Five Rings, Six Crises, Seven Dwarfs, and 38 Ways to Win an Argument: Numerical Lists You Never Knew or Once Knew and Probably Forgot

by John Boswell

Numerical lists in various categories

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Trivia, Collections

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author by this name in the database. See authors with similar names.

Reviews

[W.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like books of lists and this one is small but a keeper. Schopenhauer's "38 Way to Win an Argument" is clearly the best list in here and a CLASSIC little essay. But you can just Google it and read it without buying this book. This is definitely in the category "baffroom litrachur."

[Endtroducer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a constant companion of mine. Anytime I'm bored and looking to brush up on esoteric lists, I gently withdraw this beaten tome and take to it like a junkie to a needle.

[Callie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounded fun, but is now outdated and could find information faster and more accurate on the internet, not that you should believe everything you read on the internet, but the same can be said of some books.

First, there were a number of errors in factual information in some places of the book, so that is not a good thing.

Second, some of the content was really dense and would have been better broken into smaller segments or something that fit more with the "fun" type title. While the title is on point as far as it having lists of items, and it's broken into groups, some things feel more like an outline for a paper for further development.

My final conclusion after getting through heavy ended topics, errors, and outdated information is that I would have better to spent my time researching specific items I was actually interested in finding out more about. Better than than getting a boatload of information that I was uninterested in or found to be incorrect by "mistake" or by being outdated.

I finished the book cover to cover, but if present me would have told past me not to buy this book and why, I would have listened and saved my time for a book better suited for my interests. Others may enjoy, I cannot say the same.

[iTeachADH · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of information that is useful for our general knowledge and can be used for entertainment. There are some things that kids won't understand, but still it is a great, entertaining, fabulous and amazing book.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a book of trivia lists, some interesting, some too long.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but dated.