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Frog Raising for Pleasure and Profit and Other Bizarre Books
In the course of their writing and publishing careers, Russell Ash and Brian Lake have collected hundreds of the book trade's most bizarre titles. From unintended double entendres (Making It in Leather) and astonishingly specialized subjects (Great Locomotive Boiler Explosions) to weird books on sex (Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition), and religion (Hell: Where Is It?), the authors have left no page unturned in their quest. Along the way, they have also catalogued some noteworthy authors, including Violet Organ, Fernando Poo, Bishop Frediricus Nausea, and O. Hell. A final section looks at publishing curiosities, from unusual book bindings (a "fireproof" edition of Fahrenheit 451 bound in asbestos boards) to unfortunate tributes (Venereal Disease and Its Prevention, "affectionately dedicated" to the author's wife). Now revised and updated, Bizarre Books is a guaranteed good laugh.
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First published January 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 9, 2017
Though it relies too heavily on puns and doubles ententes, Bizarre Books is a humorous look at titles, subjects and author names in published materials. It is a must-read for any book lover or professional who deals with the printed word on a daily basis. *cough* Librarians. *cough*
"All the books recorded are real titles, with real authors. All of them were published with the serious intention of informing, not amusing. In this, they have signally failed." introduction, pg 7.
I don't think that ALL of them were meant to be informative. Take this entry from one of my favorite genres, science fiction: Planet of the Knob Heads. Stanton A. Coblentz. Science Fiction, Atlas Publishing, 1939. "Jack and Marjorie are brought to the distant world of their captors. In far Andromeda, they struggle against "favors" of the knob-heads - but hope fades as they face the High Knobule!" pg 40. Almost irresistible, isn't it?
If science fiction isn't your thing, how about this (I'm guessing) thriller: What Farrar Saw. James Hanley. Nicholson & Watson, 1946. "No story by Mr. Hanley is without its moral implications; here we have a glimpse of nightmare horror and chaos in a monstrous machine ridden world. It starts simply enough as chaos does. A young couple set off for a holiday in Scotland." pg 44. Sounds at least as promising as The Girl on the Train, wouldn't you say?
Those were some of the fictional books that caught my eye. On to the non-fiction. If it was on a shelf in front of me, I'd pick up Carnivorous Butterflies by Austin Hobart Clark, pg 62.
In the most ineffective category, the prize goes to: Atomic Bombing: How to Protect Yourself. Watson Davis, et al. New York: William H. Wise & Co. 1950. One of its suggestions was: "Curl up in a ball as you hit the ground." pg 166.
By far, my most favorite selection is: The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English in Two Parts. Pedro Carolino.
Familiar phrases: Let us go on ours feet. At what o'clock is to get up? At which is this hat. Have him some children? pg 54. And so on. The authors dedicated another three pages to this gem alone.
Highly recommended from this bookworm. It made me laugh a lot and that is not easy to do.
"All the books recorded are real titles, with real authors. All of them were published with the serious intention of informing, not amusing. In this, they have signally failed." introduction, pg 7.
I don't think that ALL of them were meant to be informative. Take this entry from one of my favorite genres, science fiction: Planet of the Knob Heads. Stanton A. Coblentz. Science Fiction, Atlas Publishing, 1939. "Jack and Marjorie are brought to the distant world of their captors. In far Andromeda, they struggle against "favors" of the knob-heads - but hope fades as they face the High Knobule!" pg 40. Almost irresistible, isn't it?
If science fiction isn't your thing, how about this (I'm guessing) thriller: What Farrar Saw. James Hanley. Nicholson & Watson, 1946. "No story by Mr. Hanley is without its moral implications; here we have a glimpse of nightmare horror and chaos in a monstrous machine ridden world. It starts simply enough as chaos does. A young couple set off for a holiday in Scotland." pg 44. Sounds at least as promising as The Girl on the Train, wouldn't you say?
Those were some of the fictional books that caught my eye. On to the non-fiction. If it was on a shelf in front of me, I'd pick up Carnivorous Butterflies by Austin Hobart Clark, pg 62.
In the most ineffective category, the prize goes to: Atomic Bombing: How to Protect Yourself. Watson Davis, et al. New York: William H. Wise & Co. 1950. One of its suggestions was: "Curl up in a ball as you hit the ground." pg 166.
By far, my most favorite selection is: The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English in Two Parts. Pedro Carolino.
Familiar phrases: Let us go on ours feet. At what o'clock is to get up? At which is this hat. Have him some children? pg 54. And so on. The authors dedicated another three pages to this gem alone.
Highly recommended from this bookworm. It made me laugh a lot and that is not easy to do.
May 28, 2022
The type of book you keep in your guest bathroom, though I must say I would love to get a copy of My Tablecloths by Ethel Brilliana Tweedie (Hutchinson, 1916).
May 14, 2009
Bizarre Books is one of the volumes from the language section of my mother’s library. It consists of lists of book titles and authors that Russell Ash and Brian Lake compiled during years of perusing used book stores. Although organized into sections, the book is best read by simply dipping into any random page. Here are some of my faves (in which I nevertheless retain the section divisions):
FROM “AUTHORS – RIGHT OR WRONG”
Morris Krok, From the Deathbed to Boisterous Health (Durban: Essence of Health, 1963).
FROM “NOVELS”
Stanton A. Coblentz, Planet of the Knob Heads (Atlas Publishing, 1939). “Jack and Marjorie are brought to the distant world of their captors. In far Andromeda, they struggle against ‘favors’ of the knob-heads – but hope fades as they face the High Knobule!”
Frank Johnson, The Strangest Grand National (1947). “This is the amazing story of the adventures of four men who set out to win the Grand National by grafting kangaroo glands into a steeple-chaser...”
FROM “LANGUAGE”
Anon., Rubbing Along in Burmese (Simla: Directorate of Welfare and Education, 1944).
Shad Helmstetter, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself (1982).
FROM “NATURE: FAUNA”
Thomas Barrett, Harnessing the Earthworm (Faber & Faborer 1949)
Susan Fox, Rats for Those Who Care (1995).
M.F.R. Magrum, Who’s Who in Boxers (1950)
T. Nomura et al, Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (Tokyo 1978)
Gary Soucek, The Guide to Owning a Quaker Parrot (2002).
FROM “NATURE: FLORA”
Audrey Wynne Hatfield, How to Enjoy Your Weeds (1969)
Lawrence D. Hills, Save Your Own Seed (1975)
Alex Makula, Thirty Years of Bananas (Nairobi: Oxford UP, 1995).
FROM “SCIENCE & SCIENTIFIC THEORIES”
Harold Baum, The Biochemist’s Songbook (Oxford, 1982). “At last the ultimate best seller, sing-along-a-syllabus. These two sensational new packages take biology into a dimension never through possible. Subjects such as excretion, reproduction, genetics, and evolution have been set to music by the world’s leading exponent of the biological ballad, Prof. Harold Baum and the original music written by Peter Shade. Each package contains a book plus an audio cassette with the songs sung by a new group, The Metabolites.”
FROM “HEALTH & MEDICINE”
Anon., A Pictorial Book of Tongue Coating (Kyoto, 1981). “11: Whitish tongue with a thin whitish moist slippery fur. 139: Dull red furless tongue with scanty slobber.”
Gardner & Bartlett, Sensors and Sensory Systems for an Electric Nose (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992).
Ron Maclaren, Grow Your Own Hair (Glasgow, 1947).
Donald L. Wilson, Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Mind Power: How to Use the Other 90 Per Cent of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts (Total Mind Power Institute, 1979).
Sir Vincent Zachary Cope, The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme (1947).
“The leading or principal symptoms are four,
They often are fewer but seldom more...
The big four I mention whom you must watch well
More clearly the site of their author to tell
Come right off the tongue in simple refrain-
Distension, rigidity, vomiting, pain.”
FROM “KEEP-FIT”
Edouard Charles, The Man with the Iron Eyebrows (1902). Mr Gregor Olivos “screws his eyebrows between the two horizontal steel bars of the apparatus, enabling him to lift 244 pounds.”
FROM “SPORT”
Mototsugu Hamabe, et al, Squid Juggling from Small Boats (1989).
FROM “LEISURE”
D.J. Aggersberg, Collect Fungi on Stamps (1997)
Anon, How to Vamp without Music (1943).
Ball & Campbell, Master Pieces: Making Furniture from Paintings (1983).
R. Buckland, Practical Candle Burning (St. Paul, 1970).
Haverkort et al, Proceedings of the Second International Potato Modeling Conference (Dordrecht, 1995).
J. Osborne Keen, Suggestive Thoughts for Busy Workers (Bible Christian Book Room, 1883).
Brand Larkin, Learn to Croon (1936).
L. Macho, Crocheting Novelty Pot-holders (New York, 1982).
Jan Messent, Kitted Historical Figures (1992).
Robert Kingley Morison, Levitation for Terrestrials (1977).
Arthur B. Neal, Suggestive Handwork for Lower Classes (Pitman, 1874).
Alan Rose, Build Your Own Hindenburg (New York, 1983).
John Scoffern, Explosive Spiders & How to Make Them (1881).
From “Clothes & Fashion”
Marion Hall, Let’s Make Some Undies (1954).
FROM “FOOD & DRINK”
David Adler, The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley (1983).
Anon., How to Eat a Peanut (New York, 1900).
Anon., The New Radiation Recipe Book (c. 1930).
Charles W. Forward, Cameos of Vegetarian Literature (1898).
Etta H. Handy, Ice Cream for Small Plants (Chicago, 1937).
e. C. McKenzie, Salted Peanuts: 1800 Little Known Facts (1972).
Mrs. M. E. Rattray, Cold Meat and How to Disguise It (1904).
FROM “TRANSPORT & TOURISM”
John W. Trimmer, How to Avoid Huge Ships (Centreville, 1993).
Sherard Vines, Yofuku; or, Japan in Trousers (Wishart & Co, 1931).
FROM “THE WORKPLACE”
Marston Garsia, Law Relating to Carriage of Goods by Sea in a Nutshell (1923).
William J. Reilly, How to Avoid Work (1931).
Clifford A. Richmond, The History and Romance of Elastic Webbing Since the Dawn of Time (n.d.)
FROM “CONFLICT: WARFARE & MARTIAL ARTS”
John Ellis, The Social History of the Machine Gun (NY, 1975).
O. Heilbrunn, Warfare in the Enemy’s Rear (1963).
J.R., Thrilling Experiences of the First British Woman Relieved by Lord Roberts (Aberdeen, 1900).
FROM “RELIGION & BELIEFS”
A.J. Bethell, From Cleopatra to Christ. Arguing that the Former was the Latter’s Mother (4 vols.). Typescript in the BL. (1921).
From “Death”
Edwin Dunkin, Obituary Notices of Astronomers (1879)
Ferrell & Frey, Sex After Death (New York, 1983).
FROM “AGAINST ALL ODDS”
Anon., Octogenarian Teetotalers, with One Hundred and Thirteen Portraits (1897).
Sir George Compton Archibald Arthur, Not Worth Reading (1914).
Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance (Yale UP [!:], 1981).
Keith Odo Newman, 250 Times I Saw a Play (Oxford, 1944). [The author fails to mention what the play was, who wrote it, where it was performed and who acted in it.:]
FROM “AUTHORS – RIGHT OR WRONG”
Morris Krok, From the Deathbed to Boisterous Health (Durban: Essence of Health, 1963).
FROM “NOVELS”
Stanton A. Coblentz, Planet of the Knob Heads (Atlas Publishing, 1939). “Jack and Marjorie are brought to the distant world of their captors. In far Andromeda, they struggle against ‘favors’ of the knob-heads – but hope fades as they face the High Knobule!”
Frank Johnson, The Strangest Grand National (1947). “This is the amazing story of the adventures of four men who set out to win the Grand National by grafting kangaroo glands into a steeple-chaser...”
FROM “LANGUAGE”
Anon., Rubbing Along in Burmese (Simla: Directorate of Welfare and Education, 1944).
Shad Helmstetter, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself (1982).
FROM “NATURE: FAUNA”
Thomas Barrett, Harnessing the Earthworm (Faber & Faborer 1949)
Susan Fox, Rats for Those Who Care (1995).
M.F.R. Magrum, Who’s Who in Boxers (1950)
T. Nomura et al, Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (Tokyo 1978)
Gary Soucek, The Guide to Owning a Quaker Parrot (2002).
FROM “NATURE: FLORA”
Audrey Wynne Hatfield, How to Enjoy Your Weeds (1969)
Lawrence D. Hills, Save Your Own Seed (1975)
Alex Makula, Thirty Years of Bananas (Nairobi: Oxford UP, 1995).
FROM “SCIENCE & SCIENTIFIC THEORIES”
Harold Baum, The Biochemist’s Songbook (Oxford, 1982). “At last the ultimate best seller, sing-along-a-syllabus. These two sensational new packages take biology into a dimension never through possible. Subjects such as excretion, reproduction, genetics, and evolution have been set to music by the world’s leading exponent of the biological ballad, Prof. Harold Baum and the original music written by Peter Shade. Each package contains a book plus an audio cassette with the songs sung by a new group, The Metabolites.”
FROM “HEALTH & MEDICINE”
Anon., A Pictorial Book of Tongue Coating (Kyoto, 1981). “11: Whitish tongue with a thin whitish moist slippery fur. 139: Dull red furless tongue with scanty slobber.”
Gardner & Bartlett, Sensors and Sensory Systems for an Electric Nose (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992).
Ron Maclaren, Grow Your Own Hair (Glasgow, 1947).
Donald L. Wilson, Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Mind Power: How to Use the Other 90 Per Cent of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts (Total Mind Power Institute, 1979).
Sir Vincent Zachary Cope, The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme (1947).
“The leading or principal symptoms are four,
They often are fewer but seldom more...
The big four I mention whom you must watch well
More clearly the site of their author to tell
Come right off the tongue in simple refrain-
Distension, rigidity, vomiting, pain.”
FROM “KEEP-FIT”
Edouard Charles, The Man with the Iron Eyebrows (1902). Mr Gregor Olivos “screws his eyebrows between the two horizontal steel bars of the apparatus, enabling him to lift 244 pounds.”
FROM “SPORT”
Mototsugu Hamabe, et al, Squid Juggling from Small Boats (1989).
FROM “LEISURE”
D.J. Aggersberg, Collect Fungi on Stamps (1997)
Anon, How to Vamp without Music (1943).
Ball & Campbell, Master Pieces: Making Furniture from Paintings (1983).
R. Buckland, Practical Candle Burning (St. Paul, 1970).
Haverkort et al, Proceedings of the Second International Potato Modeling Conference (Dordrecht, 1995).
J. Osborne Keen, Suggestive Thoughts for Busy Workers (Bible Christian Book Room, 1883).
Brand Larkin, Learn to Croon (1936).
L. Macho, Crocheting Novelty Pot-holders (New York, 1982).
Jan Messent, Kitted Historical Figures (1992).
Robert Kingley Morison, Levitation for Terrestrials (1977).
Arthur B. Neal, Suggestive Handwork for Lower Classes (Pitman, 1874).
Alan Rose, Build Your Own Hindenburg (New York, 1983).
John Scoffern, Explosive Spiders & How to Make Them (1881).
From “Clothes & Fashion”
Marion Hall, Let’s Make Some Undies (1954).
FROM “FOOD & DRINK”
David Adler, The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley (1983).
Anon., How to Eat a Peanut (New York, 1900).
Anon., The New Radiation Recipe Book (c. 1930).
Charles W. Forward, Cameos of Vegetarian Literature (1898).
Etta H. Handy, Ice Cream for Small Plants (Chicago, 1937).
e. C. McKenzie, Salted Peanuts: 1800 Little Known Facts (1972).
Mrs. M. E. Rattray, Cold Meat and How to Disguise It (1904).
FROM “TRANSPORT & TOURISM”
John W. Trimmer, How to Avoid Huge Ships (Centreville, 1993).
Sherard Vines, Yofuku; or, Japan in Trousers (Wishart & Co, 1931).
FROM “THE WORKPLACE”
Marston Garsia, Law Relating to Carriage of Goods by Sea in a Nutshell (1923).
William J. Reilly, How to Avoid Work (1931).
Clifford A. Richmond, The History and Romance of Elastic Webbing Since the Dawn of Time (n.d.)
FROM “CONFLICT: WARFARE & MARTIAL ARTS”
John Ellis, The Social History of the Machine Gun (NY, 1975).
O. Heilbrunn, Warfare in the Enemy’s Rear (1963).
J.R., Thrilling Experiences of the First British Woman Relieved by Lord Roberts (Aberdeen, 1900).
FROM “RELIGION & BELIEFS”
A.J. Bethell, From Cleopatra to Christ. Arguing that the Former was the Latter’s Mother (4 vols.). Typescript in the BL. (1921).
From “Death”
Edwin Dunkin, Obituary Notices of Astronomers (1879)
Ferrell & Frey, Sex After Death (New York, 1983).
FROM “AGAINST ALL ODDS”
Anon., Octogenarian Teetotalers, with One Hundred and Thirteen Portraits (1897).
Sir George Compton Archibald Arthur, Not Worth Reading (1914).
Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance (Yale UP [!:], 1981).
Keith Odo Newman, 250 Times I Saw a Play (Oxford, 1944). [The author fails to mention what the play was, who wrote it, where it was performed and who acted in it.:]
June 14, 2008
not as entertaining as I hoped.
July 12, 2020
This is an amusing book that you pick up and put down very easily. Just as the title suggests, it consists of lists of book titles which are peculiar in nature, occasionally with a description or even quoted passage to make it clear why.
Not every list appealed to me nor did all individual titles. While I have made note of certain curious tomes, these were few and far between. Then again this book isn't intended for much more than perking a smile or a raised eyebrow. That being said some of the author names are rare and glorious, inspiring my personal creativity.
Some of my favourite 'Bizarre Book' titles include the accidentally suggestive 'Penetrating Wagner's Ring' by John L. Di Gaetani, the absurdly appropriate 'A Musical Offering' by Edward H. Clinkscale, the thematically unlikely Ice Cream for Small Plants by Etta H. Handy and the perplexingly pseudonym-ed History of the City of Chicastop for ten year, 1885 to 1895 by A Bummer.
If you enjoy literary misfits and prefer to dip into books occasionally, Bizarre Books by Russell Ash and Brian Lake is an ideal read.
Not every list appealed to me nor did all individual titles. While I have made note of certain curious tomes, these were few and far between. Then again this book isn't intended for much more than perking a smile or a raised eyebrow. That being said some of the author names are rare and glorious, inspiring my personal creativity.
Some of my favourite 'Bizarre Book' titles include the accidentally suggestive 'Penetrating Wagner's Ring' by John L. Di Gaetani, the absurdly appropriate 'A Musical Offering' by Edward H. Clinkscale, the thematically unlikely Ice Cream for Small Plants by Etta H. Handy and the perplexingly pseudonym-ed History of the City of Chicastop for ten year, 1885 to 1895 by A Bummer.
If you enjoy literary misfits and prefer to dip into books occasionally, Bizarre Books by Russell Ash and Brian Lake is an ideal read.
April 22, 2012
I know I should really grow up, but I can't stop giggling when I read the book title In and Out of Florence.
September 12, 2018
As someone put it, just a big book of dad jokes. List of books with funny titles or funny author names. I have read five of these books.
But really just a book of lists.
But really just a book of lists.
July 7, 2021
Inexplicably, the Austrian National Library has two copies of this book, one of which I read in one sitting in the large reading room there this morning. The seriousness of the setting, surrounded by students, scholars and more than one anti-social lunatic, made the work seem even more ridiculous by comparison. After too many pages of Beavis and Butthead reactions to mainly Victorian titles, the authors finally get down to business with a section about books with an extremely narrow focus. For example, there is a book analyzing car accidents involving moose. While others in that reading room, deep within a Hapsburg Palace, typed notes about scholarly topics into their laptops, yours truly was scribbling, “The Strange Story of False Teeth” by John Woodforde and other titles of questionable erudition. “Wall Paintings by Snake Charmers in Tanganyika” also made my list.
Necessarily subjective, the compilers mentioned more than one title that I legitimately find interesting, and at least one I had only recently seen cited in a book I’ve just read. So if my life plan is to join the lunatics who hang around National Libraries, I seem to be winning.
I have to qualify my Beavis and Butthead crack, though, since I often giggle at funny names and unintended double-entendres, as much as anyone with monkey ancestors. One of the authors mentioned in a list of awkward names, Ludwig von Baldass, has been honored with a street name here in Vienna, and consequently an U-Bahn station, a photo of which has been my Facebook banner picture for a few weeks... so glass houses, etc. There were a few times while reading when I had to suppress laughter so as not to disturb the ambitious readers around me. Kudos to those responsible for this edition at a time when library catalogs and used bookstore inventories were not searchable from home. A milestone in bibliomania, long may Bizarre Books be preserved in temperature controlled, low humidity compact shelving.
Necessarily subjective, the compilers mentioned more than one title that I legitimately find interesting, and at least one I had only recently seen cited in a book I’ve just read. So if my life plan is to join the lunatics who hang around National Libraries, I seem to be winning.
I have to qualify my Beavis and Butthead crack, though, since I often giggle at funny names and unintended double-entendres, as much as anyone with monkey ancestors. One of the authors mentioned in a list of awkward names, Ludwig von Baldass, has been honored with a street name here in Vienna, and consequently an U-Bahn station, a photo of which has been my Facebook banner picture for a few weeks... so glass houses, etc. There were a few times while reading when I had to suppress laughter so as not to disturb the ambitious readers around me. Kudos to those responsible for this edition at a time when library catalogs and used bookstore inventories were not searchable from home. A milestone in bibliomania, long may Bizarre Books be preserved in temperature controlled, low humidity compact shelving.
November 9, 2011
This would be cooler if it were in full color with plenty of book covers.
December 25, 2020
A list of book titles and authors in various categories, occasionally with annotations by the authors. Categories include double entendres, books whose authors match the subject matter, amazingly specialized books, science, medicine, religion, etc. Some examples:
Care for Your Kitten by Anna Mews
A Toddler's Guide to the Rubber Industry
The Zen of Bowel Movements : A Spiritual Approach to Constipation
The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry ("The author treads an indistinct line between condemning this widespread and despicable practice, and telling the reader exactly how to do it.")
Why Bring That Up? A Guide to and From Seasickness
I both received and read this on Christmas Day, so it's a quick read. Best read with company, so you can read the good bits out loud.
Care for Your Kitten by Anna Mews
A Toddler's Guide to the Rubber Industry
The Zen of Bowel Movements : A Spiritual Approach to Constipation
The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry ("The author treads an indistinct line between condemning this widespread and despicable practice, and telling the reader exactly how to do it.")
Why Bring That Up? A Guide to and From Seasickness
I both received and read this on Christmas Day, so it's a quick read. Best read with company, so you can read the good bits out loud.
January 23, 2024
A fun book which gives you many laugh-out -loud moments when you contemplate some of the absurd Victorian and early 20th century book titles and author names. It's something you can pick up and put down many times and still continue to enjoy new oddities!
August 8, 2019
Fun novelty book that is little more than a collection of titles but the editors remarks are really quite entertaining
January 21, 2022
It's basically a list of books with weird-sounding titles or other oddities. But this is only mildly amusing at best. Really, you can find more laughs elsewhere.
didn-t-finish
August 28, 2023A really clever idea, but the idea tires after a few chapters. This is just a long list of book titles (I was hoping that it would have descriptions, too). So, after a while, the idea runs thin.
Read
March 7, 2025A book full of strange and funny books that actually were published.
November 28, 2014
A few of the questions that occurred to me while I contemplated writing a review:
How long will this book reside on my shelf? Should I lend it out to friends but still have access to it when I need a quick chuckle? Why do some of these books exist? How many copies were actually sold/read? Who needs this book anyway?
All you get is Title, Author, Publisher, Date
Categories include: They Didn't Really Mean It (Handbook for the Limbless; Warfare in the Enemy's Rear)
We Have a Book on It (A Toddler's Guide to the Rubber Industry; A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia)
Marvels of Science (The Romance of Holes in Bread; How to Draw a Straight Line)
The Wonderful World of Nature (Favourite Flies and their History; Of the Irritability of Vegetables)
Love, Marriage and.... (Sex+Sex = Gruppensex; Teach Yourself Sex; How to Pick Up Girls on Public Beaches)
Against All Odds (The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Terrier; An Irishman's Difficulties with the Dutch Language)
And so it goes..........
My edition was published in 2002. Is it time for an update?
How long will this book reside on my shelf? Should I lend it out to friends but still have access to it when I need a quick chuckle? Why do some of these books exist? How many copies were actually sold/read? Who needs this book anyway?
All you get is Title, Author, Publisher, Date
Categories include: They Didn't Really Mean It (Handbook for the Limbless; Warfare in the Enemy's Rear)
We Have a Book on It (A Toddler's Guide to the Rubber Industry; A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia)
Marvels of Science (The Romance of Holes in Bread; How to Draw a Straight Line)
The Wonderful World of Nature (Favourite Flies and their History; Of the Irritability of Vegetables)
Love, Marriage and.... (Sex+Sex = Gruppensex; Teach Yourself Sex; How to Pick Up Girls on Public Beaches)
Against All Odds (The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Terrier; An Irishman's Difficulties with the Dutch Language)
And so it goes..........
My edition was published in 2002. Is it time for an update?
September 30, 2014
At first flipping through this book, I was disappointed that it was mostly titles; that feeling wore off as I realized that 98% of the books in here sound pretty terrible (Proceedings of the Second International Potato Modeling Conference, anybody?). Most of the book's humor comes from either incredibly boring sounding books (1587, a Year of No Significance), titles that were perfectly normal at the time but are now suggestive (Scouts in Bondage), and the just plain, well, bizzare (Planet of the Knob Heads, of which the authors quote: "In about a week I had recovered from most of the effects of the knob operation"). The last part of the book is both the most juvenile and my favorite, being a list of weird authors names (including W. Anker, Twat Booth and - of course! - the incomparable Ludwig von Baldass). There's really something here for everything is what I'm saying, and this is a great little bathroom book that's very difficult to put down.
November 29, 2010
"Hard-knuckled pages blazing with biff and stingo..."
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
Harnessing the Earthworm
Ducks & How to Make Them Pay
Fish Who Answer the Telephone
Monograph of the Horny Sponges
Fresh Air and How to Use It
Cancer: Is the Dog the Cause?
The Toothbrush: Its Use and Abuse
Grow Your Own Hair
Practical Candle Burning
Frolic and Fun With Eggshells
"After trying some of the schemes here suggested, you will find the fun is not only rolicking, but well-nigh inexhaustible."
Build Your Own Hindenburg
Explosive Spiders and How to Make Them
Living Without Gloves
How to Eat a Peanut
Faulty Bread
Living Without Eating
10,000 Snacks
"Of snacks there is no end."
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
Harnessing the Earthworm
Ducks & How to Make Them Pay
Fish Who Answer the Telephone
Monograph of the Horny Sponges
Fresh Air and How to Use It
Cancer: Is the Dog the Cause?
The Toothbrush: Its Use and Abuse
Grow Your Own Hair
Practical Candle Burning
Frolic and Fun With Eggshells
"After trying some of the schemes here suggested, you will find the fun is not only rolicking, but well-nigh inexhaustible."
Build Your Own Hindenburg
Explosive Spiders and How to Make Them
Living Without Gloves
How to Eat a Peanut
Faulty Bread
Living Without Eating
10,000 Snacks
"Of snacks there is no end."
February 23, 2015
The title pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this one. It is a collection of lists of strange books. Some have unintentionally funny titles, either because once-innocent words have changed their meanings, or because out of context, the title is ambiguous (A glowing and graphic description of the great hole by Mr.s D.U.C., 1848). Others are are about strange topics or theories (On the Kyungrak System, by K.B. Han -- a book describing a hitherto unknown system of ducts and fluid in the body), and a few are just funny juxtapositions of authors and titles (Anatomy of the brain by William W. Looney). There are some brief excepts or illustrations from some of the books, and commentary on others.
May 18, 2010
This is not really a book to read in full; but a fun gag gift for your fellow book lovers. Focuses on actual weird book titles such as "Swine Judging for Beginners" and "Wall Paintings by Snake Charmers in Tanganyika"; as well as the ever popular "Manholes Covers of Los Angles".
Afriend gave it to me for a laugh; if you can find a copy--it is out of print--there are a few really hilarious ones in here, mixed in with quite a lot of not so hilarious ones.
But if you have a freind who loves books about books--I'll bet they don't have this one!
Afriend gave it to me for a laugh; if you can find a copy--it is out of print--there are a few really hilarious ones in here, mixed in with quite a lot of not so hilarious ones.
But if you have a freind who loves books about books--I'll bet they don't have this one!
December 3, 2014
Ash and Lake have collected a mass of truly awful, useless and poorly titled books. Many owe their amusement factor to terms that have changed through time: Girls of the Pansy Patrol and The Gay Boys of Old Yale. Others are bizarre simply for their topics: The Supernatural History of Worms and A Nostalgia for Camels. Still other titles are so truly inane they could only have been printed at a vanity press: How to Avoid Work and How to Cook Roadkill. HI-larious.
June 28, 2007
Pretty funny, but marred by their inclusion of dissertation titles. It's clueless, first of all, to list things published in Ann Arbor as books (dead giveaway: it's where diss. microfilm made/published), it's another thing not to realize that diss. titles tend to the weird, esoteric, and punny. It's almost a generic expectation.
October 2, 2014
This is just so warped I couldn't help buying it. Books that people just wouldn't believe! "The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry." "Scouts in Bondage." "Ice Cream for Small Plants." "A Handbook on Hanging." A quick page-through was a one-way journey that made me smile a few times, and then I passed it on to another bibliovore.
July 15, 2010
Not really a book to read, but a humor book to flip through and chuckle. Lots of naughty double entendres materialized in translation from 19th century and early 20th century books to how we read 'em today. It's in the bathroom for a giggle.
February 24, 2022
I think this book is hilarious. The combination of ludicrous titles and unbelievable author names just makes me laugh uncontrollably - particularly as they are all genuine works. I have had this book for years and get it out whenever I feel I need something to cheer me up.
April 8, 2009
lol funny...
Want to read
May 4, 2009Thanks to Kara for passing on her duplicate copy! Just the cover had me laughing.. Can't wait to dip in and learn more about Ice Cream for Small Plants.
February 3, 2011
This book just makes me want to go out and find them all to expand my shelves!
Love it!
Love it!
Want to read
January 15, 2014p.11
January 28, 2015
Expanded from the last edition. A thought provoking resource.
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