Genealogy Books - The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Interesting concept, disappointing execution
Comment: As a person with a long and meaningful relationship with fiction, I was excited to read a book based
on the effects of fictional persons on a societal level.
However, most of the book is
dedicated to introducing you to these characters, their history and introduction, and very little
time (almost no time) is spent talking about the cultural impact. For instance, Superman (#64) is
introduced as a creation in comics and later discussed how he differs from conventional heroes,
followed by a discussion of a few later incarnations. There is no discussion about the hero
mentality, the usage of Superman in language to embody the exceptional. There isn't even a note
about the irony with the Nazi "superman" concept.

The book is broken up into a series
of individual character vignettes of about 2 pages each. They offer a brief history of the
character with some relatively mediocre quips of humor. The information offered is not a discussion
of the impact of fictional characters, so much, as a simple introduction to each character in
turn.

Even at the beginning of the book with their self proclaimed "subjective"
ranking, they fail to offer any kind of metric or ideal on how they rated each character. They may
have, for all I know, picked the names out of a hat, which would be why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is
listed as MORE influential than Helen of Troy, Batman, and Atticus Finch.

The writing
is ok, and the content is amusing. The book is a simple overview of 101 fictional characters in a
quick and relatively enjoyable fashion. Their influence and impact remain pretty much
unmentioned.

Probably a decent bathroom book, since each character has an isolated area
that can be read in any order. However, I can't recommend it for more than that.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A great concept-- but not particularly well done
Comment: I read a review of this book in a magazine, and I was intrigued by the concept: Michael Hart's "The
100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" deals with actual people; wouldn't it be
possible and useful to do the same with fictional characters? Yes, it would, but, unfortunately,
the authors don't execute the concept very well.

The problem for me isn't the rankings.
After, all, they're admittedly subjective, and in the end, they don't matter that much any way.
The thing that I found jarring at first-- and then grating as I read on-- was the uneven quality of
the essays. I suspect that this was in part due to the simple fact that there are three co-authors.
It would be very difficult to coordinate the styles and lengths of the essays.

More
seriously, though, they clearly didn't attempt to coordinate the point of the essays. That is, some
of them are straight biographies. Some are pop-cultural analyses of the significance of the
characters. Some are political screeds. Some are failed attempts to be cutsie, best illustrated by
the essay supposedly written by an author's dog. Many of the essays read as though they were
responses to homework assignments that were written at the last second by a student hoping that his
teacher will mistake generalities and clever wordplay for content.

Now, this isn't to
say that I hated the book; in fact, I actually liked it. It's just that it disappointed me. With a
little more authorial discipline-- or maybe stronger editorial control-- it could have been a GREAT
book.

So, in summary, I think it's worth reading, and it's entertaining, but I believe
it could have been so much better.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Okay Bathroom book.
Comment: My sister bought me this book and I was really excited to read it because my friends and I would sit
around and discuss topics such as this. It appears that a group of people took advantage of an idea
most of us have had and did not deliver anything more than essays that remind me of papers I wrote 3
hours before they were due. Sometimes I never understood why they thought the character was
influential, sometimes their influence seemed extremely exaggerated and sometimes I was not sure
whether they undertsood influence. The only reason I gave the book 2 stars is because it reignited
my desire to have discussions a=on topics such as this.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Don't Get It...
Comment: A list that includes such potentially fleeting charactors as Buffy The Vampire Slayer as high as #44
and the demotion of a universally recognised near 70 year old charactor such as Superman to #64 is
highly doubtful in its seriousness or its intention.

I don't believe they would write
the same list even 12 months from now.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A bathroom is where this book belongs.
Comment: I found the book title to be very fascinating and looked forward to reading about people who have
shaped our society and ourselves. What I found was self-indulgent humor that was not particularly
funny and in fact often times trite. Were the authors drunk when they wrote this?! It's full of
side bars and I guess what they consider jokes; though none were funny. The #24 person they listed
was Odysseus who they claim tried to avoid the Trojan War by pretending to be insane; that plan
having failed, he tried to join the Air National Guard in Texas. The book eventually wound up being
a politial satire to slam our government I guess.
Then the authors suggest having a St.
Lupercalia'a Day in which we have a day to celebrate orgies to keep the clergy happy. What?! Are
you kidding me? This book is completely inappropriate. You wouldn't be able to let children read
this book. Also, it would not make a good gift as there are too many people who would be offended
by this book.
I think the 3 authors of this book didn't all take the same writing style so it
makes the book very confusing to read. Don't buy. Get at the library and then return after you
don't read it.

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