List lovers, rejoice! The millennium inspires this highly opinionated compendium, based on decisions--who's in, who's out, who's high, who's low--with which dedicated trivia nuts may wish to quibble. The authors impose order by awarding up to 10,000 points for lasting influence; up to 5,000 for effect on the sum total of wisdom and beauty in the world (positive or, as in the case of Hitler, negative); up to 4,000 points for influence on contemporaries; up to 3,000 for singularity of contribution; and up to 2,000 for charisma. Gutenberg leads the list with 21,768 points; Andy Warhol is number 1,000, with 1,000 points. (Numbers 2 through 10 are Columbus, Luther, Galileo, Shakespeare, Newton, Darwin, Aquinas, Da Vinci, and Beethoven, in that order.) Yes, the ranking is Western oriented, but Gandhi ranks number 12, and Genghis Khan, Mao, Peter the Great, Tolstoy, and Lenin make the top 50. Brief biographies of these millennium-shapers may spur further reading. (Reviewed December 15, 1998)