ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN Edward Creasy, there were Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. The planet Uranus has 15 moons, while in Treasure Island there are "15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest". Now, with the publication of this book, there have been 15 editions of The Top 10 of Everything. It's all too easy to slip into this list-geared mode, since we are constantly assailed with lists: from the 100 Greatest Film Stars and the FBI's 10 Most Wanted to the bestselling DVDs and the most-visited Internet sites, lists have become a part of our world view.

A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE
One function of The Top 10 of Everything is to distil down a wealth of data by drawing together a diversity of quantitative superlatives. They are not anyone's "10 bests" (which are qualitative judgements), but there are some "10 worsts" in the case of accidents and disasters, since, sadly, these can be gauged by numbers of victims. The only "bests" are bestsellers, because sales can be measured. There are the results of major polls and also some "firsts" and "latests", which recognize pioneers, most recent achievers, and award-winners.

SOURCE MATERIAL
My data sources include "official" and government departments, from the United Nations and sports governing bodies to commercial organizations and research groups, every one of whom has granted me privileged access to their databases. Among the most rewarding sources of all are the private individuals who are specialists in everything from poisonous creatures to the world's tallest buildings, and who have been generous enough to share with me the results of their researches.

AS TIME GOES BY...
Entry-levels for Top 10 lists have changed, often dramatically, over the 15 annual publications of The Top 10 of Everything: the richest American of 15 years ago had a mere $6.7 billion, while Bill Gates is today more than six times wealthier. We have ever-bigger cruise liners, spiralling transfer fees for sporting superstars, and increasing levels of worldwide box office income - the criterion on which the film lists are mostly based - which means that Star Wars, the highest-earning film in 1990, is now ranked tenth.

A COMEDY OF ERRORS
I endeavour to ensure that the information in The Top 10 of Everything is as up to date and as accurate as possible, but arguments continue to rage over the precise lengths of rivers, how many copies of the Bible have ever been sold, how fast a bee flies, and so on, and just as other sources disagree with each other, some may disagree with me. But then at least I don't claim - as certain respected reference books have - that Mt. Pico in the Azores is 20,639 m (67,713 ft) high (more than twice the height of Everest), that Iceland has 1,754 tractors per hectare (hence a total of 180 billion tractors), or that Manila has a population of 21 people per square foot...