Monday, August 11, 2008

Oddest Book Title

The Bookseller (http://www.thebookseller.com/in-depth/feature/64672-more-odd-than-odd.html) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year with the "Diagram of Diagrams--a public vote to find the oddest book title of the past 30 years."

The winner of the Diagram of Diagrams will be officially announced on Friday, 5th September, 2008, with anyone and everyone able to vote online at http://www.thebookseller.com/diagramprize from Friday 8th August.

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year: Winners 1978-2008

1978: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (University of Tokyo Press)
1979: The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution (Transaction Press)
1980: The Joy of Chickens (Prentice Hall)
1981: Last Chance at Love: Terminal Romances
1982: Population and Other Problems (China National Publications
1983: The Theory of Lengthwise Rolling (MIR)
1984: The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today (Constable)
1985: Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Power: How to Increase the Other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts (Westwood Publishing Co)
1986: Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality (Brunner/Mazel)
1987: No Award
1988: Versailles: The View From Sweden (University of Chicago Press)
1989: How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art (Ten Speed Press)
1990: Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual (Lace Publications)
1991: No Award
1992: How to Avoid Huge Ships (Cornwell Maritime Press)
1993: American Bottom Archaeology (University of Illinois Press)
1994: Highlights in the History of Concrete (British Cement Association)
1995: Reusing Old Graves (Shaw & Son)
1996: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers (Hellenic Philatelic Society)
1997: The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition (Mitchell Beazley)
1998: Development in Dairy Cow Breeding and Management: and New Opportunities to Widen the Uses of Straw (Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust)
1999: Weeds in a Changing World (British Crop Protection Council)
2000: High Performance Stiffened Structures (Professional Engineering Publishing)
2001: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service (Butterworths)
2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks (Kaz Cooke – Penguin US/Australia)
2003: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories (Kensington Publishing)
2004: Bombproof Your Horse (J A Allen)
2005: People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It (Gary Leon Hill – Red Wheel/Weiser Books)
2006: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification (Harry N Abrams)
2007: If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs (Simon & Schuster US)

Nude mice? Lesbian horses?? Stray shopping carts???

2 comments:

Angelia Sparrow said...

I don't understand why the Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual is on the list. It's a perfectly straightforward title.

Nothing odd about kinky lesbians who play safe, sane and consensual.

And the 2007 one is just a bit of tacky slut shaming.

Ok, the field guide to shopping carts is weird.

Marian Perera said...

There are all kinds of weird mice used in genetic research. As well as nude mice, I've heard of quaking mice (they have a mutation that makes them twitch constantly) and waltzing mice (they, uh, waltz).