# The sad downfall of The Guinness Book of Records?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 31, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062 "2014-08-31T18:31:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/41 "2014-09-03T11:08:30Z")
Cunctator: how old are you? When did you get your 1st GBOWR?
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/42 "2014-09-03T12:15:21Z")
I read the Guinness Book as a child in the 1970s. They were all hardback editions. And so was the edition I flipped through a few years ago that I mentioned in my earlier post.
I didn’t know that it came in a paperback version.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/43 "2014-09-03T13:13:33Z")
The one I recall from my childhood was a very large, very dense paperback from the late 70s or early 80s. I would spend a lot of time randomly flipping through it.
I also was very disappointed to see it change.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/44 "2014-09-03T14:32:08Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> The one I recall from my childhood was a very large, very dense paperback from the late 70s or early 80s. I would spend a lot of time randomly flipping through it.
Same here. I remember them looking like [this](http://www.paperbackswap.com/Guinness-Book-World-Norris-McWhirter/book/055312370X/). I think most kids bought them through the Scholastic book club.
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/45 "2014-09-03T14:57:40Z")
> [@suranyi](#):
>
> See but I liked to browse for random facts. Not just look things up.
That’s just it. I never knew that I would be interested in the “last public guillotining” in France, or the deadliest Thug, until I stumbled across them by random in the Guinness book.
Sometimes I wonder how we re-create that experience electronically. I’m not sure I know.
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### Author:  [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/46 "2014-09-03T15:22:18Z")
Freddy-Wiki walking.
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/47 "2014-09-03T18:53:09Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#):
>
> That’s just it. I never knew that I would be interested in the “last public guillotining” in France, or the deadliest Thug, until I stumbled across them by random in the Guinness book.
>
> Sometimes I wonder how we re-create that experience electronically. I’m not sure I know.
There are various “fact of the day” sites like [damn interesting](http://www.damninteresting.com/) that you could subscribe to their email newsletter.
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### Author:  [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/48 "2014-09-03T19:43:21Z")
> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> It’s kind of sad that I remember seeing that picture as a kid and being amazed at the size of those two guys.
> Nowdays I see people like that everyday at Walmart and don’t give them a second look.
I too vividly remember the two dudes on motorcycles. It’s sorta a cultural icon. The Simpsons had those two riding their motorcycles through a store in one episode.
When I was a kid it had things like the tallest man, or the fastest car. Some of the records I see now are a joke. I’m totally serious when I say that some guy set a record for the most squat thrusts on top of an elephant.
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### Author:  [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/49 "2014-09-03T19:44:31Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> I read the Guinness Book as a child in the 1970s. They were all hardback editions. And so was the edition I flipped through a few years ago that I mentioned in my earlier post.
>
> I didn’t know that it came in a paperback version.
I started getting them mid-70s and never knew there was anything but the paperback version.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/50 "2014-09-03T19:51:45Z")
This thread finally made me break down and take a look. The big thick paperback version of our youth (I still have the 93 version at my mom’s house) is still being produced: [http://www.amazon.com/Guinness-World-Records-Craig-Glenday/dp/0553390554](http://www.amazon.com/Guinness-World-Records-Craig-Glenday/dp/0553390554)
It doesn’t look like it’s exactly the same. But the inside view looks a lot more like the Guinness I remember than the big hardcovers that I’ve flipped through most recently.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/51 "2014-09-03T20:23:26Z")
Another vote of sad nostalgic regret for the marvel that was the 1970s paperback edition.
I liked the scientific precision – how everything was given with its proper name; like the statue of Crazy Horse, which gives his Sioux name.
I particularly loved the page that listed calamities by type, in descending order of casualties. Starting with Worst Plague (Black Death, 13th century, millions & millions dead) down through Worst Mountaineering Accident and Most Eaten by Crocodiles.
OK, I was a tad morbid as a lad. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/52 "2014-09-03T21:01:18Z")
IIRC, I had 1980 and '84 editions, both paperbacks.
> [@hogarth](#):
>
> I think Wikipedia is the last nail in the coffin, but the first time I can remember it being truly crappy was the Millenium Edition in 2000 which predates Wikipedia.
FWIU, the Internet put the Guinness Records Company in danger of going under so they had to find a way to expand their appeal. They did so by aiming the book at Millennials.
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### Author:  [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2014, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/53 "2014-09-04T06:02:07Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> I read the Guinness Book as a child in the 1970s. They were all hardback editions. And so was the edition I flipped through a few years ago that I mentioned in my earlier post.
>
> I didn’t know that it came in a paperback version.
Ditto, must be Australian versions. I had 1975, 77, 79, 82 and (a hopeless) 2001, all hardbacks. Gave them all to my 7yo great-nephew just a couple of weeks ago.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/54 "2014-09-04T09:17:03Z")
> [@Cugel](#):
>
> Ditto, must be Australian versions.
Or it may have been a Commonwealth/US thing.
I liked the hardback editions. They carried a certain ‘gravitas’ which you don’t get from a paperback.
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### Author:  [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/55 "2014-09-04T21:11:06Z")
Saw today that the Who were the loudest band as of the '70s.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/56 "2014-09-05T04:23:35Z")
Libraries carried Guinness in the hardback version. In the reference section. That’s how you knew it was a serious grownup tome.
> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> Guinness back in the day was really a fun book in the guise of a serious “grown up” book, and I think that was one of the big attractions.
Yup.
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/57 "2014-09-05T05:03:00Z")
I owned multiple Guiness Books as a child (editions from 1971 to 1984, mostly paperback) and it was great to compare versions to see what records were surpassed and what content was changed. And also just to randomly look through the book and wonder about the backstories. Why on earth did a “religious dentist” save the two million teeth he’d extracted? (For that matter, how do you get a job as a religious dentist?) Why does sand yatchting exist? Why did two guys in Kiev have a face slapping contest in 1931–and settle for a draw after 31 hours?
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sad-downfall-of-the-guinness-book-of-records/697062/58 "2014-10-02T17:00:06Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#):
>
> This thread finally made me break down and take a look. The big thick paperback version of our youth (I still have the 93 version at my mom’s house) is still being produced: [Guinness World Records 2014: Glenday, Craig: 9780553390551: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/Guinness-World-Records-Craig-Glenday/dp/0553390554)
>
> It doesn’t look like it’s exactly the same. But the inside view looks a lot more like the Guinness I remember than the big hardcovers that I’ve flipped through most recently.
A bit belated, but thanks for finding this. I’m putting the 2015 version on my Christmas wish list, hopefully it’s the similar denser format than the abomination versions.
> **[Guinness World Records 2015: Guinness World Records: 9781908843630: Amazon.com:...](https://www.amazon.com/Guinness-World-Records-2015/dp/1908843632)**
>
> Guinness World Records 2015 \[Guinness World Records\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Guinness World Records 2015
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