Prompted by a comment from someone I present below the 10 thickest books in my personal library. I made no correction for hardcover vs softcover. Measured at center of book with mild compression
My top 10 books ended up being a bit of a mix
- Three Fiction: 1 Science Fiction, 1 Fantasy, 1 annotated detective series
- One giant book of Chess puzzles
- Two books about lots of things. 500 Villages and 100 Museum Objects
- Two biographic books about a National Leader during wartime
- A book of social history
- A book looking at big trends in all recorded history
The Countdown
10th – 58mm – The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Volume 2. 1878 pages. Softcover
The tallest, widest and book with the most pages. Has the original text in the centre with notes on the outside and lots of illustrations
9th – 60mm – Villages of Britain by Clive Aslet. 658 pages. Hardcover
1-2 pages on 500 English villages. Usually covers an interesting feature, event or person
8th – 61mm – Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. 916 pages. Softcover
A book on Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet. Basis for the movie “Lincoln” and my book is a movie branded version
7th – 61mm – The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien. 1192 pages. Softcover
My much battered single volume edition I’ve had since I was a kid.
6th – 63mm – Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar. 1104 pages. Softcover
Mostly pictures of chess positions (6 per page) and the solution. Almost no words
5th – 64mm – A History of the World in 100 Objects. 707 pages – Hardcover
Based on a Radio Series. Each object has a couple of very nice photos and then around 3 pages of text about it and where it came from. Very nice book.
4th – 65mm – Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 867 pages. Hardcover
A Science Fiction book about what happens when the Moon blows up.
3rd – 66mm – Why the West Rules – For now. 750 pages. Hardcover
A big idea history book with speculation about the future.
2nd – 69mm – Road to Victory. Winston S. Churchill 1941-1945 by Martin Gilbert. 1416 pages. Hardcover
Part of the huge 8 volume official biography of Churchill. Covering Pearl Harbor to VE Day.
1st – 72mm – Family Britain 1951-57 by David Kynaston. 776 pages. Hardcover
Part of an ongoing series of books about the social history of Britain from 1945 to 1979. Covers a lot of ordinary lives and major events are often seen via individual’s reactions rather than being covered directly.
