The Book with the Mostest: 2013 Book of World Records

The biggest spider? The Goliath Tarantula

The nation with the most mobile Web users? Israel and Japan are tied!

The most tornadoes in one month?  2063 in the United States.

The encyclopedia with the most entries? It's no contest for Wikipedia with 61,000 authors.

Jenifer Cor Morse's Scholastic Book of World Records 2013 (Scholastic, 2013), an inexpensive paperback edition filled with large color illustrations, is aimed at the middle reader, upper elementary and middle school kids whose interests are turning to that big world out there.  Of course, with 300 entries, each with its own photo, there are plenty of curiosities here for anyone of any age to wonder over, with sections on Sports, Vehicles, Money, Nature Records, Animals, Pop Culture and even the Beatles.   I mean, who doesn't wonder how many photos and other items are uplifted on Facebook annually? (30 billion).

Of course, speaking referentially (and reverently),  if you want more, more, MORE, there's always that best-selling big brother, the granddaddy of them all, Guinness World Records 2013 (Guinness World Records, 2012), now in its 58th annual revision,with  all the weird and wonderful things this busy world has to offer.  With even an e-book edition and 3-D apps, this is a reference book that has plenty of appeal  from primary schoolers to people of any age, a browsing book that is hard to put down. One fascinating fact leads to another, no matter how sophisticated the reader is, and there is always next year, always a new edition to look forward to!