# Unintentionally absurd encyclopaedic works **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923 "2011-10-27T00:20:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/41 "2011-11-02T13:59:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _[Fighting Helicopters of the 20th Century](http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9781855018082-0)_… Geez, can’t those helicopters just get along? You’d think by the 20th century… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/42 "2011-11-02T14:42:49Z")
[_Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-Ups,_](http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Under-Control-Conspiracies-Cover-ups/dp/0062734172) by Robert Anton Wilson. Only, there’s nothing **unintentionally** (by the author) absurd in there. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/43 "2011-11-02T15:32:21Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Geez, can’t those helicopters just get along? > > You’d think by the 20th century… I blame their bloodthirsty owners, who set them against each other in brutal cage fights. It’s a throwback to 19th century ornithopter fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/44 "2011-11-02T17:54:03Z")
[The Service Man’s Guide to Automotive Lubrication](http://www.amazon.com/Service-Mans-Guide-Automotive-Lubrication/dp/B000KTYK34). I have the 5th edition of this short (112 pages) tome, dated March 1938. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/45 "2011-11-02T18:01:23Z")
Three of the volumes of the _Dun and Bradstreet Reference Book of US Companies, May 1989_ prop up my work monitor. The fourth made the monitor too high off the desk. If you want to know the address and number of employees of any American company in May 1989, just give me a shout. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/46 "2011-11-02T19:22:19Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > [The Service Man’s Guide to Automotive Lubrication](http://www.amazon.com/Service-Mans-Guide-Automotive-Lubrication/dp/B000KTYK34). > > I have the 5th edition of this short (112 pages) tome, dated March 1938. Imagine how many pages there would be if the lubrication issues were not limited to automobiles! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/47 "2011-11-02T19:29:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I do not know if this counts as encyclopedic, but the mention of high school libraries reminds me that, for some unfathomable reason, my _high_ school library had a set of _[Spon’s Workshop Receipts](http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Workshop_receipts.html?id=gIsAAAAAMAAJ)_. Apparently it runs to at least 4 volumes. I think they had them all. I guess your high school was old enough to have shop classes. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/48 "2011-11-02T20:50:47Z")
Not absurd as in wrong or ridiculous, but about occasionally obscure matters logical, linguistic, you name it. Quine, _Quiddities: An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary_ Sheer brilliance, short, and in paperback. The most amusing general knowledge bit I can recall right now is when Quine discusses just how horribly illiterate it is to pronounce “processes” as (roughly) process-eez, like you hear sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/49 "2011-11-02T22:44:40Z")
It’s a dictionary, but it’s awesome. The DC Super Dictionary. Google it. If you find one, BUY IT. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/50 "2011-11-02T23:24:02Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > The most amusing general knowledge bit I can recall right now is when Quine discusses just how horribly illiterate it is to pronounce “processes” as (roughly) process-eez, like you hear sometimes. Really? How is it illiterate? Of course, once I read your post, I tried to remember how I pronounce processes and I can’t recall what I usually say: probably processes, no “eez” at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/51 "2011-11-03T17:03:40Z")
One book I bought as a remainder a few years ago was _Churches of the South Atlantic Islands:1502 - 1991_ by \*\* Edward Cannan\*\*. It’s a detailed history of the Diocese of St. Helena, which controlled the churches on the Falklands, Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha. [cover pic](http://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/6308959133/in/photostream) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/52 "2011-11-03T17:12:11Z")
Ok, more “weird” than “absurd”, plus it’s out-of-print and way, WAY expensive, but [The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana](http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Fantastic-Victoriana-Jess-Nevins/dp/1932265155/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320340255&sr=8-3) is incredibly neat. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/53 "2011-12-27T02:44:22Z")
Just ask any librarian. They’re supposed to know everything, and apparently they actually do. I used to ask librarians absurd questions sometimes just to see what would happen. Once upon a time, in the old Carnegie Library in Paso Robles, I asked the librarian how many original Carnegie Libraries were still in operation. She didn’t know, but she DID know exactly where there was a book on it. Sure enough, she led me down an aisle and pulled a book that was a compendium of everything about Carnegie Libraries – history, pictorials, tables of statistics of all sorts, lists of which ones were still standing and which of those were still libraries, etc., etc., etc… This was some years ago. Sorry I don’t have a cite. But google “Carnegie Libraries” and you’ll see there’s lots on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923/54 "2011-12-27T06:26:40Z")
_The PENIS Files: Foreskin Restoration (Illustrated)_ [Kindle Edition] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentionally-absurd-encyclopaedic-works/600923.md?page=2)