Weighty Tomes

I love these things. Usually. This time I'm not quite sure what's intended by the question. But since this doesn't count for my final grade, I shall give it a shot anyway.

I. Name your three biggest non-reference books (excluding the Bible and text books).

Does "biggest" mean weighs the most, has the most pages, or is the largest by height, width, and depth? I'll try for one of each.

1. "Make Way for Lucia" has 1019 pages. But it's actually all five of E.F. Benson's "Lucia" novels bound together. Does that count as one "book"? If it doesn't Corti's "The Red Horse" in it's Ignatius printing is only one novel at 1015 pages.

2. Gen. A.C. Bredin's "The Irish Soldier" probably weighs the most as it is printed on laminated paper -- it is very hefty indeed.

3. "Ireland: Its Beauty and Splendor" seems to win the height & width stakes.


II. Name your three biggest reference books.

1. My wife's enormous atlas wins both the height & width and the weight prizes. (I'd tell you who published it if she didn't have two crates of files stacked in front of the shelf that it's on.)

2. Deering's California Desktop Code Series, Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Evidence Code, & Rules of Court has 2,504 pages not counting the index or the pocket part.

3. Bernhard's California Real Estate Laws has 2,104 pages. (Some of the CEB looseleaf reference books may have more pages than either of these. But the chapters are each numbered individually. So we'll never know. Not if we're relying on me to find out.)

One starts to nod off just reading the titles on that last set. The rule says they have to be reference books and big. It doesn't say they have to be interesting. Now "The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church" by James-Charles Noon, Jr I could get lost in for hours. But it's only 554 pages. Actually the whole post is Mr Culbreath's fault. I was just minding my own business, marvelling at the intensity of San Francisco Giants' fans when I felt this. . . tag. . . .