What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? and 100 Other Great Cultural Lists--Fully Explicated

Rating:
Summary: Great book, lots of information
Review: This is a wonderful book. Great for all the trivia buffs out there. Seven Wonders is filled with a variety of questions and interesting answers. I would love for the authors to compile another like this one. This one is on my top 10 list of great trivia books. Highly recommended to all.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, in-depth information on significant lists
Review: This is one of those books where you can pick it up and learn something about a specific topic no matter how many paragraphs you read. For me, it's too easy to keep flipping pages and forget about how much time is going by. Anyone who likes trivia of a historical, scientific, religious, or geographical nature (to name a few categories) is likely to feel satisfied that a particular topic of research was not glossed over simply to provide "the list." Authors Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish seem to have done their homework, and their writing style is straightforward and always engaging.

To give an example of how much information and detail can be found, question #49 asks "What are the 6 ranges of the human voice?" Aside from simply naming the categories, the ensuing four pages cover a description of the anatomy of singing, voice characterizations and harmonic structures, before continuing in great detail about the specific vocal ranges (upper and lower frequencies), noteworthy singers, and even a history of which operatic pieces were written for which voices. You can read as much detail as you want; there's certainly lots of information to learn about.

There are 101 lists (i.e., questions), ranging from "3" to "24." The most common groups are "3" and "7," each of which has nineteen lists. Five of the groupings contain only one list (e.g., "What are the 20 regions of Italy?"). Probably like most people, I was hoping to learn about some subjects that don't happen to appear in this book, for instance, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame and the fourteen Stations of the Cross. Still, there's enough interesting subject matter and good reading to keep anyone happy for quite a while. Definitely worth a 5-star rating.


Rating:
Summary: Almost everyone could find an entry that fascinated them!
Review: This is the kind of book that is really not meant to be read through, but rather browsed. I am the type that tries to read through books not meant to be read through, and I must admit I found some entries a little dry. However, others were amoung the most fascinating reading I've ever done. My favorite was probably the title entry on the seven ancient wonders. I had NO idea that the pyramids were that huge! I also loved the entry on Henry VIII's wives. Very well written, scholary, and eye opening!