Customer Reviews

Guinness World Records 2002

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Guiness has yet again made a great book. In its great monstosity and colorful fotos, the Guiness Book of Records for the year 2001 is a fun and education read. This book is packed with feats mastered from around the globe with records set from anywhere between most days spent in an attic to farthest pull of a train with the use of teeth.

I really enjoyed looking at the broad pictures while reading what was being performed in the fotos. These "athletes" from around the globe deserve a standing ovation for their wonderful talents and their kindness to publish their feats in a world renown book.

The Guiness Book of Records is really for any ages and offers a very convenient category index so you don't have to keep searching to find the record you want to look at.

As I have said, i really enjoyed this book and anyone who buys will feel the same. Happy reading and thanks for looking at my review!

When I was younger, I would read the Guinness book (1976 edition) with awe and fascination. Now I read it with disdain. I never did like the "stunt" records, always preferring the more "natural" records - longest snake, deepest lake, fastest train, highest building, largest national park - stuff like that. Now I'm given dumb stuff like "Most Valuable Piece of Madonna Clothing" or "Most Extreme Sports Participated in by a Dog" or "Fastest Cyclist on a Glacier." Please, give me something that I can care about! Did I see a commercial for the Guinness TV show about a guy who tried to put the most clothespins on his face?!? What is that?!?

The Guinness organization, once the definitive authority for world superlatives, has turned itself into the leading provider of answers to questions that nobody is asking.

This is definitely not the Guinness Book of my youth. Since I had possessed my last Guinness Book of World Records (circa 1972), crass commercialization has hit the Guinness organization in the form of the TV series of the same name. New useless categories have been invented (like the longest distance someone has shot spaghetti from their nose). That has served to cheapen the product. Also of very limited value are the hi-tech categories, especially the computer category. What's the use of listing the record for the biggest hard drive when that record was probably already broken by the time the book first hit the stores? Consult the latest computer magazines for the current "biggest and best".

Once past these obstacles, there is a lot of good information here. Many of the categories are quite educational, especially dealing with science, transportation, the human body, and (legitimate) athletics. In addition, the book is a treat for the eyes, with color photographs and color-coded sections. All in all, this is a publication of varying usefulness, but it's almost always entertaining. Almost.

Over the years, the Guinness Book of Records has evolved, and it hasn't always been good evolution. On the plus side, the fact that the book now contains many pictures (some quite grotesque) makes it more interesting than its early predecessors. That it now contains 30% drivel is not so positive. Commercialisation has done its worst to the Guinness Media since the loss of Ross McWherter. In my youth (a couple of years after Noah landed), the Guinness Book was a genuine work of reference that cataloged man's truimph over nature, himself and anything else that got in his way. Now, we seem to have categories for the most obscure, brainless schemes and, what's worse, those new uninteresting sections are included at the expense of the genuine achievements (or underachievements) of others.

For style, the new Guinness Books are a great improvement. For content, I much preferred the originals

This a great book packed with awesome, funny records. This book is really, really fun to look at.

I have the hard copy and it was initially purchased for my husband but before long I was reading it and then our children were reading it. This edition is very welly done and makes for a great accounting of our time. The photographs are vibrant and there is a wealth of information on a large variety of subjects. Something here for all ages and both sexes!

I have suggested this title to friends who have purchased it for their husbands and their children!

As an adult reader returning to the series for the first time in many years, I found the maximum-volume graphic emphasis to be very off-putting. From the headache-inducing techno-art on the cover to the gruesome pictures of severe frostbite and Hiroshima victims inside, simply looking at the book was often an unpleasant experience. Enormous photographs of Anna Kournikova hiking up the panties up her tennis outfit and a Brazilian female beach volleyball player bent forward with her butt pointing at the camera contribute a different sense of unwholesomeness to the proceedings.

I suppose younger readers would like all of the above; perhaps Guinness is aiming this book at them.

This book is probally the best Guinness yet. It has the most colorful photographs, and so much information. The subjects range to genius kids to super-sonic aircraift-amzing sprort recors, science discoverys, and tons of more subjects. This is the right book for you if you love records. I would recomend it more than any other educational book right now!

I must begin by admitting that I am not, I think, a target reader for the Guinness Book Of World Records, but I purchesed it for my 11 years old son, Scott, who, I suspect is. It's clearly not the Guinness Book of my youth, with its whizz-bang design and garish photos, but, hey, life moves on.

However, when I showed it to my son, he was none too impressed either. He was dismissive of the low quality of the photos, which he described as "bad screen grabs". I thought the shot of Miss Britney Spears at her most alluring would tempt him, but he sighed - he's a fan of Slip Knot and thinks Britney's "for little kids". Even the picture of a beach volleyball player shoving her toned rear end toward the camera (a shot I hid from Scott's mother!) just drew a shrug. I suppose he can get much hotter stuff on the Web, if he wants.

This isn't a scientific study, but I think my son's a pretty average North American kid. It would seem that by "dumbing down" the book, Guinness have lost one level of readership, but aren't as in tune with a new generation (my son's) as they would like to think, so they risk losing that level as well. A re-think is needed before next year, or this fine old institution will slip away. Guinness beware!

This book was O.K. I liked most of it. It was also quite large, compared to some of the most recent ones. However it was in black and white. It was interesting, but if you have young kids then I would not suggest it. It does have a few disturbing pictures. Overall I would give it a 7/10. If you are wondering if I would recomend it, it would depend on your age. I also would not recomend it to people who get quesy very easily. Thank you for taking the time to read my review.