Book Of Lists, The - Irwing Wallace

I am also a fan of Irving Wallace. In fact I have a collections of most of his books, which I collected during my College days. The article has been written lucidly and gives a good and honest picture of the Great Author. I only hope that the readership for this author increases and believe me when I say that when you take the books of Irving Wallace in your hands to read, it is very difficult to leave the book unfinished. I am sure this has been the experience of all the readers of this Author. Hats off to the great Author. The amount of material the Author has collected to write each of his book, must have taken years before venturing into writing the book. This shows the dedication of the Author to the subject of his novel. One can gain a lot of knowledge of different systems, even though one is reading a work of fiction.

I am a great fan of Irwing Wallace. I have read most of his books. The good thing about the author is that he chooses a subject and introduces to the reader with a great story. By favourites are as follows :

a) The Word : It is a story on Bible. The initial 150 pages are difficult to read, wherein he describes in detail on what Bible contains and what it does not contain. The story is about a person who tries to fake a new Bible and whether he succeeds is the crux of the story.

b) The Man : This book deals with a peculiar law in USA, where if a President dies in office, vice-president succeeds, failing which the Speaker succeeds, failing which Protem Speaker (Person who acts as a Speaker in his absence). In the story, the Vice President dies, the President and Speaker together killed in a bomb blast which makes Protem Speaker the President. In the story, Protem Speaker is a Negro (a post given to satisfy minorities) and hence becomes the President. How much it shocks the Americans (read Whites) and how they react to the situation forms the crux of the story.

c) The Almighty : This book gives a close look on the business of newpapers and how they go to any length to create stories for his newspapers and increase the circulation.

d) The Prize : This is a book on Nobel Prize and should be definitely read on the true stories surrounding the Nobel Prizes and how in many cases prizes are awarded for reasons other than merit. One of the most interesting anecdote is the story of how Rabindranath Tagore got his Nobel prize. The only weak link is the central story which is rather weak.

e) The R Document : This tells a story of introduction of emergency provision (similar to that of Indian Constitution) in USA, for bringing authoriterian rule in USA. This book coincidently released in India during emergency and hence got banned.

'You are cordially invited to the Impeachment Trial of America's first Black President'..says the book cover!Really fantastic,superb and inspirational work by Mr.Irving Wallace.More commendable because was written by him when this 'Black-White' issue was very sensitive and controversial then.

This sensational novel was published in 1964.Then the situation in America concerning this color discrimination was a major one.In spite of this,the venerable author was audacious to come up with 'The Man'.

'The Man' is all about a mild-mannered Black man 'Douglass Dilman' who ends up being the President of the United States accidently.He is plotted against by the members of his own cabinet as well as by few black terrorists;while his own son,a black militant,accuses him of being dangerously conservative.

In spite of these stratagems,he proves himself to be a good President who took decisions for the good of his country and not merely for 'Blacks' or 'Whites' but for his countrymen.

Every decision of his had to go through many hurdles,but that did not curb his determinations because he knew he was going the right way.He was truly 'The Man' who could be looked upon by every individual.He was even taken to the court by his opponents and was accused against four articles-His Impeachment Trial!But as it is rightly said-'Truth always triumphs' he was voted Not Guilty after days of hard work by his friend cum lawyer Nat Abrahams.

Its indeed a miraculous piece of work-something every human being should read.Actor James Earl Jones who played Dilman in the movie 'The Man' by Rod Sterling said, ''it's a prophetic novel'' and it indeed is!!

There are several volumes of The Book of Lists; three were published in the late 1970's and and early 1980's, while a fourth was published in the 1990's. All are tremendous sources of trivia. All the books follow the same format: the various lists are divided into chapters by topic. Thus, all the animal-related lists will be grouped in the same chapter. All the books have similarly-themed chapters, as well. So, each book has a chapter devoted to animals. Each book will also have a chapter devoted to crime, entertainment, places, and sex, amongst other things.

Some of the entries are indeed nothing but lists, while others will include more detailed descriptions. A list like ''Thirty Famous Redheads'' will include the people's names and sometimes their birthdates and/or occupations. Other lists, like ''The Ten Most Decisive battles,'' include short blurbs describing the items listed.

A big problem with all the Lists books is that they very quickly become dated. For example, one volume lists the planets of the solar system and their known moons. Unfortunately, said list was made in the 1970's, and many more moons have been discovered since then. This problem is especially acute in the science and entertainment sections.

Wallace, the editor of the Lists books, compiled some lists himself, but obtained a majority from other sources. In some sections, he invites people to compile lists of the ''Ten Most Influential Movies'' or the like. In one entertaining segment, he invites people to list the ten historical figures they would most like to have dinner with.

Vincent Price plainly had fun answering this one, as he not only dutifully included a list of ten people, he then included a long and elaborate description of what he would serve them. Another respondent commented that he would like to talk to Hitler over a cup of coffee-- ''but not while I'm eating.'' As the above examples indicate, Lists sometimes treats its subjects with a decidedly flippant manner.

Even some of the lists are goofy, like the one devoted to ''Ten Strangest Gangsters' Nicknames,'' which describes how people like ''Bugsy'' Siegel and ''Pretty Boy'' Floyd had come by their monikers. Wallace dryly notes that many of these criminals hated their nicknames.

Not all of the lists are merely silly. Some could have practical uses, like the lists of dog breeds that respectively bite the most and the least. Others tackle serious subjects, like war. Even here, Wallace can't resist slipping in a list like ''The Ten Most Incompetent Generals,'' though. One of these was the U.S. Civil War general, Burnside. of whom President Lincoln once said ''had wrung one last spectacular defeat from the jaws of victory.''

Lists are fun, entertaining, and informative books. They are certainly worth tracking down.

There are lots of good books written by other authors and most of them have been recommended by some of my MS friends out here. For some strange reason, no books written by 'Irving Wallace' have been mentioned any where. So, I decided to name these three books written by Irving Wallace that are a must read !!!

1. The Second Lady : This is one book that anyone who has a flair for reading shouldn't miss at all. It is about the first lady of the United states being kidnapped and replaced by the Russian KGB. I bet my fortune that you would kill anyone trying to disturb you while into the climax of the book. The impeccable way by which the first lady is replaced with another Russian look-alike and the way the story unravels is mind-boggling.

2. The seventh secret : This book is a manifestation of Irving's Wallace's mind, shows that he can imagine beyond the unimaginable. ''...Every week a tall, attractive, older woman named Evelyn Hoffmann makes her regular visit to the bustling downtown district of West Berlin. If one looked closely one might detect that she bears an uncanny resemblance to Eva Braun. But how can that be? Eva Braun was supposed to have committed suicide with her husband Adolph Hitler in the underground depths of the Fuhrerbunker forty years ago. Could Eva Braun possibly still be alive and was Hitler really dead when the Soviet army surrounded his hidden bunker?...''. Read for the thrill of your life.

3. The Miracle : It has been a long time since I read this book but I remember that it has got do with the story of Bernadette, the young peasant girl who sees Virgin Mary at the grotto in Lourdes in 1958. A very well written book and I promise this book will not disappoint you. Sorry that I cannot say more on this book.

I am sure that most of you must have read these books but thought of putting them here just in case somebody is not aware.

All these books are available on any of the web sites like Indiavarta.com etc.

Chittu

Well, the title is a bit out of the way…but the fact remains that when I saw this written on the back of a certain book, I was compelled to read the contents. As I went on reading it right there in the Universal book shop, Lucknow for over an hour, I was tapped on the forehead, and looked directly in the eye by the owner. I did what was best under the circumstances. Quietly bought the book. For all you bookworms, this is a book worth collection. A most funny and riveting book I have ever read. It is not a thriller, it is not fiction. It is a very peculiar book. As the name suggests, it is a book of lists. Lists on all possible subjects that one can think of have been prepared…some are extremely informative, some are outright funny, some are extremely scandalous, some surprise one and some really frighten one. The nice thing is that in most of the cases the basis of the list has been explained. Some of the major lists included are: The GK ones include (have to include this to show that I actually look for this stuff): 9 breeds of dogs that bite most, 10 weapons named after people, 15 decisive battles of the world (wonderful descriptions), 12 nazi criminals still at large, 10 best generals of the world, 10 worst generals of the world. Trivia includes 10 worst films of all times, shoe sizes of 20 famous men, 15 famous events that happened in a bathtub, 15 famous people who took marijuana, .... Now the list that most of us will read the first though not admit, the scandalous ones: 67 renowned homosexuals and bisexuals, 3 people (of course famous ones) who died during sex, s*xual curiosities of 9 well-known women, 8 reasons to Marry an older woman…. Thriller events: 10 doctors who tried to get away with murder, 10 sensational thefts, 8 important libel cases., 25 deaths from strange causes, 9 great unsolved mysteries, 10 ghastly ghosts, ,....etc. The problem with this particular book is that one cannot review it in great detail. I can only say that there are almost all possible lists that a person can assume and the sheer collection of such an exhaustive and more importantly interesting data in one place is surely not to be missed. After purchasing this book at Lucknow, I had read this entire volume during a train journey to Kolkata, just couldn't throw it away...It was damn interesting and funny.