Unintentionally absurd encyclopaedic works

Cafe Society
1

I’m intending to slowly build a collection of books that are (or purport to be) encyclopaedic on a topic that is for one reason or another absurd - perhaps because of obsolescence, perhaps just the esoteric or selective nature of the material, or maybe just because the title makes for amusing wording. But it must be unintentional - I don’t want The Complete Book Of Uses For A Dead Cat, for example, because this sets out to be absurd.

My first purchase was The World Atlas Of Cheese

And I’ve got my eye on a copy of The Complete Book Of Mince

(That these two are food-related is purely coincidental - I’ll consider any subject area).

Any suggestions - the more grandiose, yet absurdly irrelevant the title, the better.

2

I don’t see anything absurd about a cheese encyclopedia, no more than a wine or beer encyclopedia.

3

It’s customary to drink wine with cheese, but how to open the bottle? That’s where Corkscrews for Collectors comes in handy.

4

There’s nothing absurd about the concept of the book (indeed it’s actually a good and highly informative work). The title has a tendency to be understood as a joke - that’s all.

5

Fighting Helicopters of the 20th Century by Christopher Chant

I found it a vast improvement over the previous nineteen volumes.

6

What about Optical Chick Sexing?

7

I had good results with “A compendium of…”

Raising the Standard: A compendium of audit recipes (Second edition 2006) - so good they made it twice!

A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey Information

and my favourite:

A Compendium of Conjugate Priors

8

According to the description in that Amazon page, this one sets out to be absurd also.

9

I’m a fan of RAND Corp’s A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates. It is exactly what it sets out to be.

10

Presumably, the new volume also notes the considerable increase over previous centuries in mortality resulting from fighting helicopters.

11

I own a book by one of my undergraduate professors that would probably fit your criteria:

Cultural Encyclopedia of LSD, by Wayne Glausser–it is what it says on the cover: An encyclopedia of everything to do with LSD.

The cover is pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.

12

Some of those customer reviews are awesome.

13

**Oxford Companion to Food **(Second Edition) by Davidson
Codeword Dictionary by myself

14

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask by David Reuben. It didn’t answer half my questions, all kinds of stuff were never mentioned, and a good chunk of it is homophobic nonsense.

15

Handbook of Parapsychology, (ed. B. B. Wolman). New York: Van Nostrand & Reinhold, 1977.

It is 967 pages long, so you will need strong hands. (I actually possess a copy. I did not pay for it though.)

16

If you want a good title you have to go with the Cheesecyclopedia (I have a hard copy).

17

So it completely leaves out brie and mozzarella?

18

I found Modern Mailroom Management in a hospital waiting room and I’m embarrassed to say I had to keep it. I think I was doing future waiting room patrons a favor though really. It now goes with me any time the whole family gets together and we pass around “Akers” and have a good laugh/nap.

19

It’s too bad there isn’t an encyclopedia of encyclopedias.

20

There are a number of specialized gardening books that border on absurdity. One of my favorites is The Potato Book. From the promo on Amazon:

“Sharing his ‘overwhelming enthusiasm for the humble spud’ and a lifetime’s experience in the seed potato industry (this guy must be fabulous at parties), Alan Romans combines an engaging account of potato growing with an expert guide to potato varieties.The Potato Book traces the history of the potato from its beginnings in South America to the development of variety breeding. It explains all aspects of growing, from choosing seed potatoes, planting and maintenance, to harvest, storage, and pests and diseases. An exhaustive and definitive guide to over 150 varieties currently available in Europe…”

Now there’s a page-turner.

(actually I’d buy it if I found a copy on sale somewhere)