I am thrilled to announce that our book: The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists is now available for purchase at both Amazon ($10.08) and Barnes and Noble ($11.96).
Here is the publisher’s description of the book: “Providing an astonishing array of information, The Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists contains the best of everything from serial killers, scientific oddities, and historical events to little-known facts about everyone’s favorite celebrities, films, and books. There are even practical lists on how to save time and money and how to survive anything from a cocktail party to a bear attack. From the Oscars to Fantasy Football, everyone loves to debate rankings of the best and worst. For even those who think they know all the answers, there is an inherent curiosity to see what made the list. The Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists is the perfect book to pass around to family and friends, who will no doubt debate what’s been included — and what’s been left out.”
The book has been the culmination of two years of Listverse and contains the best of contributed and self-written (by JFrater) lists. There are over 700 pages of top 10 lists making this the ultimate book for those who love lists. It is a perfect book for a Christmas gift – so be sure to buy more than one. The quality is excellent and the names of all the contributors are listed in the front. You can use Amazon’s “look inside” and Barnes and Noble’s “see inside” feature to see if your list is there (note that it doesn’t let you see the list of contributor names – but it is definitely in the book – I have an advance copy so I guarantee it).
The book is also being sold in all major retailers in the US – in fact, it is involved in a special Christmas marketing deal which should mean a lot of exposure for the site. It is also being distributed worldwide – so for those who don’t wish to buy online, check out your local bookstores (though bear in mind that the price is likely to be higher in non-online stores).
I would like to thank everyone that has contributed to the site – whether it be through comments or lists. The book would not be possible without all of you.
Buy The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists at Amazon.com, or
Buy The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists at Barnes and Noble
Nice job Jamie. Congratulations, you deserve it. I got hooked on this place about a week after you opened up – I saw it on Neatorama and have been stuck here since.
congratulations jamie. What an achievement. I am very proud of you and extremely proud to brag that you are my brother x x x well done!
Proud to say that Im a regular and one of the first to get on this site. Good Work annd, yeah, I pretty much tell everyone I know about this site. In fact, I used it as a topic for a research paper (how people are so drawn to list and top tens). I used this site as a backing of my thesis.
GRATZZZ!!!! I love this site, I’m hooked!
Great! I just placed an order the order day from B&N! Keep in mind that I live in Peru so the whole shipping thing is a hassle! I will, never-the-less, be placing an additional order today.
Congrats Jaime!
@shaymm (3): That is interesting – I would be fascinated to see a copy of the thesis if you are able to send it. My email address is in the about page.
@bucslim, sarah, archie, and GTT: many thanks
I am pleased that people have stuck around so long!
I don’teven remember how I stubled upon this site, but it’s become a regular sidedish during breakfast. Congratulations, JF!
grats Jamie. I have almost completed reading all of the lists on the site since I have started here(about 6 months ago I think). I will be sure to pick the book up for a bathroom reader(NO insult intended).
I’ll be buying 4 copies. 1 for me and 3 for my siblings. It is definately the perfect Christmas present. I found this website about 2 months ago, and I am hooked. It is my favorite time-killer at work! Keep it up.
Jamie,If anyone deserves to have a book published and sold by major retailers,it’s you.Great site.
Congrats. JF. Im on this site WAY more than I would like to admit, but what can i say I love lists.
Congratulations Jamie! Mine shipped last Thursday so I’m expecting it anytime now.
Congrats Jamie! I’ll be getting my hands on a copy ASAP!
Also, I’m very, VERY happy that one of my lists made it into the book! I had been wondering for a while now if that was the case or not… so yay!
Itsy bitsy question, though: when you say it lists all of the contributors’ names, you mean the contributors’ usernames, right?
Congrats! I’ll definitely have to purchase a copy for myself. This website is by far one of my favorites–I check it everyday. Keep it up!
*Actually finishes reading the table of contents*
Erm, make that two of my lists…
…so double yay!
*blushes*
Very cool! Hopefully I can get my hands on a copy soon
Number one was pretty predictable, but great list nonetheless.
This is my first time commenting on this site, but I just want to say congratulations. I must say this site has been a savior for me from when i first came across it in accounting class in high school, this site allowed me to slack off and became a daily routine every day and it still is. So thank you for a great source of entertainment as well a trivia talking points. Hope for the best.
Congrats, Jafe! You mind if I call ya Jafe? I hope one of mine is in it. But I just got here, so probably not. NP.
Jamie:
Big Congratulations to you! Of course a special shout-out to all list writers and, of course, to our favorite commentators (you know who you are).
My copy is on order – - yay!
jf, i, too, just read the toc, Thank You!
and *blush*
EVER SINCE THE DAY a sixty-three year old, methedone-addicted, unemployed saxophone player hit upon the idea of inventing the alias “Jamie Frater” to escape prosecution for tax evasion, up to six or seven people a *day* have found a home to rant and rave on the website he set up originally to sell everything from stolen cigarettes to “frail boys” in the Asian markets.
For a handful of us, then, the world has never been the same.
I remember distinctly the day, eleven years ago, when my agent, Sol Beralstein, phoned me up at the laundromat in Flatbush where I tended bar and occasionally ran numbers for Rico “The Gorgon” Gigante. Sol knew I was out of work since getting canned–er–let go–from my gig at the science website where it had been my responsibility to insult the clientele in fulfillment of the NSF’s “Unnecessary Cruelty and Malignancy Outreach Requirement.” Trying to keep his nest egg intact, Sol had scared up a new position for me–providing I was willing to audition.
“They need an ***** over at List Universe,” Sol said to me in that hollow voice of his, like something out of a conch shell with mama Gigante’s red sauce in it. I swore I could smell his chomped cigar over the phone.
“List Universe,” I said, disinterested. “What the ***** is that?”
“It’s run by Jamie Frater. Google him. Anyway, they want you to read for them.”
“Are you *****ing kidding me Sol? I’m an ARTIST! A WRITER! I’m a *****ing GENIUS! And some nobody named Jimmy Farter wants ME to AUDITION?! Don’t they know who I am?”
“Settle down, Sweets.” (Sol always called me “Sweets.” I had told him many times to stop, but Sol couldn’t help himself, being more than a little addle-minded). “And it’s JAMIE FRATER. F-R-A-T-E-R.”
“What, I’m supposed to be impressed?”
“Do you wanna press shirts the rest of your life, Sweets, or do you wanna make it to the big time?”
At this point I was about to tell Sol to ***** off, but at just that moment, Rico “The Gorgon” came downstairs from slapping his grandparents around–they were late with the rent–and told me to go over to Manhattan to pick up a “package.” I was sick of running these “errands” for Rico–who couldn’t go outside due to his skin condition–and so on impulse I told Sol okay, I’ll talk to this Farter guy.
Next day I Googled him. I found his CV online, buried in the middle of some code on the Gavin MacLoud web ring. “Jamie Frater, Opera Singer.” Uh huh, sure. I checked his “credits.” The only one I knew was “non-speaking part, ‘Night Tide,’” an obscure horror movie from the early 60s starring Dennis Hopper. The rest were operas and oratorios I knew to be made up—it’s common knowledge, for instance, that there had never been an operetta version of “CHiPS,” nor had Oliver Stone ever written a musical. My suspicions were raised, but ***** it. I owed a boatload of alimony.
A few days later I found myself in a room in a Best Western in Perth, Australia. Frater was behind a curtain. When I balked at this, he snapped at me in a gravelly, ancient sort of voice like an old turtle: “NOBODY SEES MY FACE.” K, fine, I said. Whatever spins your Tilt-a-Whirl, man.
After an hour and a half interview, Frater asked me to kick around his website to “make trouble for the man,” and take some of the heat off of him. I’d already gotten the definite impression he was wanted by the law. I wasn’t even quite sure, after talking to him all that time, that he was altogether sane, either. But screw it, I needed the cash and it sounded like fun. In answer to the question “how much does it pay?” Frater only murmered something about “a cut of the swag.” Almost twelve years later and I haven’t seen a dime. So naturally I see the release of the book as my chance, finally, to get a paycheck out of him. But at this point, I’ve given up on getting a sou out of him.
He *does* have a sense of humor though, I’ll give him that. He’s twisted an idea for a contraband-selling “front” into a book deal, comics, self-help lectures, and his own “spa treatment course,” all of which rake in the cash, even if he spends it as soon as it comes in on god knows what filthy habits and garish jewelry. The good-looking face he posts now and then belongs, of course, to the desk clerk at the Best Western I mentioned earlier–I remember the kid and his horrendous Aussie accent. Frater musta taken a dozen or more pictures of the poor schlep before he left, and the guy doesn’t even know, now, that this felonious con artist is using his face to hide behind. Funny. What Frater *actually* looks like, of course, is anybody’s guess–and as for New Zealand–please–New Rochelle is more like it.
But still—he’s due congratulations. I tip my hat to you, “Jamie,” you certainly fell ass backwards into money and fame. Good for you. See? Going straight isn’t so bad.
i’m not a regular here, and have yet to contribute a list of my own, but i always check for newly published lists every time i can. congratulations everyone!
gosh, it’s been more than one year! and i still remember how i stumbled upon this site: the very first listverse list i viewed was the “30 perfectly timed sports photos” and the first fellow LVer who responded to a comment of mine (which was also my first LV comment) was “astraya,” on the “great choral works before 1750,” and the first time the great almighty JF replied to me was on fugu preparation on one food list.
Yay! Congrats Jamie! I swear I’ll get a copy, as soon as there’s a paycheck with some money left over after payin all the bills.
@Randall (22): Brilliant!
@Randall (22): Beautiful.
@Randall (22): What literary genius! JF should use this as the foreward to his next volume.
BTW, JFrater, Have you used or do you credit the “book of Lists” series for any of your contributions? Just curious.
thats quite a feat, and im glad to hear it. i found listverse about a year ago, i remember that first day well. i sat on a laptop in my kitchen for eight straight hours as i read (moreorless) every list on the site. my friend was in the other room watching tv and he kept coming out and saying,”you still on that site?” i was. since then i come to listverse daily. i’ve yet to contribute a list but i’m working on it. i want it to be great.
muchlove<33333
I honestly can’t remember how I came upon the site. And believe you me when it comes to surfing the net, I NEVER had a URL I would call home as my ADD prevented it. But there must be something in the water here because I’ve stuck around since the beginning of December 2008.
I can honestly say, though, it was the forums that drew me in as it hosted the most unstable, yet varied cast of characters I had ever had the pleasure of discoursing with. For those new to the site… DON’T forget to check out our forums! Made some unforgettable friends there.
Congrats Jamie, you’ve earned it brother. I guess we’ll see you on the talk show circuit soon, next to the balloon boy.
And Randall, PLEASE tell me that your post is based (somewhat loosely) on true events.
jayfray: congrats!! i know you have put tons of work and endless headaches and lots of time trying to be diplomatic to people when you just wanted to say “shut up” or “if you don’t like the lists, then don’t come to the site!!”.
i hope the book sells millions of copies and you can write a list based on personal experience of visiting the top 100 restaurants in the world!
great job.
@Randall (22): That could very well be the best thing I have read in a very long time. Kudos, and what have you, sir.
Congrats Jamie! Do I at least get some of the profits? I’m pretty sure I deserve at least 15%. And Randall, thank you so much for that. It made me cry tears of joy.
finally done, eh? well good for you J. congrats. i hope it sells well for ya. check your email
@Kreachure (14): Yes – usernames only.
@Randall (22): That comment is your best ever. I laughed, I cried!
@gav (26): The Book of Lists has been a source of a couple of lists on the site – but none are in the book. The book contains only lists written by me specifically or contributers here who wrote their own. All lists containing text sourced from Wikipedia were re-written.
Congrats, Jamie! I love this site so much!
@damien_karras (28):
Much more than loosely. I remember I saw his hand at one point… all wrinkly and ravaged, like he’d been climbing sandpaper walls all his life… and there was a tapedeck on the table near me, during the “interview” or “audition” or whatever the hell it was, and it kept playing Steve Miller Band’s “Book of Dreams” over and over and OVER again… and every time it came on, Frater would croak out in this *awful* voice, “JUNGLE LOVE…IS DRIVING ME MAD… IS DRIVING ME CRRRRAAAZZZZZEEEEE…”
I mean, right in the middle of when I was talking, he’d just burst into that… it’s one of the things that started me doubting his sanity.
And then he just slaps his hand on the table and bursts out, “YER HIRED,” and that’s when I saw his Dracula ring. Scared the ***** out of me for a second.
@jfrater (34):
“@Randall (22): That comment is your best ever. I laughed, I cried!”
You’ll pay me…
Way to go JFrater. It is really great to see your book come out. I live in a small town, with a nice bookstore, and I will order your book from them. It will cost more, but i will feel better.
@Randall (22): I’m sure some of your arch-enemies will have some big disagreement with your post, and you probably talked your way out of a paycheck, but what the hell, it’s Monday.
I wonder if the book will make the best top ten sellers list that would be funny…. congrats
Wow congrats… I dont know if anyone has asked me, and I for sure dont want to spoil the party, but I think it is a very important question. Besides the convenience of a book, what would this book add, that I dont already get in this website for free?
That was my biggest question to see whether I buy this book or even get it for someone.
Sorry if I offend anyone. Are there some lists that never came out? etc some extras?
Congrats Jamie!
I’ve been checking this site everyday for a year now and it has given me unlimited dinner table conversations, fun facts, and several killed hours when I was bored. I have always appreciated this site. And you deserve this
@Maximuz04 (41):
YOU *&$#^%$# CHEAPSKATE!! YOU OUGHTA BE RUN OUTTA THIS WEBSITE ON A RAIL!!
Ahem.
Proceeds of the book, Maximuz, go to paying the hefty bribery fees to get “Jamie’s” uh… “family” over here to the US… never mind why, or how… or what they’ll do when they get here… or why some of them are Thai boys who look like girls. YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW THIS. Just cough up the cash and make yourself feel all warm inside, and mind your own business.
Congratulations!! I’m a quiet and low profile fan here for about a year or 2 now. Will definitely been getting the book fer shure.
@Maximuz04 (41): Even as the writer of the book, I have found myself picking it up and reading old lists – the format makes it extremely easy to find something you have forgotten about or (in the case of others) perhaps never read at all. That is the main reason for the readers here to get a copy
Jamie… can you put my mind at ease that there isn’t an audio component added to the book? More specifically, tell me you left out the “HELLLOOOO!” if you accidentally hovered over the smiley icons.
Meh. Done before.
Still, the more moola for listverse, the better
I love this site-it’s awesome!!! I am definitely gonna get this book. it looks super awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
congratulations jamie!
Congratulations Jamie. I’m a regular reader of your site from the start. Proud to see how this site grows…and now, a book. Cheers for that!
Congratulations Jamie! And I’m very excited to see one of my lists made the book. Does this mean I’m a published author now?!
Now I know just what to get everyone I know for Christmas presents – a copy of The Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists, autographed by myself on my list page. Perhaps I will even include a signed photo of myself. I simply cannot imagine what more anyone could want. Seriously, I really do think that they will be great Christmas presents; it looks like a very nice selection of the interesting and informative lists, some more amusing lists, and the ones which everyone will argue about (was it ever decided if it was Led Zeppelin or The Beatles which were the best band ever?)
Congrats JF, most definately will be buying one of your copies. This book is gonna become a bestseller just watch
Yas, my list is there.
Congrats!
Congrats JF. Awesome site. You obviously work hard, which is all that really matters.
@damien_karras (46): haha I promise there are no smileys in it
We all also hope that the book of Randall’s, which has been *nearly finished* for almost about two years now, hits the stands soon. Can’t wait no longer to catch hold on that one,for sure!
is it sold in indonesia?
I know the actual lists are the main feature and photos are for most lists just accoutrements, but I was just wondering if the book had many pictures? I suppose I’m visually oriented and my taste in casual reading must have never graduated past pre-school picture books.
I understand the difficulty and expense in obtaining the rights to use many of the necessary pictures, not to mention how much space they would take up and cost for color ink, etc., but maybe after the smashing success of this book we can get more pictures.
However, I’m extremely excited for the book and consider it’s publishing one the major successes of the internet (I’m biased). Congratulations JFrater, you must be very proud!
Well done Jamie, and all the very best success with the book! It’s such an amazing achievement – you must be feeling very proud and very humbled all at the same time! Congrats!