I have never really understood the fascination people have for books of lists although I have to admit that the two that have crossed my desk this week did stop me in my tracks somewhat and I ended up spending a few fascinating hours browsing through them.
THE NEW ZEALAND BOOK OF LISTS
Steve Barnett & John McCrystal
Random House $30
With two authors such as these, both full of curiosity about so many quirky subjects, and both with long track records as writers on a diverse bunch of subjects, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to have found their book a delightful, and frequently hilarious, timewaster.
Look for the ten most frequently traded items on Trade Me, 22 famous Australians born in New Zealand, the five ugliest covers ever bestowed on NZ fiction, 99 bad puns with the word “bull” displayed in the town of Bulls, 115 adverstisements that got us fuming, 15 prime snogging spots, 17 foods New Zealanders miss when they are overseas, and a whole heap more besides.
This is Kiwi trivia at its very best. A bit on the pricey side to be a Christmas stocking stuffer , (really needs to be $19.95), but I have no doubt that is where many will end up.
TOP TEN OF EVERYTHING
Russell Ash Hamlyn $45
This book seems to me to be especially good value. A large and attractive hardback book filled with colour photograps, drawings and diagrams, and of course all built around heaps of trivia, this is real gift territory material, think Guinness Book of Records.
Here are a handful of the featured Top 10’s:
10 youngest Oscar winning actresses
10 largest Jewish populations (Israel is # 2)
10 largest buddhist populations
10 oldest universities
10 fattest US Presidents
10 tallest building in UK – top three all at Canary Wharf in London
Top 10 films of the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s
Top 10 coffee drinkers – Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway are top four.
Top 10 environmental performance index countries (NZ is # 1)
The book is chocker full of fascinating stuff with the Top Ten lists divided into 10 categories: The Universe & The Earth, Life on Earth, The Human World, Town & Country, Culture, Music, Stage & Screen, The Commercial World, Transport & Tourism, Sport & Leisure.
One of the items that really interested me was the list of top 10 cities in the UK, by population, 100 years ago and today. London is # 1 in both lists but there are two cities on today’s list that were not on the list 100 years ago – Bradford and Edinburgh – and surprisingly some of the cities have smaller populations today that they had 100 years ago. Glasgow eg had a population of 847,584 in 1907 whereas in the last census it had dropped to 577,670 and dropped from # 2 to # 4 on the list.
Russell Ash Hamlyn $45
This book seems to me to be especially good value. A large and attractive hardback book filled with colour photograps, drawings and diagrams, and of course all built around heaps of trivia, this is real gift territory material, think Guinness Book of Records.
Here are a handful of the featured Top 10’s:
10 youngest Oscar winning actresses
10 largest Jewish populations (Israel is # 2)
10 largest buddhist populations
10 oldest universities
10 fattest US Presidents
10 tallest building in UK – top three all at Canary Wharf in London
Top 10 films of the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s
Top 10 coffee drinkers – Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway are top four.
Top 10 environmental performance index countries (NZ is # 1)
The book is chocker full of fascinating stuff with the Top Ten lists divided into 10 categories: The Universe & The Earth, Life on Earth, The Human World, Town & Country, Culture, Music, Stage & Screen, The Commercial World, Transport & Tourism, Sport & Leisure.
One of the items that really interested me was the list of top 10 cities in the UK, by population, 100 years ago and today. London is # 1 in both lists but there are two cities on today’s list that were not on the list 100 years ago – Bradford and Edinburgh – and surprisingly some of the cities have smaller populations today that they had 100 years ago. Glasgow eg had a population of 847,584 in 1907 whereas in the last census it had dropped to 577,670 and dropped from # 2 to # 4 on the list.
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