Customer Reviews

The People's Almanac

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This book is a treasure for the predictions alone. They lead off the book in chapter one "the other side of the looking glass: predictions of present-day psychics". It also has predictions by psychics of the past and modern day scientists. Notables include the Berkeley Psychic Institute, Nostradamus, Leo Tolstoi, Daniel Bell-Sociology prof at harvard, Arthur C. Clarke, Paul Ehrlich of Stanford who wrote the population bomb, Orville Freeman- former secty of Agriculture, Herman Kahn- the 300 pound economist, Margaret Mead, McGeorge Bundy, and Roger Revelle: Dean of research at the Univ. of Calif. and Al Gore's original mentor on the environment. The rest of the book is chock full of interesting tidbits. The self-purported difference between this Almanac and others is that this one avers that it gives you facts with truth and honesty. That is to say it avoids special-interest propaganda and government double-talk. The authors present it as a reference book that tries to be entertaining while giving the reader in-depth material on selected topics rather than endless, dry, bare-bones dates and figures on all subjects. Buy it and be the judge. This is a collector's item for all aging hippies from the Age of Acquarius.

i've been reading this book pretty regularly for the last 15 years and i've never gotten bored with it. the entire series of "people's almanac" books are the finest set of books i've ever read. add this to your collection at all costs.

I bought my copy of this great book over twenty years ago as a teen. What I love most is that it is not a dry compilation of facts, but a wonderful collection of information presented in a fascinating and entertaining way. After all this time, I still get it down from my bookcase and read for the hundredth time about "Footnote People in U. S. History" or "Man-Made Disasters." If you can find a copy, buy it. You won't be disappointed.

David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace have compiled a veritable tome of useful information, widely held and little known facts, and astonishing revelations about the world around us. But it's not merely a fact book or a reference book, it has personality, humor and a kind of charm. It feels like an old friend whenever you consult it. This book is indispensable for your home book collection. Read through this book and you'll find you can't put it down. I've owned this book since it was first published in 1972(?) And find myself consulting it frequently ever since. It's quite tattered and taped now, having been loaned out and re-read so often, but it's still my favorite book.

I have had this book for 8 years. I have read it more than 3 times, and it never gets boring. Put this book in your collection; you will not be sorry.

I originally read this book as a junior in high school (19 years ago!). I still feel that it's one of the most interesting books of its type that I've ever read. I highly recommend this and the original Book of Lists.

get this book no matter what you have to do. You could set down with this book thousands of times and find something new in it.

My parents received this book as a gift when it was published in 1975. Since then, it has kicked around their home and been the source of fascination for our family and friends for thirty-five years.

Much of the information is as accurate today as when it was published. Some subjects have been expanded on or debunked (like the very amusing "predictions section - oh! how disappointed those seers must be not to have witnessed Americans living in Moon colonies or to have survived New York City's submergence under the sea).

Other sections are eminently practical, such as that on different edible fruits and vegetables and their benefits and history, or the presidential profiles, or the Labor/Leftist angled history of the US year by year, many of whose facts are glossed over or little known these days.

As a kid I loved the section on mysterious events though many of those listed have been debunked or partially explained now.

There is a huge section of sports, articles on the history of sex, an excellent and informative essay by Dick Gregory on nutrition where he explains the digestive tract in automotive terms, a history of television, the 14 permutations of the calendar from 1776 through 2000 - the list goes on.

In fact, thirty-five years later and I still find new articles to read in this 1000+ page book! This book was a gateway for all kinds of useful but occasionally obscure information and ideas and I still refer back to it, and I still track down and purchase some of the books noted in the book review section. Some so-called "new" information today was already covered in this book and the others it notes years ago - but every generation seems hell-bent on re-creating the wheel, I supppose.

The price now is absurdly cheap. You will get more out of your five dollars or so than can ever be guaged in terms of money. There are also volumes 2 and 3 which are all different and new for there times in the late 1970s available here at Amazon.

Don't be put off by the other review's comments regarding the "hippy-ness' of this volume. While it does have a leftist slant (and that's not a bad thing) remember how dirty and polluted the USA was when this was published, how we had just crawled out to the light from the darkness of Watergate and realise that this book was attempting to offer some practical answers for living in a world that seemed to be collapsing (much like today, in fact).

Hardly "hippy-ness" - more like common sense. In fact, the section on nutrition alone contains so many examples of information that was already well-known by the mid 1970s yet was forgotten (or deliberately obscured) by 1981 and the beginning of the Reagan era. I was there, I know.

Do check it out, for the price you simply can NOT go wrong.

My favorite article in this book is about all the "bootleg" '57 Chevys sold in used car lots across the USA. Never found any other article/evidence to coroborate this story--truth or urban myth?

Don't know--but tons of articles with nuggets like this poulate this hefty volume--like others here, you'll be reading & re-reading it for years to come....

This superbly readable almanac has loads of interesting tidbits and narratives, and is as relevant today as when it arrived in the mid-1970's. The authors look at such varied topics as world events, history, science, politics, U.S. Presidents, psychic predictions, religion, authors, sex, inventions, etc. Whatever your taste, there is almost certain to be many things of interest to you in this readable and informative book. The authors also have a properly skeptical view of politicians, politics, and propaganda. You can pick this book up for a couple minutes or for several hours, read it in one long sitting, or use it constantly and briefly as a source of reference. The book should be of keen interest to trivia buffs, and though slightly dated, is very much worth having even in this day of internet information.

The father/son author team of Irving Wallace (1916-1990) and David Wallechinsky wrote easy prose that proved very popular with readers. They followed up this winning 1975 effort with PEOPLE'S ALMANAC Volume 2, plus THE BOOK OF LISTS and THE INTIMATE SEX LIVES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE.