Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U.S. editions The Guinness Book of World Records), is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of world records, both human achievements and the extreme of the natural world. The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted series.

Origins
Recent editions have focused on record feats by human competitors. Competitions range from obvious ones such as weightlifting to the more entertaining such as longest egg-throwing distance or the number of hot dogs that can be consumed in ten minutes - although eating contest and beer and alcohol consumption entries are no longer accepted, possibly for fear of litigation. Besides records about competitions, it contains such facts as the heaviest tumor, the most poisonous plant, the shortest river (Roe River), the longest-running drama (Guiding Light), the longest serving members of a drama series (William Roache for Coronation Street in the UK, Kate Ritchie and Ray Meagher for Home and Away in Australia), the world's most successful salesman (Joe Girard) and the only brother and sister to have solo number one singles in UK chart history (Daniel and Natasha Bedingfield). Many records also relate to the youngest person who achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, being Maurizio Giuliano.
On 9 January 2007, Guinness announced it was working with AskMeNow to offer mobile access to the Guinness World Records databases. The company has been collaborating with the UK-based firm Texperts for several years already, and it offers both companies exclusive access to their database.

Museums

Ashrita Furman of Queens, New York, who is generally recognized as the individual with the most current records, although Guinness no longer counts having the most records as a Guinness record itself.
List of world records
Ripley's Believe It or Not!