Book review: Quotations for our time, compiled by Dr. Laurence Peter

Phew! What a book! 

A book of quotations rarely deserves a review for itself. But this one is truly special. The difference that a curator makes to a collection can only be appreciated when we read something that is superlatively compiled. This is that rare book of quotations that is superlatively compiled. 

I am a sucker for quotes and suffice to say that I have read plenty of quote compilations. And while every editor does a good job, this one truly, truly stands out. 

1. First, the size. 5000 quotes is not a joke. 

2. The quality of content. This book has content that we can now read with the advantage of hindsight. And its amazing how right the naysayers were and how wrong the promoters turned out to me. All the warnings were given, and obviously ignored. We ended up with exactly what the warning implied and it was not good. But the foresight of those warnings. Someone had to dig them up, organise and publish them. 

3. The contraditions and the repeats - if two ppl have said the same thing at any time, we will hear about it here. 

4. The author's comments - the BEST part of the book are these bracketed quotes which are the author's comments. They make the book hilarious in some parts. 

What didn'twork 

Its good as a reference book, but I was reading it as a book, and that can get tedious and intellectually tiring at times. This book was read over many pauses for over a month. 

There are some repeats

And also, some cases where the author's better judgement either worked too well or left him entirely.