The 2021 Guinness World Records Book - Review

The Guinness World Records Book is a regular event every year and contains all sorts of absurd and crazy records made by the most disparate people on the face of the planet: what was the highest standing jump? And the fastest tandem lap? Or the heavier weight lifted by a helicopter? And the more you have, the more you put. But records are not made only by people: in fact, there are also in nature many forms of life (and not) that hold records, such as the loudest bird song, or the primate with more fingers, or the ant that runs fastest. ; in short, there are really something for all tastes.

Let's see together what this new edition of the Guinness World Records Book contains, conceived and produced in somewhat particular conditions, also considering the period we are facing and the health emergency still in progress.

A necessary premise

The new edition of the book opens with a "Letter from the Director", in which the fact that no one would ever have expected such a particular 2020, explaining that due to the pandemic, all the staff had to complete the volume almost entirely from home, but managing, thanks to passion and commitment, to complete everything , still managing to screen more than 30,000 record requests from all over the world. Due to the particular situation, many aspiring recordmen and recordwomen have had to adapt to the situation, setting records from their homes or relying on digital. The judges themselves verified many challenges thanks to videoconferencing and, if successful, by sending several digital certificates.

The theme of the “Discovery”

The theme chosen this year is "Discover Your World", a journey that will take us, in 12 chapters, to explore every aspect of our planet ... and beyond, up to boundless space: from the Solar System to Natural World, to then move on from Culture and Society, up to the Adventurers chapter and a large section entirely dedicated to Video Games. Interspersed between the different chapters, there are some special pages called "Hall Of Fame", in which some famous record holders such as Buzz Aldrin, one of the first two men to have set foot on the Moon, or Jyoti Amge, the most small of the world.



Furthermore, in the section dedicated to space, there are particular figures which, if framed with the indicated application, should, thanks to augmented reality, show models 3D of the various planets and celestial bodies ... And I repeat they should because, unfortunately, the app indicated to us does not seem to work at its best (and judging by the reviews on the app store, it seems we are not the only ones to have encountered problems). A real shame and we hope that this feature will be corrected and improved in the future.

A very special cover

For the cover of the 2021 edition of the book of record, Rod Hunt was chosen, illustrator and "Map Designer" lover of details, who following the theme "Discover Your World" decided to create a sort of city containing many recordmen and record women present in the book, in an illustration that very reminiscent of the drawings in children's books, in which Waldo was supposed to be (he also created a similar version for the Top Gear program, entitled “Where is Stig?”).



In the video that we put below, there is a short interview with the author, in which he shows some phases of the creation of the cover itself:

There is for all tastes

As we have previously said, in the course of the work the theme of discovery is addressed in the course of 12 theme chapters tici, who face the most disparate times, satisfying everyone's curiosity. In detail we have:

The Solar System The Natural World Animals Humans Against Time Recordmania Culture and Society Adventurers Technology Videogames Popular Culture Sport

Each of these is really rich in captions and images that allow to view all the various records and challenges faced. And if we ever get lost, at the bottom we find two excellent indices, one by name and one by record, to be able to find everything we prefer quickly and easily.

Records never end ...

The 2021 edition of the Guinness World Records Book is very rich and collects, as always, many records. Despite the ongoing health emergency, the staff did an excellent job and decided to put at the bottom of the work all the records that have not been able to be included in more detail.



This year, moreover, a collaboration has been established with the organization The Lion's Share, a campaign supported by the United Nations that aims to slow down and stop the loss of wildlife on Planet Earth, asking all those brands that use animals to their advertisements to devote part of the budget to the protection of the animals themselves. Not only a playful intent for the Guinness World Records Book, but also an educational and supportive one for our planet.

What is the hardest mineral on Earth? And the loudest bird song? Or the most balloons inflated in three minutes? These and many other records, you can find them right in the Book Of Guinness World Records 2021, which you can buy by clicking on this link.