Amazon Top 100 Best Seller Last Words of Notable People reached its highest sales position at #80 out of all titles on Amazon (over 3 million at that time) on December 21, 2011.

Other Notable Reviews

ARBA (American Referene Books Annual 2011 ) / ARBAonline (2011)

"The most comprehensive, authoritative database for quality reviews of print and electronic reference works"

"This compilation ( Last Words of Notable People) of "famous last words" emphasizes accuracy and the authority of the sources for quotations. The result is a useful, thorough, browsable, and entertaining resource...C. Bernard Ruffin's Last Words: A Dictionary of Deathbed Quotations (see ARBA 1996, entry 95) remains a valuable resource, but 15 years have passed since its publication. Related works...devote only limited space to "last words." -- Steven W. Sowards

KIRKUS

"The most trusted voice in book reviews since 1933."

William B. Brahms and Last Words of Notable People are subject of full page "Kirkus Q & A" article in Kirkus Reviews (Feb. 1, 2011; p.228). Kirkus Reviews: Full Review of Last Words of Notable People (Sept. 13, 2010). "...Nathan Hale...Oscar Wilde...are among the intriguing and error-evading factoids that librarians, writers and editors will glean in this well-organized, meticulously researched reference tome. In each alphabetically... ordered article, Brahms includes an engaging biographical snippet complete with circumstances of death, lists every attested version of the subject's last spoken and written thoughts (with full source citations) and politely tags apocryphal quotations as "doubtful." The more than 3,500 entries run the gamut...The book rewards the casual reader as much as the professional fact-finder or trivia junkie...An information-packed reference for writers and researchers, and an addictive, thought-provoking browse for ordinary mortals."

Booklist

"Leading book discovery" - publication of the American Library Association

Booklist Editor's Choice/ALA-Midwinter Conference Issue:

"This collection is more eclectically international and includes more entries than Edward Le Comte's Dictionary of Last Words (1955), with its American and European emphases...Brahms provides interesting and sometimes informative final biographical tidbits...This specialty niche resource complements numerous biographical compendiums" - James Rettig; (Jan. 1 & 15, 2011)

CHOICE

"Current Reviews for Academic Libraries:"

"Here is one-stop shopping for those curious about the final known remarks of famous (or infamous) persons throughout the history of the Western world. The compiler, an experienced librarian, has generated a work that he no doubt has wished for many times...Questionable ("Doubtful") findings are noted, as are "Variations" of similar or translated words...Most libraries serving the general public will need access to this work, and likely use it more than they imagined." -- D. G. Davis Jr.; (Feb 1, 2011)

Rory Litwin, Publisher (Library Juice Press)

" It ( Last Words of Notable People ) is much more than a complement to his previous book,Notable Last Facts, and more likely to find extensive use as a part of a reference collection... I would call the book a big achievement. Kudos to Bill. " -- Rory Litwin; (Sept. 24, 2010)

Robert K. Elder, Author of Last Words of the Executed, Publisher, Digital Executiove):

"Last words matter because they cannot be taken back. But history and accuracy also matter -- which is why William B. Brahms' meticulously researched Last Words of Notable People is such a necessary, captivating volume. He debunks some famous last words and mines the culture for moving final thoughts in this painstakingly annotated, infinitely readable book. Try putting it down, just try." -- Robert K. Elder; (Sept. 16, 2010)

Death Reference Desk (Aug 23, 2010) "...Last Words of Notable People especially excels at being unequivocal about ambiguity. It documents not only last words and their variations, but also completely different quotes when applicable. It also includes well-known last-word contrivances, clearly marked as "doubtful" in the text. The book claims to be "the most authoritative compilation of Last Words ever assembled." In a nice twist of honest, functional scholarship, its authority does not derive from claiming settled truth, but by acknowledging and sourcing the contradictions. While Brahms has necessarily made interpretive decisions regarding the content -- what to include, omit, call "doubtful" and so forth -- the reader is presented with evidence and citations for further investigation... Suffice it to say, the depth of research that was required for this work is staggering, as is the potential range of inquiry it will assist and inspire, as historians investigate not only what people said, but all the ways in which last words are remembered, misheard and completely made up. This death librarian is sold. ...The historians and biographers and general weirdoes who run across it will flip out and fall in love as they discover -- confirm, deny and further complicate -- the final words of the famous."