Another slightly obsessive hobby.
November 22, 2002 12:26 PM   Subscribe

World's smallest book. How does one read a book that is .9 by .9 millimeters? Chekov's "Chameleon" has just been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records (though the website hasn't been updated yet.) The hobby is apparently addictive, with societies at major universities and international groups as well. There's even a yearly Conclave. Personally, I'd be afraid that I'd lose something that small. Palkovic mentions it in the article, but says they always show up. File under slightly obsessive hobby.
posted by valval22 (5 comments total)
 
Wow, I haven't looked at GBWR in years. What a treasure trove - gems like the Hairiest Family, Longest Surviving Headless Chicken, and the Fastest Towing Of A Mobile Home. (Who knew Michael Jackson wasn't record holder for Most Plastic Surgery?)

The individual who holds the most Guinness World Records is Mr Ashrita Furman. He holds the records for, among others, backwards cycling, long-distance pogo-stick jumping, most glasses balanced on the chin, most hop-scotch games in 24 hours, fastest time to pogo-stick up the CN Tower, and most skips over a skipping rope in 24 hours.

[/derail]
posted by gottabefunky at 1:01 PM on November 22, 2002


Fascinating stuff, valval -- thanks!
posted by languagehat at 3:11 PM on November 22, 2002


Heh. I got a copy of the Guinness book when I was 9, and became obsessed with finding a record that I could break. I focused in on this one -- but since I couldn't publish a book in the traditional way, I thought I would submit a hand-made book as the world's smallest UNpublished book. I made a tiny little book, bound with a staple, and sent it overseas.

Well, a couple of months later I got a very kind letter back from the Guinness folks, letting me know that they were very sorry, but they didn't have a category "Smallest Unpublished Book," but that I should keep trying. :) (If they did have such a category, I'm sure one of those crazy people who engraves pictures on grains of rice would have won it.)

Now I am kind of embarrassed that I sent them my little book, but at least they were very nice to a nine year-old -- good for them.
posted by litlnemo at 4:40 PM on November 22, 2002


That little book is adorable, but I want to see the real one - the one that's only slightly larger than a grain of salt. The one in the pic is about the size of a dime (?) - it's absolutely gigantic ;) Another interesting factoid from the Guiness site: Longest Novel - A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust: contains an estimated 9,609,000 characters.

Thanks for that link to miniatura.co.uk - I was thinking of doing a post about doll houses but you beat me to it. Little tiny versions of things are so appealing. I bought a doll house last month just so I could have an excuse to buy lots of little tiny things to put inside of it. So far my favorite things are the stack of newspapers tied up with string, and the roll of ceiling insulation - it's pink and scratchy and has a picture of the Pink Panther on it.

litlnemo, please tell me you still have that book. That's a great story.
posted by iconomy at 5:53 PM on November 22, 2002


I should have entered for a few things I did....

I made an origami crane with a 12 foot wingspan and one with less than an 8th of an inch. Alas I was young and dumb (and apparently had too much time, and paper on my hands)
posted by KnitWit at 8:18 PM on November 22, 2002


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