Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

[moonvisage]

Has anyone ever read these books by Reader's Digest? I have two of their big volume books here,as well as one by the AA.They are absolutely sensational to read,and have some of the best pictures i have ever seen,although the colour and lighting makes them look dated now.
Here are a few pictures of the volumes i have at present.The first,is the book by the AA,which is the Automobile Association.It is called: Treasures of Britain.It includes: Treasures of Ireland.



I took a picture of the spread cover,and an example of what the inside pages look like.This AA book,also includes incredible detailed maps of the entire UK and Ireland,with all the locations of castles,gardens,abbeys etc marked on them.

[moonvisage]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

Here are pictures of a Reader's Digest book i have called: Strange Stories Amazing Facts.It is full of strange tales from the flying dutchman to facts about the first submarine etc.

[moonvisage]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

This book,is by Reader's Digest and is called: Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain.It is absolutly jam packed with stories and pictures from thousands of towns,villages and cities in the UK.It is my all time favourite book.Like most of the other books,these three books have been reprinted throughout the 70's.

[Richard1978]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

My Dad has the AA book of England.

I've got the Readers Digest Book Of Home Repair, which seems to turn up at every other charity shop I've been in.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

My Dad has the AA book of England.

I've got the Readers Digest Book Of Home Repair, which seems to turn up at every other charity shop I've been in.

We had a Readers Digest home repair thing, but it was a big grey binder folded over like a brief case. Inside it had two sections, can't remember what they were but one had a brown transparent plastic cover and the other had a green transparent plastic cover. You could take all the leaves out seperately for the odd job in hand.

[Twocky61]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

One thing about the Reader's Digest is the never ending prize draw they held

They said you would be entered into the prize draw to win £250,000 & an expensive new car

Did anyone actually win?

If you sent the prize draw document within a certain time you could win an additional amount of money

If you did win the mega prize you could choose a celebrity to present the cheque to you

They always gave you a list of winners, such as Mary T from Manchester, David P from Liverpool for example

I reckon it was all a con to get you to buy there books

If anyone actually won the prize draw it would be interesting to find someone who actually has.

Then I will be less suspicious lol

[staffslad]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

I bought my dad a book from Readers' Digest on law called, I think, You and your Rights circa 1978 and for years afterward we received letters about other books and prize draws. The book itself was actually not bad at all.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

I had a copy of "Strange Stories, Amazing Facts" when I was a kid.

[marc]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

One thing about the Reader's Digest is the never ending prize draw they held

They said you would be entered into the prize draw to win £250,000 & an expensive new car

Did anyone actually win?

If you sent the prize draw document within a certain time you could win an additional amount of money

If you did win the mega prize you could choose a celebrity to present the cheque to you

They always gave you a list of winners, such as Mary T from Manchester, David P from Liverpool for example

I reckon it was all a con to get you to buy there books

If anyone actually won the prize draw it would be interesting to find someone who actually has.

Then I will be less suspicious lol

It was not a con. I well remember a friend of the girl I was then with, won £2000. She actually sent the form with her number back. She forgot about it, then a month later a cheque came in the post. I once entered the prize, being told that if they received my numbers before a certain date, I would receive a pair of carving knives. I duly sent the numbers, and two carving knives came in a package several weeks later.

The man who was running the draws for RD actually appeared on TV . He openly stated the prize draws did take place and were not a con. If they did not, it would be a case of fraud. I think you could actually write to them and ask for the full names of the winners and numbers. I think it is part of UK law that numbers must be revealed.

Has far has I'm aware, the was no obligation to buy anything off them.

[battyrat]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

Nan had a copy of Treasures of Britain. I think I may of borrowed a copy of the Folk law one from our library.

We all gave up on the readers digest prize draws here. The amount of forms and numbers etc. we sent back must of been ridiculous. Never won a thing and never knew anybody that had. All they kept doing was to send another lot of rubbish to return along with loads of advertising and begging letters to buy books.

[Richard1978]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

One of the pubs near me has a shelf of short story collections from The Reader's Digest. These have 2-4 stories in one hard back volume.

I think they once had a book of the month club at one time.

[George 1978]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

One thing about the Reader's Digest is the never ending prize draw they held

They said you would be entered into the prize draw to win £250,000 & an expensive new car

The adverts were always on at the start of the year, certainly in the early 1990s. I always wondered why Readers' Digest (along with Which magazine) was never seen on the shelves of WHSmith, even though they stocked every other obscure magazine as those that are mentioned at the start of the missing words round of HIGNFY. Quite a few of them managed to get onto the tables inside doctors' and dentist's waiting rooms however.

In the Midlands, the prize draw advert voiceover was something like: "and someone lucky winner could be living in the Central Television region" with a "nighttime" map of the region and lights flashing on and off in that region. Of course, all regions had their own version.

On Victor Lewis-Smith's Ads Infinitum, they showed a 1976 Reader's Digest advert with Robert Dougall having to improvise the stillness of a Madame Tussaud's statue at the end of the advert for around a minute as there were no freeze frame available - he looked as if he was about to collapse after 30 seconds of holding the same poses.

I just wished that I could have got the RD's "How To Do Just About Anything on a Computer" when it was out - the early days of the internet (1999 for my own benefit).

[Richard1978]

Re: Reader's Digest Big Volumes.Full of obscure information.

I presume Readers Digest was mostly a subscription magazine by then.