Customer Reviews

Guinness: World Records 2009 (Guinness Book of Records)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I still buy and read the Guinness Record book every year, because it's become like an old friend that I like to catch up with, but I have to disagree with Birch East. I like the way it has changed and brings out a fresh look each year. The changes, like holograms, 3D whatever, make it fresh every year. My nephews also are big fans of the 3D gimmick.

I do agree with the recommendation for Getting into Guinness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the Most Famous Record Book, the new book by Larry Olmsted about the history and culture of the Guinness World Records book. After reading his review I snapped up a copy and it is great--very entertaining and a fun read! I have read the record book for years but never stopped to wonder where it came from (Guinness Beer!), how it got so big, and how large a role it has played in pop culture, and just how crazy some of the record holders seem to be. Getting Into Guinness is the story behind the records and a fun, well researched, adult read.

I first read the Guinness Book of World Records when I was kid back in the 70s, and it's comforting to see it still going strong. I'll say that I definitely preferred the old school text-heavy versions from back in the day to the flourescent lime, 3D photography, picture-fest of today. It's a new world we live in now, so I guess it's hard to fault the Big G for keeping up with times.

As much as I've long loved the Guinness book itself, I was always a little disappointed that there wasn't a good resource written ABOUT Guinness -- its history, evolution, and especially about how it became the phenomenon that inspires people to carry out such dedicated acts of nuttiness. About two weeks ago, I saw a book profiled in USA Today titled GETTING INTO GUINNESS by Larry Olmsted. Olmsted is a journalist as well as a GBWR record-holder, and I gave it a try. Well, it's the perfect companion piece to the Guinness book; it puts everything into context and lets you feel like a real insider. 300 pages of fascinating real life stories about the quest for Guinness recordhood, and Amazon has it for about 16 bucks! Buy them as a tandem (which is what I should have done) and you'd even get free shipping with Prime. Getting into Guinness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the Most Famous Record Book

My 8-yr-old son got this book for Christmas, and I have thought up to this point that it was a neat book, albeit with a few gross pics here and there (but nothing over the top). But today I discovered that it has a writeup and pic of the woman with the largest augmented breasts, which seems very inappropriate for a book marketed for kids. The same page has a writeup on the longest extension of the male body part as well as on the person who has had the most breast augmentation surgeries, and later in the book is a blurb about the largest nude photo shoot, with a mention of the photographer's goal of showing the beauty of the human body not pornography (a noble goal, but why bring up the topic in a kids' book?).

If these records were chronicled in a book meant mainly for adults, I wouldn't have such a problem with them, but this is a book that is meant for kids (as seen by the advertising we saw for it in magazines like Sports Illustrated for Kids, which is marketed for kids 8 and up). Adults may enjoy the book as well, but it is definitely marketed to kids.

We will not be buying another copy of this for anyone in our household. If this is the kind of thing you think would be inappropriate for your kids, be warned.

I have bought the Guinness: World Records since 1978 for my son's birthday gift. He is now 42 and still looks forward to receiving it. He has two teenage boys loving it as much as he did and still does. A perfect gift for a male or female at any age!

Kids love this book, no doubt about it. It's packed with all sorts weird facts, lots of photos - a far cry from the Guinness I knew as a kid.

Parents should know that there are some entries that are weird and/or gross - and a few that might be considered objectionable (e.g., Largest Augmented Breasts - pictured, mostly covered). By the time I flipped through the book, my son had already seen it in the school library. Oh, well...

It took us awhile to find the 3-D glasses, but eventually we found them towards the middle of the book. The book is very "busy", but had a ton of fun interesting info. It was a gift for my nine year old nephew, and he was enjoying it.

this is simply a great book. I believe I am the first person in Nigeria to obtain a copy, which in itself should qualify me for a record entry in the next edition of the guinness book of world records

The 2009 version comes complete with 3D glasses to view some of the pages. Material is divided into Space, Living Planet, Human Achievements, Science and Engineering, Sports, and more. Four thousand records are summarized in the book, out of Guinness' 40,000 in their database; 2,707 are new in 2008.

Interesting facts such as the temperature in the center of the sun (28 million), pressure (250 billion times that at sea level) - created by fusing 600 metric tons of hydrogen into helium every second; the largest liquid mirror - 6,613 lbs. of mercury spun to form a 19' 8" concave mirror for astronomical observations (clever), the deepest dive by a seal (5,017'), most destructive insect (about 2' long, the desert locust found in Africa, West Asia, and the Mid-East eats its own weight each day; a "small" swarm of 50 million eat enough each day to feed 500 people for a year), tallest flying bird - cranes, at 6' 6", the heaviest pumpkin (1,689 lbs), innumerable sports records (eg. covers Bret Favre's first year - 0/4 attempts, the fastest average speed in the Tour de France - Lance Armstrong's 25.9 mph), most millionaires per capita - Norway, with 1 in 86, excluding their main residence, farthest-leaning tower (the bell tower in the Protestant church in Suurhusen, German leans 5.19 degrees, vs. the Leaning Tower of Pisa at 4.0), loudest noise (Krakatoa in Indonesia on 8/27/83 - heard 3,100 miles away, largest city population (Tokyo - over 35 million), largest badger tunnel network (2,883 feet with 50 chambers and 178 entrances.

Definitely will keep you busy!

The book contains spectacular pictures of Jupiter.
There are other curiosities like the world's smallest
hippo. The fastest growing tree is shown in full
color. A gigantic mantis is depicted. In addition,
a grotesque picture of a man with highly elastic
or stretchy skin is shown. A beautiful rendition
of the Arabian Desert indicates that the terrain
is quite sandy compared to other environments.

Overall, the acquisition would be a substantial
curiosity with the 3D photography.

I still buy and read the Guinness Record book every year, because it's become like an old friend that I like to catch up with, but I have to disagree with Birch East.