Product Description

Features unique free downloadable content, the Top 100 Records of the decade, Records for every day of the year and new features on James Bond and the Records that have never been broken - it's the book of the decade.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #687 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-17
• Released on: 2009-09-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

Sorry - The World's Biggest Let Down
I used to be a huge fan of these books, but this is a sad, diluted and dumbed-down version of a classic format. I know that sounds like an adult perspective, but even the kids in this house have expressed surprise - followed by simple indifference and boredom - towards this big mess of garish pictures and pointless facts that aren't related to... anything.

Where are the lists of records and human achievements? Why is there so much focus on American sports? Why are the pages such a sorry mess, making it difficult to extract even the most basic knowledge? It's as if the publishers were embarrassed to include anything so mundane as 'world records' in their books, so they had to hide it behind distracting - and simply ugly - razzamatazz that wouldn't impress even the most easy-to-please 5 yr old.

A sorry mess and a massive disappointment,

Always the best, but this year I discovered something that makes it even better
I first read the Guinness Book of World Records when I was kid back in the 70s, and it's comforting to see it still going strong. I'll say that I definitely preferred the old school text-heavy versions from back in the day to the flourescent lime, 3D photography, picture-fest of today. It's a new world we live in now, so I guess it's hard to fault the Big G for keeping up with the times.

As much as I've long loved the Guinness book itself, I was always a little disappointed that there wasn't a good resource written ABOUT Guinness -- its history, evolution, and especially about how it became the phenomenon that inspires people to carry out such dedicated acts of nuttiness. A few weeks ago in New York, I saw a book profiled in the newspaper titled GETTING INTO GUINNESS by Larry Olmsted. Olmsted is a journalist as well as a two-time GBWR record-holder, and I gave it a try. Well, it's the perfect companion piece to the Guinness book; it puts everything into context and lets you feel like a real insider. 300 pages of fascinating real life stories about the quest for Guinness recordhood, and Amazon has it for under nine pounds. I'll be giving them together as a gift to my nephew. Buy them as a tandem (which is what I should have done) and you'd even get free shipping with Prime! Getting into Guinness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World's Most Famous Record Book

good, but losing it
A book which you can flick through with relative ease. It is perversely interesting to look at men with 98% of their body covered in tattoos or women with half metre toe nails, but beyond a 10-15 minute flick through, you may find yourself thinking the same as me: the publishers need to have a fresh outlook because it is all rather (dare I say it?) 'samey', after years and years of very similar looking record books. I would recommend it if you have not seen one before but if you already have last year's...don't bother!