The Guinness Book of Records 1999 (Guinness) |
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Pages: 336 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0851120709 Pub: Guinness World Records Limited Pub date: 1998-10-09 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 82557 |
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Editorial Review:
Transatlantic research teams, based in London and Stamford, Connecticut, have collected the latest records which reflect the state of the world in The Guinness Book of Records 1999. There are more hi-tech and computer records than in the 1998 edition. There are new music and fashion sections and lots more on stars and celebrities. A Sports Reference section lists important world records in a quick-access format. The records that stand out this year? Richard Noble's breaking of the land speed record, the amazing success of the film Titanic, and the winning of an 8th gold medal at the Nagano Olympic Games by Nordic skier Bjørn Dæhlie.
Reader Reviews:
It was the best edition of the book yet. (1/1 people found this helpful)
I bought the 1999 edition of the guiness book for my father for Christmas, but first reviewed it. I was amazed at the content of it and how well catigories were chosen, and how the book was put together. I was so impressed that I weny out and bought the book for myself. I own all of the editions of the '90's and comparing it to others, it is the best. I enjoy not only filping through it, but there is one record I am looking into passing, because this book is very inspiring.
It was filled with interesting facts and info. (0/0 people found this helpful)
I thought this book was pretty good.I only gave it a 4 because not everything was completly up to date.But the book was very good,I'm not sayong I didnt like it! Some of interesting facts were the pages on body transformation and life. It was pretty well organized-this book basically rocked!!
Death of a Reference Book (1/1 people found this helpful)
I buy a Guinness Book of Records every few years to bring myself up to date - I last bought one in 1993, and comparing the 1999 version to it is dismaying to say the least. For decades Guinness has been the number one reference book in the field of superlatives. It has always been entertaining, for use by children, casual browsers, and trivia lovers; and authoritative, for academics and quizmasters. Its completeness and accuracy have never been questioned. This latest edition is a triumph of style over content. The Smash-Hits-esque design is one completely dominated by photographs, with words apologetically inserted inbetween and over. To complete the look, all that is needed is an introduction by Zoe Ball or Chris Evans. The result of this is masses of information left out - I could find no trace of the largest bell in the world (the Tsar Kolokol) at all, while interesting side information, like the facts that the tallest man in the world had a 37AA shoe size, and was six feet tall when he was eight years old, are omitted. It gets worse - the most important quality for a record-breaker in this edition is fame. There are sections on Hollywood, Movie Stars, TV Stars, Pop Stars, Supermodels, Diana and Royalty, Celebrity Icons, High Fashion. The 1999 edition is symptomatic of the dumbing-down of our society and the ascendancy of yoof culture. I await the year 2000 'Lads' edition, edited by Melinda Messenger, with dread.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Reference -> Fun Facts & Trivia -> Amazing Facts
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English