As a kid my friends and I were fascinated with world records. One Christmas I received a copy of The Guinness Book of World Records. It was a trade sized book with pages as thin as the phone book. (For those of you under 30 the phone book contained the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of everyone in a given area) Even so it was easily the thickest book I owned. We perused the books thousands of records searching for the most obscure and strangest. The image of the man with the longest fingernails, which stretched out of his fingertips in great spirals, remains fresh in my mind.
Since it’s initial publication in 1955 over 100 million copies have been sold in more than 37 different languages and 100 countries. Oddly enough, this performance earns the Guinness Book of Records the record for the most sales of a copywrite title. Released annually, the 2017 edition was published in 23 languages and 100 countries. The book was the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver and fellow Guinness Brewing employee Christopher Chataway, which explains its name. Conceived as a resource to resolve arguments in pubs, it is now considered the authoritative source for records of human endeavor and natural phenomenon. The book became so popular that it has spawned museums and a television series.
The Guinness World Records company tracks more than 40,000 records. The latest version of the book contains only 4,000 of them, but in a nod to our more visually driven society does feature more pictures. Many of the records are listed on the website, but even it doesn’t include all of them. If the record you’re interested in is not listed, you can verify a record by contacting the company directly. The company updates its records weekly, so even a response from them may have a short life.
That brings us to our map of the week courtesy of Guinness Book of World Records. It features an interesting record from each state in the US.
World Records by State
Which record do you find most interesting or unusual? Did any of you participate in any of these events? Perhaps a reader from South Dakota is a Mashed Potato Wrestler? Maybe someone from Washington was in the largest snowball fight. Feel free to comment below.
As always thanks for reading.
Armen
Note to Pay the Bills: While it’s no threat to Guinness’s status as the best-selling book of all time, my Misaligned Series is my most popular. Underpinned by Welsh mythology and the basic elements of String Theory, the three book series explores the intersection of science and myth. Check out a summary of the series here or find links to purchase books here.