The People's Almanac #3

Every one complains if service is poor, few compliment, I am one of the few. This item arrived in a very timely manner and was precisely as advertised. The type of service I expect and seldom receive, in this case I was quite pleased. Also if you have never a read a People's Almanac, sadly there only three published in the late 70's - early 80's they are a trivia lover's dream!

The People's Almanacs were incredibly important to me growing up. My parents had the first two almanacs, and through them I learned about everything from historical events to inventions, religion to sex, movie trivia to more about sports than I ever actually cared about. The hundreds upon hundreds of pages of information packed into each book ended up being read and re-read numerous times over the years, and I still have the original copies in my home today. So I was excited to find out there was a third volume out there. I'm rather sad to say that this one wasn't quite as good as the other two. It wasn't as long, and it seemed as though the editors were rather stretching for content this time around. Still, I found it to be a very informative read. I particularly liked the stories of real-life castaways and how they survived, bios of famous gangsters, and the descriptions of unusual collections. The articles came across as well-researched (as always) and covered a variety of aspects of human existence. This third almanac was true to the format, too, with a nice array of illustrations to perk up the text a bit. Overall, while I didn't like this one as much as the first two, the third People's Almanac is definitely staying on the shelf with the other two.

David Wallechinsky holds a special place in my heart because he is an author who makes both well known and obscure history interesting. People's Almanac III, the final piece of the PA trilogy, is another book, along with The Book of Lists series, that is enjoyable and interesting. By the time this book came out it appeared that the authors were starting to rehash some of the material that was featured in the two earlier books of the series. I nevertheless consider this book well worth the money and a good read. Mr. Wallechinsky's interest and research pertaining to history, and the effort he made producing these books, was appreciated by me, and on behalf of those who read all three books, I would like to offer my gratitude. Anyone who has the desire to impress their friends as being an intellectual would be well served by reading these three books, as they serve as a crash course in history while being entertaining as well. Producing these is an achievement in which Mr. Wallechinsky and his associates can take great pride.