101 most influential
people who never lived
There
are many books concerning the most influential people in the world, be that
101 of them since time immemorial, or 100 of them last year, so I almost
by-passed this book on the Bookazine shelves till I saw that this book was
listing 101 most influential people who never lived! As the front cover
proclaimed, “how characters of fiction, myth, legends, television and movies
have shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of
history.”
“The 101 most influential people who never lived” (ISBN 0-06-113221-7,
Harper Books, 2006) has been compiled by Allan Lazar, who is in retirement
teaching dogs to play the piano and sing; Dan Karlan, a scientific computer
programmer; and Jeremy Salter, a retired analytical chemist. A fairly
diverse trio.
The compilers list the 101 in their ‘most influential’ order and do apply
the rider that their opinions are totally subjective. And who is number 1?
The Marlboro Man. This mythical character, born of Leo Burnett’s ad agency,
has managed to kill millions. That is quite some influence. Incidentally,
the book tells you of the three male models who were used in the advertising
campaigns. They died from emphysema and lung cancer (of course).
Down in number 18 is one of my favorite influential characters, Mickey
Mouse, with whom I share a birthday. But he’s older than me. Mickey was
influential enough to get the American Congress to extend the copyright laws
to make sure Mickey, the American icon, did not fall into ‘enemy’ hands!
Languishing down in number 56 is the Loch Ness monster, though there would
be those who would take Messrs Lazar, Karlan and Salter to task over this.
Generations of hairy-kneed Scots have attested to the veracity of the
legend, but then again, what’s a legend?
Anyone with enough marbles to enjoy books would also have seen Stanley
Kubrick’s 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” in which HAL 9000 is the
supercomputer guiding the astronauts through space. HAL develops a glitch,
in that he adopts some human characteristics, such as paranoia and
schizophrenia. HAL’s influence on our society has been so great that he is
considered the 13th most villainous ‘person’ on the American Film
Institute’s villains list.
Some influential people from the classics are included in the top 101 list,
with Venus and Cupid, Helen of Troy, Icarus and Hercules all having their
day of glory, or in their cases, many centuries of glory. Midas gets his
mention for his foolishness by not thinking of the consequences before
asking that everything he touched would become gold. Solid gold apples are
difficult to digest.
For only B. 595, this is a fascinating book, both in the fictional list and
in the ones that didn’t make the cut for the final 101, which includes Bugs
Bunny and Walter Mitty.
I have two complaints, with the first being a lack of alphabetic index,
meaning you are flipping back and forth all the time, and second is once
again woeful paper stock. By the time you have read it twice the words will
have worn off the page.
