Did you ever wonder which books, written in English, are the longest ever written?

By David McClelland

I was re-reading one of my favorite books, "Atlas Shrugged," by Ayn Rand, which I thought was long and remembered some other long books that I have read including: "The Stand" by Stephen King and "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo.

Then, I wondered about the really long books and which are the longest. When I began to research this subject, I found that I first had to determine what criteria should be used to decide. One could base it on word count or page count. I decided that word count was the more appropriate indicator.

Based upon word count, the longest books ever written in English in order are:

Rank Words Title Author

1 17 million "Marienbad My Love" Mark Leach
2 11.3 million "The Blah Story" Nigel Tomm
3 9 million "The Story of the Vivian Girls" Henry Darger
4 2.2 million "Trial by Tenderness" Cevn McGuire
5 1.2 million "Mission Earth" L. Ron Hubbard
6 1.1 million "Sironia, Texas" Madison Cooper

12 645,000 "Atlas Shrugged" Ayn Rand
14 560,000 "War and Peace" Leo Tolstoy
15 513,000 "Les Miserables" Victor Hugo

I thought the books I remembered were long, but they pale by comparison to the others, especially the longest three. Care to take a few months and read one of those?

Did you ever wonder which rivers are the longest in the world?

By David McClelland

You probably know that the Mississippi River is the longest in the United States at 3,902 miles in length and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Did you know that the Mississippi is the fourth longest river on earth? Let’s discuss the seven longest rivers in the world because they are the only ones that are more that 3,000 miles in length. Can you name them in order? I couldn’t before I researched the subject.

The longest is the Amazon River in South America at 4,300 miles. It runs through Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Second, the Nile River in Africa is 4,132 miles in length. It runs north through Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nile empties in the Mediterranean Sea.

Third, comes the Yangtze River in China. The Yangtze is 3,917 miles long and empties into the East China Sea.

After the Mississippi and the fifth longest, is the Russian Yenisei–Angara-Selenga River which is 3,445 miles in length, is in Mongolia, and empties into the Kara Sea.

The sixth longest river in the world is the Yellow River (Huang Ha) in China that empties into the Bohai Sea. It is 3,398 miles long.

The seventh is the Ob-Irtysh River. It is 3,364 miles long and runs through Russia, Kazakhstan, P.R. China and Mongolia.

There are another 13 rivers of between 2,300 and 2,922 miles in length. That is the story on the longest rivers in the world.

Did you ever wonder if the water flowing over Niagra Falls has ever stopped flowing?

By David McClelland

I have wondered about this question and decided to research the subject. What I found surprised me. It seems that it happened only once by natural causes and that was in March of 1848 when a southwest gale blowing off Lake Erie caused an ice jam to form, blocking the mouth of the Niagra River causing the water flow to be reduced to a trickle for some 30- 40 hours. It was reported that the roar of the falls fell silent during that time. Some good came of it as those who ventured out onto the river bottom found items that had been on the bottom for many years, including articles of the War of 1812 such as muskets, bayonets, tomahawks, gun barrels and other artifacts. Some rocks that had been hazards to navigation were blasted out. Of course, factories and mills that were dependant upon water power were stilled during that time.

The next day, the winds shifted and the ice dam broke and the water began to flow soon regaining its full strength and volume. All was well again at Niagra Falls.

The only other times when the flow of water over the falls was interrupted were man caused. In 1953, the water over a portion of The Horseshoe Falls was stopped to build a series of coffer dams so that remedial work could be done to make the flow of water more even and to reduce the rate of erosion. Again, in 1963, the US Core of Army Engineers built a series of coffer dams to reduce the flow in order to study rock formations to see if any needed to be removed, but they decided to take no action and to let Mother Nature take her course.

Other than the three instances described above, the flow of water has been uninterrupted.

Did you ever wonder which rivers are the longest in the world?

By David McClelland

You probably know that the Mississippi River is the longest in the United States at 3,902 miles in length and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Did you know that the Mississippi is the fourth longest river on earth? Let's discuss the seven longest rivers in the world because they are the only ones that are more that 3,000 miles in length. Can you name them in order? I couldn't before I researched the subject.

The longest is the Amazon River in South America at 4,300 miles. It runs through Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Second, the Nile River in Africa is 4,132 miles in length. It runs north through Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nile empties in the Mediterranean Sea.

Third, comes the Yangtze River in China. The Yangtze is 3,917 miles long and empties into the East China Sea.

After the Mississippi and the fifth longest, is the Russian Yenisei–Angara-Selenga River which is 3,445 miles in length, is in Mongolia, and empties into the Kara Sea.

The sixth longest river in the world is the Yellow River (Huang Ha) in China that empties into the Bohai Sea. It is 3,398 miles long.

The seventh is the Ob-Irtysh River. It is 3,364 miles long and runs through Russia, Kazakhstan, P.R. China and Mongolia.

There are another 13 rivers of between 2,300 and 2,922 miles in length. That is the story on the longest rivers in the world.

Did you ever wonder about the rules for hyphenated names?

By David McClelland

Well I did and I decided to research the subject. Little did I know just how confusing this subject would be. There are a lot of conflicting rules and customs out there.

First, what are the reasons for creating a hyphenated name? The most common reason seems to be that a woman doesn't want to discard her maiden name upon marriage. Typically, she will create a hyphenated last name with her maiden name first, a hyphen and then her husband's last name. So, when Jane Smith marries John Jones, her married name becomes Jane Smith-Jones. It would be nice if we could just leave it at that.

However, some people think they should link their last names in alpha order. In the above example, Jane Smith would become Jane Jones-Smith. Not everyone capitalizes the first letter of the name before the hyphen. Then, there are those, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, who uses her maiden name before her husband's last name, but doesn't use a hyphen.

Then, there is the question of what the children of John Jones and Jane Smith should have as their last names. Some parents give their children the hyphenated last name while others use only the father's last name as the children's last name.

Then, there are cultures where custom dictates that the husband's family last name comes first, followed by the wife's family last name. In other cultures, the custom is just the opposite and it is the husband's family name that comes last. And, some use hyphens and others don't.

Doctor's offices often have great difficulty verifying insurance coverage for people with hyphenated last names. I was told by one doctor that confusion often exists in order to confirm that a woman with a hyphenated name is covered since there is not a firm rule about the order of the names being followed by everyone.

In summary, whether a woman in America chooses to use her maiden name upon marriage and just how she does that, appears to be a matter of personal choice and we all will just have to live with the result.

Did you ever wonder why the ocean is so much saltier than lakes?

By David McClelland

Well, I did and I did some research on this question. It seems that all water, even rain water, contains dissolved chemicals that scientists call salts. We drink fresh water and think it tastes good. Lake and river water contains some salt, but not much by comparison with ocean water. Ocean water it too salty for human consumption. Why? Because ocean water contains a much higher concentration of salts. The ocean is about 3½ % salt, by weight. In fact, if the salt from the ocean could be removed and spread evenly on the earth's surface, it would form a layer approximately 500 feet thick or about the height of a 40 story building. That is a lot of salt. No wonder ocean water tastes salty.

Where did all of that salt come from? Ocean water is a combination of mineral salts and of decayed biological matter that results from the teeming life in the seas. Most of the oceans salts were derived from gradual processes such as the breaking up of the cooled igneous rocks of the earth's crust by weathering and erosion, the wearing down of mountains, and the dissolving action of rains and streams which transported their mineral washings to the sea. Sodium Chloride constitutes 85% of the dissolved solids in the seas.

In summary, the ocean is salty because of the gradual combination of dissolved chemicals eroded from the earth's crust and washed into the sea in addition to the decaying of sea life.