lake and Sea Monsters
- 10 Most Intelligent Breeds of Dog
- 15 Unusual Stolen Objects
- 23 Obscure and Obsolete Words
- The Truth About 16 Common Sayings
- 5 Remarkable Messages in Bottles

...and the lists just keep coming. There are lists created by the famous and influential included. There are odd lists and some that are just plain interesting. There will also probably some that you will skip over without much thought. If you like lists and a good read with ever-changing topics, then the Book of Lists is for you.

Over the last thirty-ish years, the BoL has changed. Many of the superlatives in the original have been surpassed, and many new areas of human endeavour have come into existence since the mid-to-late 70s.

For that remove in time, though, this was a very entertaining piece of work; and anyone with an ounce of intellectual curiosity could consult the World Book or the Britannica, or the F&W for that matter, for more information.

I find it refreshing how the authors have reconstructed this into a new-and-yet-the-same format. It's well worth the price, even if it's only for reading in the privvy.

Trivia rules. The lists in The Book of Lists are an ecclectic mix of people, places, events, careers, foods, history and all kinds of great things. I had a great time reading the lists. There were a couple that I skipped, but the vast majority were interesting and entertaining.

You won't become smarter, more worldly, a deeper thinker, a serial killer or a Jeopardy champion by reading The Book of Lists, but you sure will have a great time passing a few hours.