''The People's Almanac'' is a series of three books compiled in 1975, 1978 and 1981 by

David Wallechinsky David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American popular historian and television commentator, the co-founder and past president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chie ...

and his father

Irving Wallace Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. Early life Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss a ...

. In 1973, Wallechinsky became fed up with

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

s that regurgitated bare facts. He had the idea for a reference book to be read for pleasure; a book that would tell the often untold true tales of history. He worked alone for 12 months before being joined by his father for a further year of research. ''The People's Almanac'' was published by

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

in 1975 and became a best-seller. Its success led to ''The People's Almanac #2'' in 1978 and ''The People's Almanac #3'' in 1981, both published by

William Morrow and Company William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. The ...

. One of the most popular chapters was a selection of lists, which spawned ''

The Book of Lists The ''Book of Lists'' refers to any one of a series of books compiled by David Wallechinsky, his father Irving Wallace and sister Amy Wallace. Each book contains hundreds of lists (many accompanied by textual explanations) on unusual or obsc ...

''. The ''People's Almanac'' books depart from conventional almanacs (such as the ''

World Almanac ''The World Almanac and Book of Facts'' is a US-published reference work, an almanac conveying information about such subjects as world changes, tragedies, and sports feats. It has been published yearly from 1868 to 1875, and again every year sinc ...

'') by including many entertaining facts, lists and

esoteric knowledge Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

. Special sections include ones on natural and man-made disasters, "Footnote People in World History," biographies of fictional characters (such as

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

), past predictions by psychics—both correct and incorrect, and predictions for the years 1975 and on. Odd and unexplained happenings (such as the

Devil's Footprints The Devil's Footprints was a phenomenon that occurred during February 1855 around the Exe Estuary in east and south Devon, England. After a heavy snowfall, trails of hoof-like marks appeared overnight in the snow covering a total distance of som ...

) are also discussed, though authoritative references are generally not given.

References

1975 non-fiction books 1978 non-fiction books 1981 non-fiction books Almanacs Books by David Wallechinsky Books by Irving Wallace Doubleday (publisher) books William Morrow and Company books Book series Trivia books {{ref-book-stub