UPDATE: I’m going to take another swipe at the data here. I’ve found too many places where it looks like citations aren’t registering. I’ll update when I can. Meanwhile, I’m moving the Secret Santa post to the top again. (Tim)
I’ve added a new “References” section to work pages, and within that a list of the Wikipedia articles that cite the work.
This feature comes from a complete parse of the English Wikipedia data dump, looking for citations and other references to books.
All told, the data covers 251,911 pages and includes 540,000 citations. They cover some 227,852 works. This is a marked improvement over 2007, when a similar effort found citations to LibraryThing works on only 90,136 pages. It’s not perfect. I don’t try to capture non-ISBN references in running text.* But it’s interesting.** Come talk about it here.
Here are the top 100 books:
| Top 100 Most-Frequenty Cited Books in the English Wikipedia |
| 1. |
2,122 |
Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums |
| 2. |
1,313 |
Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology (James, Andrew’s Disease of the Skin) |
| 3. |
1,231 |
Air Force Combat Units of World War II |
| 4. |
1,184 |
Jane’s encyclopedia of aviation |
| 5. |
839 |
British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 |
| 6. |
764 |
The Ship of the Line: The Development of the Battlefleet, 1650-1850 (The Ship of the line) |
| 7. |
603 |
Handbook of British Chronology (Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, Volume 2) |
| 8. |
603 |
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905 |
| 9. |
591 |
The science-fantasy publishers: A critical and bibliographic history |
| 10. |
560 |
Civil War High Commands |
| 11. |
539 |
Wrestling Title Histories |
| 12. |
514 |
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament (2 volumes) |
| 13. |
504 |
The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature |
| 14. |
464 |
The Dinosauria |
| 15. |
463 |
The DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition |
| 16. |
460 |
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem |
| 17. |
452 |
The Canadian directory of Parliament, 1867-1967 |
| 18. |
442 |
All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 |
| 19. |
419 |
Air Force combat wings : lineage and honors histories, 1947-1977 |
| 20. |
415 |
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1968; Volume 1: Who’s Who A-L |
| 21. |
414 |
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |
| 22. |
406 |
Fields of Praise: Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union, 1881-1981 |
| 23. |
403 |
Birmingham City |
| 24. |
398 |
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera : A-D |
| 25. |
377 |
Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments |
| 26. |
371 |
Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology In General Medicine (Two Vol. Set) |
| 27. |
362 |
NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book |
| 28. |
356 |
The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Animals: A Comprehensive Color Guide to Over 500 Specie |
| 29. |
348 |
The Pimlico Chronology of British History: From 250, 000 BC to the Present Day |
| 30. |
347 |
Michigan Place Names (Great Lakes Books) |
| 31. |
345 |
The Directory of Railway Stations: Details Every Public and Private Passenger Station, Halt, Platform and Stopping Place |
| 32. |
342 |
The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition |
| 33. |
341 |
Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand |
| 34. |
334 |
The Book of Sydney Suburbs |
| 35. |
331 |
The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club |
| 36. |
331 |
Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants |
| 37. |
315 |
Oregon Geographic Names |
| 38. |
305 |
日本写真家事典―東京都写真美術館所蔵作家 (東京都写真美術館叢書) |
| 39. |
296 |
U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History |
| 40. |
294 |
Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns |
| 41. |
289 |
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1968: A Bibliographic Survey of the Fields of Science Fiction, F |
| 42. |
281 |
Reed New Zealand Atlas |
| 43. |
277 |
Music in the Renaissance |
| 44. |
277 |
Ohio Atlas and Gazetteer (Atlas and Gazetteer) |
| 45. |
273 |
Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon |
| 46. |
271 |
The Text of the New Testament an Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual |
| 47. |
268 |
Blackpool (Complete Record) |
| 48. |
266 |
The PFA Premier & Football League players’ records, 1946-2005 |
| 49. |
261 |
The Oxford Companion to Chess |
| 50. |
259 |
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |
| 51. |
256 |
A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica (Comstock Book) |
| 52. |
251 |
Saints!: Complete Record of Southampton Football Club, 1885-1987 |
| 53. |
247 |
Cassell’s Chronology of World History: Dates, Events and Ideas That Made History |
| 54. |
247 |
The Book of Golden Discs |
| 55. |
243 |
Squadrons of the Royal Air Force and Commonwealth, 1918-88 |
| 56. |
236 |
Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944 |
| 57. |
236 |
RAF Squadrons: A Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of All RAF Squadrons and Their Antecedents Since 191 |
| 58. |
231 |
Australian Chart Book 1970-1992 |
| 59. |
231 |
The Phoenix Book of International Rugby Records |
| 60. |
228 |
Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945 |
| 61. |
224 |
US Air Force Air Power Directory |
| 62. |
222 |
Handbook of Inorganic Chemicals |
| 63. |
221 |
Rough Guide to World Music Volume Two: Latin and North America, the Caribbean, Asia & the Pacific (Rough Guide Music Gui |
| 64. |
219 |
In the Nick of Time: Motion Picture Sound Serials |
| 65. |
215 |
A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago |
| 66. |
212 |
Encyclopedia of Fishes, Second Edition (Natural World) |
| 67. |
208 |
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World |
| 68. |
205 |
The Kentucky Encyclopedia |
| 69. |
205 |
Arsenal Who’s Who |
| 70. |
205 |
Guia de Catalunya. Tots els pobles i totes les comarques |
| 71. |
204 |
Armor Battles of the Waffen SS, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series) |
| 72. |
203 |
Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography |
| 73. |
203 |
Indie Hits: The Complete UK Independent Charts 1980-1989 |
| 74. |
201 |
The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics |
| 75. |
201 |
The geographic atlas of New Zealand |
| 76. |
201 |
The International Rugby Championship 1883-1983 |
| 77. |
200 |
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae (Virgin Encyclopedias of Popular Music) |
| 78. |
199 |
Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide |
| 79. |
198 |
Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft |
| 80. |
196 |
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships: 1906-1921 (Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships, Vol 2) |
| 81. |
195 |
The fighting ships of the Rising Sun: The drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945 |
| 82. |
192 |
Economics: Principles in Action |
| 83. |
191 |
New RHS Dictionary of Gardening |
| 84. |
190 |
Fungal Families of the World (Cabi Publishing) |
| 85. |
189 |
The Vertigo Encyclopedia |
| 86. |
188 |
Dermatology: 2-Volume Set |
| 87. |
187 |
The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota: A Guide (Minnesota) |
| 88. |
187 |
Minding the House: A Biographical Guide to Prince Edward Island MLAs, 1873-1993 |
| 89. |
186 |
Domesday Book: A Complete Translation (Alecto Historical Editions) |
| 90. |
186 |
The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (3 Vol Set) |
| 91. |
185 |
Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern : die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges |
| 92. |
184 |
The Mountains of England and Wales, Volume 1: Wales |
| 93. |
183 |
The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld |
| 94. |
183 |
The Oxford Dictionary of Opera |
| 95. |
179 |
Generals in Blue Lives of the Union Commanders: Lives of the Union Commanders |
| 96. |
178 |
The Arkham House Companion: Fifty Years of Arkham House : A Bibliographical History and Collector’s Price Guide to Arkha |
| 97. |
177 |
David and Charles Book of Castles |
| 98. |
175 |
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Recent Releases) |
| 99. |
174 |
The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family |
| 100. |
171 |
Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003 |
| Source: LibraryThing.com |
Here’s the table above, in selectable form, in case you want to put it on your blog:
*The parse used ISBNs, OCLC and LCCN numbers and title/author combinations, in both running text (for ISBNs) and citations. In 2007, I used titles and authors in running text. But this produces some false positives and, basically, would have tied up a server for a week.
**I don’t want to start a fight, but I think the winners suggest alarming unevenness. They look like special cases—a bunch of devotees going citation-mad. While everyone knows Wikipedia is driven by passion, the theory is that large numbers and diverse viewpoints tamp down some of the excesses there. That said, I am going to take another crack at the data, hoping some of these effects diminish.
Labels: new features, references, wikipedia
I’ve added a new “References” section to work pages, and within that a list of the Wikipedia articles that cite the work.
When Lars Aronsson did the same thing 3 years ago, the list was dominated by Pokemon books:
460 0954381157 "Trade unions of the world"
391 0439154049 "The official Pokemon handbook"
389 193020650X "Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed Version"
387 130206151 (an error for 1930206151, another Pokemon title)
372 1930206585 "Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Player's Guide"
357 0761547614 "Prima's Official Pokemon Guide"
346 0002169878 "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand"
342 1569315604 "Pokemon Adventures, Adventure 3: Saffron Cit…"
334 1930206194 "Super Smash Bros. Melee, Official Guide from…"
334 1569315086 "Pokemon Adventures: Legendary Pokemon, Vol. 2"
333 1569314365 "Pokemon Graphic Novel vol. 3: Electric Pikac…"
332 1930206313 "Gameboy Advance Pokemon Ruby Version and Sap…"
332 1598120026 "Official Nintendo Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkne…"
332 1569318514 "Pokemon Adventures, Volume 7: Yellow Caballe…"