# Amusing examples of mis-shelved books **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134 "2006-07-04T04:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/1 "2006-07-04T04:27:06Z")
I’ve just been out at lunchtime and went into Borders. While browsing the astronomy section I came across a book entitled _Venus Envy_. It turned out to be an exposé of the world of women’s tennis. 🙂 And in another Sydney bookshop last week I saw a history of the beachside suburb of Brontë in the Classics section amongst all the other Brontë works. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/2 "2006-07-04T13:49:12Z")
Related, but not with books: I discovered one of Spike Lee’s earliest films, _Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads_ in an obscure corner of my local video store. The owner had misinterpreted the title and filed it in the horror section. Considering the way the shop was arranged, I was probably the first person to ever find it. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/3 "2006-07-04T14:36:44Z")
I saw a book on the healing power of crystals in the library shelved with the geology books. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/4 "2006-07-04T14:54:10Z")
_Schrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries_ was shelved in the pet care section. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/5 "2006-07-04T18:48:44Z")
My local library once had a paperback copy of Ralph Ellison’s \*Invisible Man \* on the science fiction shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/6 "2006-07-04T19:04:44Z")
**Claudius the God** in religion. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/7 "2006-07-04T23:35:33Z")
In our local library, I found [Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805063323/qid=1152055918/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4291639-8466530?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) shelved in the self-help section next to _The Joy of Sex_ and the like. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/8 "2006-07-05T00:00:53Z")
In the library of the University of Oklahoma, I once saw St. Augustine’s _City of God_ on a shelf with city-planning textbooks. I assumed that some college student was making a joke, since I cannot imagine that a librarian would have done this. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/9 "2006-07-05T01:11:33Z")
I once found _Peter Pan_ in the biography section of a library in Swaziland. [Sub]I suspect Arthur Conan Doyle put it there.[/Sub] ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/10 "2006-07-05T01:49:29Z")
Just yesterday a co-worker found a whole stack of [_On Bullshit_](http://a1204.g.akamai.net/7/1204/1401/05071416011/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/9910000/9919634.jpg) shelved in Comparative Religion. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/11 "2006-07-05T03:44:18Z")
In our town bookstore, The Anarchist Cookbook, in the cookbook section :eek: . I’m not kidding! ☹ CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![kevegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e68b1a/32.png) [@kevegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevegan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/12 "2006-07-06T01:36:03Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > While browsing the astronomy section I came across a book entitled _Venus Envy_. It turned out to be an exposé of the world of women’s tennis. I read it as ‘anatomy’ at first, and I can tell you my mind was generating a whole load of X-rated inferences. Turns out I was making a mountain out of a molehill… ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-examples-of-mis-shelved-books/363134/13 "2006-07-06T14:28:00Z")
My friend found _Pilgrim’s Progress_ in the travel section at the Friends of the Library book sale.