A quirky history of the many madcap attempts to get into The Guinness Book Of Records told by a man determined to set his own world record. A household name, The Guinness Book Of World Records has a rich and varied history full of hilarious record breaking attempts and fiercely determined people. For more than 50 years, tens of thousands of records have been set ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. When Larry Olmstead decided to get into Guinness by setting a new world record, he began to wonder about all those people who had gone before him. He takes the reader behind the records to learn about the colourful characters who set them. Meet the Frenchman Michael Lotito who won the title of greatest omnivore for his ability to eat up to 2 pounds of metal a day (he's even eaten a supermarket trolley) and Sridhar Chillal whose grotesquely curling and twisted fingernails were left uncut for more than 50 years or find out about the oldest vomit (160 million years)! Everyday people, through single-minded focus, creativity and strong will, can join the ranks of the genetically gifted superstars of sports and science. In a culture obsessed with celebrity, it is this part of the Guinness equation that drives thousands of people of every possible description to try their hand at records each year. The most determined of these are among the lead characters in Getting Into Guinness.

Built on a framework of GWR's fascinating 50 year history, Getting Into Guinness will demonstrate how the book quickly evolved, and continues to evolve, from an academic compendium of records into something people around the world strive to get into. Getting into Guinness will also showcase some of the funniest and most interesting Guinness records and the people behind them, always emphasizing that no matter how bonkers a record sounds, some real person came up with the very specific idea behind each one and did all the elaborate preparations for the attempt, meeting the scrupulous standards demanded by Guinness rules. Key title a?? The Guinness Book of World Records is historya??s all-time number one bestseller having sold over 100,000,000 in more than 100 different countries in 37 languages since publication began 1955 a?? 3.5 million copies sold worldwide each year with each publication a?? GBWR is the most stolen book from British libraries! a?? New records constantly generating publicity a?? Published to coincide with 2009 edition of Guinness Book of World Records a?? Author will be in UK on publication and will promote widely a?? HCUS publishing one month ahead in August 08 a?? The record keepers get 65,000 inquiries about record attempts every year a?? Annually, thousands of individuals try to set or break records a?? Similar titles already published a??Word Freaka?? about the culture of competitive scrabble players and a??American Beea??, an inside view of the National Spelling Bee.