The Straight Dope BOOKS and you

Cafe Society
1

I started this thread for a couple of reasons.

A) the powers that be have suggested that to show our support for the message board we should ‘buy the books’, and I just wanted to sort of hype them up a bit.

B) I thought it would be fun to find our connections to each other through the main thing that brought us here: Cecil’s column. I’m not kidding when I say that even before this board, the Straight Dope was a big part of my life…the books are always in the basket in the bathroom for ‘potty reading’, I give them as graduation gifts, I’ve dog eared, highlighted and reread every one of them a thousand times. I even pull them out to settle arguements or discussions at parties.

So, that being said, what are some of your stories or moments with the Straight Dope Books?

I remember after I read the first book “The Straight Dope”, I felt, firstly, that I had some sort of brain capacity and vast knowledge that others DID NOT HAVE :rolleyes:

My little sister and I were watching MTV, and we saw a video which featured a man walking around with a red handkerchief in his hip pocket.

“Well,” I said, remembering the Straight Dope BDSM Code Column, “I know what that means.”

My little sister, being only about nine, asked what it was. I knew she was too young, but promised to tell her when she was older.

It became a long standing arguement between us. Until her graduation day, when I gave her my copy of The Straight Dope, with that column bookmarked and highlighted.

Now she has all the books as well, and we eagerly await a new one.

2

My first exposure to the Dope was the books. A friend brought one in to show the “Rectal Foreign Bodies” column to our high school band teacher, and I ended up borrowing the book and reading it cover to cover. Years later, I was randomly web-surfing and came across a link to [url="http://www.straightdope.comThe Straight Dope*, and thought to myself “Hm, I wonder if that’s the same guy who wrote that book?”.

3

I hope this doesn’t turn into a “who loves Unca Cece’s books most” contest, because I love Cecil’s books <----this much----> which of course is more than anyone else.

At my computer hutch at home, I have the five Straight Dope volumes arrayed on a shelf above my head in chronological order – ready reference for ignorance slaying. I also have of copy of Little Ed’s Know it All!, and if I ever start displaying signs of incipient ignorance, this book has been instructed to fling the Straight Dope volumes at my head until I return to the five-fold path of Cecil.

4

First exposure: The column in on a Reader weekly - not Chicago, but one of the others. Saw the ad for the book, and it was all downhill after that.

Column that made me love the Straight Dope and Cecil and continue to pursue it until I found out about the SDMB: The one in reply to the question “What if everyone in China all stepped up on chairs and then jumped off all at once - would it be enough to change the orbit of the Earth?” (or something like that) and Cecil’s initial reply “Strange as it may seem, I am actually going to answer this incredibly retarded question.”

An yes, I have every book, and yes, I wave then in front of anybody who I can to get them to buy them - they’re great!!

5

First exposure: I got a copy of More of the Straight Dope as a gift from my mom when I was about fifteen. It was not my birthday or anything…she just saw it on the shelf and thought I might like it.

Hooked.

It didn’t take me long to track down the first book, and I had to wait years before the third book was published.

I’ve got them all, and I re-read them probably once or twice a year.

6

When I lived at the end of the Earth and was alone with two screaming newborns, I got a book. It was called The Straight Dope. I used this as a parenting guide, like Dr. Spock only with cusses. This was in 1988.

I went searching for more. And there was More of The Straight Dope. I was happy for another 3 days. And then. . . nothing. For years and years.

And then it Returned and Told me All, it was a Triumph. But again. Now there’s . . . nothing.

7

I used to read trivia books and such when I was a kid. As part of this frenzy of reading, I dug up my dad’s copies of the first two Straight Dope books. Unfortunately, they were promptly confiscated by my parents as being rather inappropriate for an 8 year old. As these were perhaps the first books my parents really would not let me read, I remembered them and eventually managed to unearth them when I was 12 or 13. Then, my dad sent me a copy of The Straight Dope Tells All while I was at a summer program in 1998 and it all went from there.

I should really try to get my friends hooked on these. I think they’d be appreciative of the subject matter.

8

My brother in law bought the first book and loaned it to me. I was hooked. I buy the books as soon as I know they are released and want a new one, dammit. :smiley:

9

My first contact with the Straight Dope was the books. I was flipping through the first one in Barnes and Noble, and I read “What does that H in Jesus H. Christ stand for? It stands for Harold, as in 'Our Lord, Harold be thy name.”

That did it for me. I own all the books, and I intend on remaining a faithful Doper for life.

And I will definitely continue buying the books, even though I read the columns on line as they are published.

10

Never read one of the books. Never even seen one. Never seen one of his columns outside of this website. I only found this site because I was over at www.badastronomy.com, researching Apollo moon hoaxers, and found a link. Easily the most important hypertext link of my life. If The Bad Astronomer happens to be reading this, thanks for the link, man.

I should probably look into getting a couple of the books, too.