Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Book Report: <i>The Book of Lists 1990s Edition</i> by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace (1993)

Book Report: The Book of Lists 1990s Edition by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace (1993)

I have been a fan of the Book of Lists series since my middle school days, when I bought the first Book of Lists as a paperback at a flea market just up the hill from the trailer park in which I lived. I've even read The People's Almanac, for crying out loud.

From a name that includes The People's Almanac, you can guess that the authors lean a little left of center. Now that they're flogging more recent history, it becomes more apparent. For example, the following list:

Presidents of the latter half of the 20th Century who were The Devil:

Ronald Reagan
Richard Nixon
George Bush
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Well, perhaps that list didn't appear in the book, but it could have. The authors rely a lot more on Exclusive for Book of Lists as their source material, which means that now that people have heard of it, the authors could send out a questionnaire instead of doing research. Not that all of the lists are like that; just a lot more than in previous editions, as I recollect.

For those of you not familiar with the concept, essentially the authors come up with chapter titles and then coalesece lists around them. Or vice versa, they come up with a bunch of trivia lists and make chapters to reflect it. Regardless, it's just a pile of trivia on a bunch of topics.

The book best serves as a sort of brainstorm for further research, as it's probably foolish to cite this book as a comprehensive or even correct source. Which could serve, ultimately, as the beginnings of many, many essays or articles if I don't just throw the book on my read shelves and forget about it.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:03 PM