Pogo Stick Jumping. The greatest number of jumps achieved is 105,338 by Michael Barban in 18 hours on September 12, 1978, in Florissant, Missouri. Scott Spencer...of Wilmington, Delaware, covered 6 miles in 6 1¿2 hours in September 1974.

-- Guinness Book of World Records, Giant 1980 Super-Edition

In this wildly imaginative memoir about an oversized midwestern boy's obsession with the Guinness Book of World Records, a tale of growing up different takes on epic proportions. "It was the Guinness books that gave me an escape," proclaims Steven Church in this darkly comic memoir, "a strange and seductive escape into the territory of the imagination." The Guinness Book of Me recalls a perilous youth strewn with the shadows of record holders, past and present, whose cameos add layers of meaning in fabulous and unexpected ways.

Have you ever wondered why someone would grow the world's longest fingernails or eat an eleven-foot tree? Steven Church has. His bizarre speculative investigations have less to do with the truth and more to do with a celebration of freaks, an exploration of memory, and an examination of identity. In fierce, muscled prose, Church explores a childhood lived between a father and younger brother who are each larger than life. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, The Guinness Book of Me will captivate and surprise you. This is more than a memoir; it's an engaging homage to pop culture, a powerful look at life's extremes, and an impressive debut from a promising young writer.

In 2002, he earned his MFA in Fiction from Colorado State University. His work has been published in several literary magazines; and has been thrice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

He has worked as a fry cook, Bobcat operator, tour guide (twice), housepainter, maintenance man, conflict mediator, academic advisor and teacher.

He currently serves as the Nonfiction Editor for Many Mountains Moving and as an Advisory Board Member for the Colorado Review. Steven was awarded the 2003 Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction and named the Alan Collins Scholar in Nonfiction for the 2003 Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife and son.

Author's Note.
S.T.E.V.E.N. A Personal Index.
Boy, Misfit.
Bond, Closest.
Smashing, Bare Hand.
Commitment, Longest.
Boy, Bionic.
Tongues, Speaking In.
Knives, Sharpest.
Diet, Strangest.
Guns, Youngest.
Danger Boys, World's Greatest.
Well, Biggest.
Skin, Toughest.
Trenchermen, World's Greatest.
Joints, Weakest.
Hero, Home Run.
Scars, Most, on Right Side of Body.
Fall, Hardest.
Transportation, Most Dangerous.
Escape, Greatest.
Acknowledgments, Most Deserving Of.