Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:13:02 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title...
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 12/27/2005 11:50 AM, Michael Walsh wrote:

>People Who Don't Know They're Dead by Gary Leon Hill (Red
>Wheel/Weiser). Submitted by Grame Henderson of Ottakar's in Cameron
>Toll. The subtitle explains the book's practical approach: How They
>Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It.
>Henderson adds: "I concluded that there was no point ordering this book
>as, if they don't know they're dead, they seem unlikely to have a firm
>grasp of their fiscal matters."

I think that Grame Henderson should be submitted for some sort of
non-sequitur award...

>Introduction to Adult Swallowing by Michael DiCrary (Butterworth
>Heinemann). Submitted by David Hicks of book trade charity BTBS.
>"Presumably there is also an Advanced Guide," Hicks muses. "And the 999
>in the middle of its ISBN must relate to the Heimlich Manoeuvre
>chapter."

Or perhaps the book was just upside down?

>Urogenital Manipulation by Jean-Pierre Barral (Eastland). Submitted by
>Ian Carlton of Gateshead Library, who tells me a library loan request
>for this title has been circulated nationally.

A medical text?  If so, not an odd title at all.  Now if it had been titled
"Eurogenital Manipulation", *that* would have been a bit odd.

>The History of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie by Trevor Hickman (Sutton).
>Submitted by Jon Woolcott of Ottakar's. "Apparently it is
>'controversial'," Woolcott says. "Maybe there's something we're not
>being told about the jelly content. Yum."

http://www.porkpie.co.uk/ is the company site, apparently.  The title isn't
all that odd IMO, but the fact that anyone would take the time to write the
book is.

>Designing Public Toilets by C del Valle Schuster (Edizioni Gribaudo).
>Submitted by Howard Stanbury of IFIS Publishing, one of several who saw
>it in a display case at Frankfurt.

What's odd about that?  I'd hope that those involved in such endeavors have
some sort of guide to use to achieve a level of standardization.  Unique
design and concept is good in art, but in public toilets it just leads to
long lines.

>Dining Posture in Ancient Rome by Matthew B Roller. This was submitted
>by Caroline Priday of its publisher Princeton University Press. She
>expands: "The book promises to be a fascinating treatise on the meaning
>and importance of dining postures in the period 200BC-200AD."

Like the pork pie thing, the title isn't odd at all, but the author
probably is.

>There are some solid contenders here, but nothing to quite match past
>champions such as Reusing Old Graves (1995)

I wonder if they have any actual quotations from Old Graves?  So he could
say what he thought about being re-used.

>and Weeds in a Changing
>World (1999). So use those quiet moments over Christmas to scour
>catalogues and Amazon. Email me on the address below, and The Diagram
>could be yours.

Ok, that title is a bit odd.  I wonder if they found an unchanging world to
contrast the weed picture here with?

-- Mike B.