24 June 2013

Review: The Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky & Amy Wallace

The Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky & Amy Wallace book cover
The Book of Lists - The Original Compendium of Curious Information by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace is a clever non-fiction collection of trivia and interesting stories and information broken down into the following chapters:

  • People
  • Movies
  • The Arts
  • Food and Health
  • Animails
  • Work and Money
  • Sex, Love and Marriage
  • Crime
  • War, Politics and World Affairs
  • Travel
  • Literature
  • Words
  • Sports
  • Death
  • Miscellaneous

The book gets its title because all information contained within each chapter is presented in list form.  For example, in Chapter 1, People, we have a list of 6 People Whose Names Were Changed By Accident; which happens to include: Buddy Holly and Oprah Winfrey.

Here are some of my favourite lists from the book:

  • 8 Memorable Lines Erroneously Attributed To Film Stars (Movies)
  • 10 Famous Insomniacs (Food & Health)
  • 10 Really Unusual Medical Conditions (Food & Health)
  • The Cat Came Back: 9 Cats Who Travelled Long Distances To Return Home (Animals)
  • 15 Famous People Who Worked In Bed (Work & Money)
  • 11 Most Unusual Objects Sold on eBay  (Work & Money)
  • Witticisms of 9 Condemned Criminals (Crime)
  • 29 Words Rarely Used In Their Positive Form (Words)
  • 10 Celebrated People Who Read Their Own Obituaries (Death)
  • 16 Famous Events That Happened In The Bathtub (Miscellaneous)

The Book of Lists is the perfect book to have on the coffee table so that others may enjoy the obscure trivia and hilarity within its pages.  I also found it a great accompaniment to a novel I was reading at the time; enabling me to interchange quite easily depending on my mood.

The Book of Lists contains a wide variety of interesting tidbits, and I just hope I can remember them all.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Would you like to comment?

  1. I love these sort of books with their obscure random bits of information!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  2. Well you'd love this book then!

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  3. Oh man, this one also sounds right up my alley! I love this kind of trivia and it would be a really perfect coffee table book/conversation starter!

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  4. Hi Christine, you're absolutely right! It's the perfect coffee table book, but don't be surprised if your guests become engrossed in the book and stop socialising!

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Thanks for your comment, Carpe Librum!