The other day my daughter asked me if I knew how much the heaviest man in the world weighed. I instantly pulled out of my head 1069 pounds. She looked at me with total surprise and asked how I could possibly know this as I was RIGHT. Well, the copy of the 1976 Guinness Book of World's Records that she has become obsessed with once belonged to dear old mom. As a kid I was riveted with the "human" records section of the book -- the lady with the tiniest waist, the man with the longest fingernails, the family where all four children were born on the same month and day (April 15th). There is something fascinating yet surreal about these records. I pored over the details to the point of memorization and many, as you can see, have stayed with me all these years (if only that were the case with my memory of French, a subject I minored in). It must be in the DNA given my daughter, too, has taken such an interest in these human achievements. But who can resist? Like Ripley's Believe It or Not, these books that often celebrate the bizarre are intriguing in their own right. I imagine the heaviest man in the world's record has been beat in the last 37 years, among many other records. It doesn't really matter -- what I love is that my copy of the 1976 World's Records is still finding new readers and happily being passed around the 2nd grade in 2013. The power of print books.