5 wacky book records you should know

Guinness Book of Records clocked 60-years-old today: what an achievement.

Here are some book related records that were included in the 15 of the weirdest cultural records.

1. Most expensive library fine

You know how it is: you’re supposed to return a library book, but you’re so busy you put it off. Before you know it, it’s 47 years overdue. The children’s poetry book Days and Deeds was taken out of Kewanee Public Library in Illinois in 1955 by Emily Canellos-Simms and given back in 2002 after she found it in her mother’s house.

The fine amounted to $345.14, (69,000 Naira) which seems surprisingly small, really.

2. Most abandoned book

It isn’t just his show the X-Factor that loses its audience week by week. A book about the music mogul -  Simon Cowell: The Unauthorised Biography - was discovered in 2010 to be the most discarded publication by a survey of books left in Travelodge rooms.

3. Thickest book unpublished

You’ve heard of the slush pile: every day literary publishers are deluged with submissions from would-be authors. Imagine if this 89,471 page tome landed on your desk? The Danish book Verdens Største Ordbog (The world's largest dictionary) is 4.62 metres thick, and collates 46 different dictionaries. Who fancies a bit of light reading?

4. Largest collection of miniature books

Salakhova Zarifa Teymur gyzy of Azerbaijan must have excellent eyesight. In 2014, it was verified that she has the largest collection of miniature books: more than 5,600

5.Youngest person to write a published book

The youngest commercially published female author is Dorothy Straight of Washington, D.C. She was born in 1958 and four years later she wrote her book How the World Began. The book was published in August 1964 by Pantheon Books when the author was six years old.

More recently, the record for the youngest published male author goes to Brazil's Adauto Kovalski da Silvais. At five years and 302 days old he released his book Aprender é Fácil on October 15, 2005.