Listing to One Side

December 27, 2012 12:52 PM

The Hundred Best Lists of All Time compiled and ordered by The New Yorker. All with links*, includes one-time**, revisable*** and regularly updated lists****, as well as some collections not in list format*****, lists in name only ****** and truly dubious entries*******.

*demonstrating that the New Yorker 'gets' the web better than most dead-tree institutions
** #100, 99, 97, 94, 90, 86, 85, 83, 82, 81, 80, 78, 74, 73, 70, 67, 64, 58, 57, 55, 54, 53, 49, 44, 39, 35, 29, 26, 25, 24, 21, 20, 19, 17, 14, 13, 12, 11, 8, 7, 6, 4 and 2
***#75, 66, 52, 51, 50, 46, 41, 40, 38, 27, 23, 16 and 9
**** #98, 95, 91,89, 88, 84, 76, 69, 63, 62, 61, 48, 45, 43, 42, 36, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30 and 28
***** #96, 93, 79, 77, 72, 59, 56, 47, 22, 15, 10, 5 and 1
******#68, 67, 60, 37, 18 and 3
******* #92, ha ha! 404 error, #87 a list of ONE?, #71 technically a subset of #62

your smileage may vary; some miscategorizing may have occurred during the later stages of compiling these sub-lists of the list of lists due to eye-crossing or eye-rolling; I have never before spent so much time on a single-link post...

posted by oneswellfoop (22 comments total)

Disclaimer: Back in the 80s, I did some research work for the third volume of the Wallace/Wallechinskys' Book of Lists series, and was disappointed that it was not included in the Hundred. And neither was this guy whom the books were solemnly dedicated to.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:00 PM on December 27, 2012 [9 favorites]

I love this as an idea, but there's some obviously terrible placement. The UNESCO World Heritage List at Number 27? That has to be Top Ten, no question.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:02 PM on December 27, 2012

I nominate the Modern Library's "Reader's List" of the 100 Best Novels as the greatest indictment ever of online polls. (7 of the top 10 are either Ayn Rand or L. Ron Hubbard.)
posted by Eyebeams at 1:17 PM on December 27, 2012 [7 favorites]

I liked this meta-list. Note that this is in Shouts & Murmurs, which is comedy as much as anything else! Adjust your expectations and criticisms accordingly.

The previous story is a one-act "Christmas Eve with Daniel Day-Lewis" and the following one is about how extreme fitness could avert the Fiscal Cliff.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:18 PM on December 27, 2012

The blog that pointed me to this called it "New Yorker channeling McSweeney's" but I was impressed with the links, all but one of which worked and most of which went to source material.

Also, Letterman's Top 10 only #45? Has he been making wisecracks about New Yorker cartoons?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:28 PM on December 27, 2012

This list is incomplete without List of sandwiches.
posted by jeudi at 1:46 PM on December 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

That's just terrific. I was a big fan of the Wallace/Wallechinsky "Book of Lists" back in the day, but I can live with it's omission here. I was scrolling through, noticing the apparent lack of any baseball entries when I came upon the '27 Yankee's opening day lineup. Just right.

I understand, however, that Rosanne Cash is not amused by her entry.
posted by hwestiii at 1:54 PM on December 27, 2012

I'm still partial to this list of lists.
posted by schmod at 2:03 PM on December 27, 2012

This list contains neither my shopping list nor my todo list, both of which are essential reading.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:45 PM on December 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is an absolutely horrible list, as it does not include The New Yorker's "Hundred Best Lists of All Time."
posted by jeremy b at 2:55 PM on December 27, 2012

jeremy b: "This is an absolutely horrible list, as it does not include The New Yorker's "Hundred Best Lists of All Time.""

We have to go deeper.
posted by schmod at 2:59 PM on December 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is a great service to any argument over a "best-of" list because driving your opponent to discursive exhaustion is clearly the winning strategy.
posted by chavenet at 3:11 PM on December 27, 2012

Another one of my favorite meta-lists is the "List of Songs That Contain Lists". Containing a nice variety from the obvious 99 Problems, 50 Ways to Leave and 1000 Dances to the inventory of Weird Al's Hardware Store:

They've got allen wrenches, gerbil feeders, toilet seats, electric heaters
Trash compactors, juice extractors, shower rods and water meters
Walkie-talkies, copper wires, safety goggles, radial tires
BB pellets, rubber mallets, fans and dehumidifiers
Picture hangers, paper cutters, waffle irons, window shutters
Paint removers, window louvres, masking tape and plastic gutters
Kitchen faucets, folding tables, weather stripping, jumper cables
Hooks and tackle, grout and spackle, power foggers, spoons and ladles
Pesticides for fumigation, high-performance lubrication
Metal roofing, water proofing, multi-purpose insulation
Air compressors, brass connectors, wrecking chisels, smoke detectors
Tire gauges, hamster cages, thermostats and bug deflectors
Trailer hitch demagnetizers, automatic circumcisers
Tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers
Soffit panels, circuit breakers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers
Calculators, generators, matching salt and pepper shakers

Now THAT is a shopping list.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:54 PM on December 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

My favorite list *, **, *****, ******, *******
posted by clearly at 4:15 PM on December 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

1. Lists that belong to the Emperor,
2. embalmed lists,
3. lists that are trained,
4. suckling lists,
5. mermlists,
6. fabulous lists,
7. stray lists,
8. lists included in the present list,
9. lists that tremble as if they were mad,
10. innumerable lists,
11. lists drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
12. other lists,
13. lists that have just broken a flower vase,
14. lists that from a long way off look like flies.
posted by Dumsnill at 5:14 PM on December 27, 2012 [11 favorites]

Oh, come on. The Fibonacci numbers at #19? Really? They should have at least pushed it down to #21.

</mathgeek>
posted by erniepan at 6:13 PM on December 27, 2012

If it were facetious, the Maxim Hot 100 would be comedy gold.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 6:39 PM on December 27, 2012

This is an absolutely horrible list, as it does not include The New Yorker's "Hundred Best Lists of All Time."

So we should probably put it on the list of lists that do not contain themselves.
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:43 PM on December 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

With regard to no. 87, the "list of one," I can just imagine the editorial hand-wringing. I think it is not a list.
posted by scratch at 8:15 PM on December 27, 2012

I think they missed one.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:12 PM on December 27, 2012

Franz gets a mention in #27, at least, as one of the people who made Weimar worthy of inclusion.
posted by frimble at 10:37 PM on December 27, 2012

I understand how this is all meant to be cheeky in a McSweeney's way, but I think the New Yorker missed an opportunity to talk about lists as a literary form, a la Montaigne's essays.
posted by jonp72 at 10:05 AM on December 28, 2012