Guinness World Records 2001

Guinness World Records

by Tim Footman (director), Christopher Irwin (director)

Now presented in the format of the latest Websites, "Guiness World Records 2001" offers new statistics on everything from sports to computer games to science & stars. Includes over 4000 entries covering 200 categories. Full-color art throughout.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Tim Footman (born 1968) is an English author, journalist and editor. He was educated at Churcher's College, Appleby College in Canada, the University of Exeter, and Birkbeck University.
He is the author of a number of books about popular music, including Welcome to the Machine: OK Computer and the Death of the Classic Album, a study of Radiohead's groundbreaking 1997 album OK Computer and its impact on contemporary music. He also contributed a chapter on Baudrillard and Radiohead to the volume Radiohead and Philosophy. His most recent books are The Noughties 2000-2009: A Decade That Changed the World and Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah - A New Biography.
His work has appeared in The Guardian, Mojo, Time Out, Prospect, the Bangkok Post, The National, the Sunday Post, Yorkshire Post, BBC Online, CNNGo, Drowned in Sound, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Aeon, Zembla, Twill and the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies. He is a contributor to the Guardian's comment website Comment is Free and the Prospect blog First Drafts. He appeared in the BBC2 documentary TV series History of Now (2010) and the Arte documentary film The World According to Radiohead (2019).
From 1999 to 2001, he was the editor of Guinness World Records, during which time its emphasis became markedly more light-hearted. Before this he was editor of the PUSH Guide to University.
He has made appearances on several UK television and radio quiz show including Mastermind, University Challenge, The Weakest Link, Brain of Britain, Counterpoint and Win Beadle's Money.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given the 1962 hardcover edition of the Guinness Book as an elementary schooler. I found it utterly fascinating, reading it from cover to cover in short order and referring to it frequently thereafter, if only to settle arguments. Contemporary editions are very pale reflections of that one. Sure, now they have lots of big colored pictures while in '62 there were only small, black and white prints. They also have a lot less text and now fail to convey any sense of completeness (not that the '62 edition was 'complete', whatever that might mean). Sure, some of it is amusing, but the intellectual level of the whole seems to have descended to the level long occupied by the various editions of Ripley's Believe it or Not.

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Guinness books get worse and worse. This one is quite okay, though.

[Kristen Thorley]

It was a fad at that time of my life

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love browsing through records.

[Ethan]

Intresting

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a popular book with children, they love showing everyone gross facts they can find
a collection of weird facts

[Johnny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is when Guinness turned bad. Glossy photos, cutesy text and a collapsed breadth. Pffft.

[Micah Rasmussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people waste their lives on breaking records like this?.. for what?