Guinness World Records 2007 (Hardcover)

by Guinness World Records (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Discover the most impressive world records with the latest edition from Guinness! Inside this packed reference, you ll find every conceivable record; from football legends to console gaming, action sports, graphic novels, and podcasting to music and movie stars, you re sure too find a topic that catches your interest. Each page features interesting articles, full-color photos, and plenty of documented world records.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Guinness (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904994121
• ISBN-13: 978-1904994121
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #338,303 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A tragic decline, August 19, 2006

By	M. Bell "the truth" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No longer intended to be a comprehensive reference, the Guinness Book is now a sort of compilation of interesting superlatives with oversized pictures and many features that aren't even actual records ("Most Overrated Celebrity"). If you're going to do this, why not offer one edition that plays it by the book?

So dies a noble institution.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Reading, October 10, 2006

By	LibraryLady2 (Forsyth, MO) - See all my reviews

I'm giving this book four out of five stars because the vast majority of the material is interesting, not the least offensive, and gets kids to read. The one picture of Janet and Justin shows less skin than many pictures of the athletes. Yes, it was a poor choice in topic by Guinness and they need to be made aware they are pandering to the lowest common denominator there (and we don't appreciate it), BUT overall, the book simply acknowledges the huge variety of life to be found on this planet. I do agree a better title would be something like Guinness Guide to the Weird and Extreme.

As a school librarian who sees kids in grades 7-12, I am more than happy to continue to provide Guinness World Record books to students. They really DO get kids reading when they otherwise simply check out and return a book just to keep a teacher from nagging at them. If parents and/or students find something offensive, they can simply return the book to the library, mention their concerns (and possibly remove similar titles from their OWN child's list of allowed books) and get something else. One little group of parents do NOT have the right to tell all other parents/grandparents/guardians what their kids can or cannot read, and there is NO doubt in my mind whatsoever that the overwhelming majority of parents will not find this book objectionable. Certainly, there are many examples here of people who would obviously benefit from mental help, but these are stories about things and people who are different in form and thought, not morally warped. The people that truly scare me are the ones who think kids need to be stuck in boxes and totally isolated from anyone who doesn't think like their parents do. How on earth does a child learn to make decisions that are in her/his/everyone's best interest if her caregivers attempt to remove even the most MINOR examples of poor values (like the ones in this book--we're not talking murder and mayhem here) from her life and refuse to talk about them? To some degree, we learn good by comparing it to bad. The best thing to do if you are concerned about what a kid is reading/viewing/living is to TALK to him about it...not put blinders on him and refuse to allow him any exposure to the rest of the world. Really, people, there is NOTHING pornographic in this book unless warped little minds make it so.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun reading - more shocks than facts, November 17, 2006

By	Dennis R. Mitton "tolstoy" (pacific nw, usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book has changed a lot since I was a kid paging through a two hundred page black-and-white paperback. This hardbound edition beats all the almanacs and bathroom readers for fun and information. The book is filled with mostly color photos and, obviously, tons of weird bests and greatests like "The World's Oldest Piece of Cake." (4,200 years old!) The oversized edition allows for bigger pictures and includes color fold-outs and tear-out trading cards. The series has moved from a compendium of facts to a more Ripleys like shocker but it's still great fun for a rainy day.