# Unusual book on your shelf **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 1999, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046 "1999-09-05T05:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/21 "1999-09-05T21:56:00Z")
One that is a complete departure from my library (which happens to be on the dry side) is Street Survival, from Calibre Press. The only other “Doper” I’d expect to have it would be Blue Pony. ## Another one is a first edition paperback of Journey to the Center of the Earth…quite yellowed by time. – **Kalél** _Common ¢ for all ages…_ Doncha just hate word problems? “If it takes a four-month old woodpecker, with a rubber bill, 9 months and 13 days to peck a hole through a Cypress log that is big enough to make 117 shingles, and it takes 165 shingles to make a bundle worth 93¢, how long will it take a cross-eyed grasshopper, with a cork leg, to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?” ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/22 "1999-09-05T23:26:00Z")
On erotic art stuff: My parents have a book called… Fille De Joie:The book of courtesans, sporting girls, ladies of the evening, madams, a few occasionals and some royal favorites. - Dorset Press It has a lot of old erotic art and photos of the types of ladies mentioned above in it, with stories behind most of the photos. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/23 "1999-09-06T00:55:00Z")
Two most excellent books by Don Bajema, “Reach” & “Boy in the Air.” [http://www.deprogrammed.com/bajema.html](http://www.deprogrammed.com/bajema.html) * * * Tim “My hovercraft is full of eels.” ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/24 "1999-09-06T02:46:00Z")
_The Flight of Dragons_ - Peter Dickenson: Approaches the existence of dragons from an evolutionary standpoint. _The Golden Bough_ - Sir James G. Frazer: classic on the anthropology of magic. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/25 "1999-09-06T03:26:00Z")
I try to keep _Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease_, _Winning Low-Limit Hold’em_, and _The Phishing Manual: A Complete Guide to the Music of Phish_ on the shelf together, just for juxtaposition value. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/26 "1999-09-06T03:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > jti > Member posted 09-05-1999 01:06 AM > > I have the OED - compact (i.e. magnifying glass) edition. I have it, too, so that doesn’t qualify for either of us. (next to the OED I have “Jim Henson: the Works” by Christopher Finch. Both are oversize.) How about the biography of H. P. Lovecraft by L. S. de Camp? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/27 "1999-09-06T04:12:00Z")
My possibles: _The Dictionary of Imaginary Places_ by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi Quite a few untranslated Japanese comic books. (This, despite the fact that I can’t actually read Japanese … yet.) Hmm…that’s the most likely candidates, I think. * * * ‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’ Last words of General John Sedgwick ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/28 "1999-09-06T04:21:00Z")
This is the stack currently sitting next to my computer. This usually means I was either checking a reference for a post or I was browsing while a file was downloading. Quirky Quotations V is for Vampire Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace Sacred Writings: The Tanakh Stupid Celebrities Finding the Lesbians: Personal Accounts From Around the World The Fire and the Rose The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana The Great War: Walk in Hell The Magnificent Century Sex Lives of the Hollywood Screen Goddesses The 60 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time Webster’s Dictionary & Thesaurus After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection What They Didn’t Teach You About World War II Rivals of Sherlock Holmes 2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings, & Expressions The Last Plantagenets The Three Edwards Judgment of Tears Shakespeare: Who Was He? Bram Stoker’s Dracula Unearthed A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/1889 Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914 How Do They Do That? Importing the European Army Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture 1910-1935 Lethal Kisses Little Deaths Astro City: Confession Frozen Desserts NTC’s Dictionary of British Slang and Colloquial Expressions NTC’s Dictionary of the United Kingdom Mini World Factfile American Sex Machines: The Hidden History of Sex in the U.S. Patent Office Anno Dracula The Holy Bible (King James Version) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/29 "1999-09-06T05:12:00Z")
Ha! Shorter OED, 1955, first sectional edition. Remember those volume-a-week encyclopedias from the supermarket? I’m pretty sure I have a copy of the de Camp bio of Lovecraft, but can’t lay my hands on it right now. Damn, I need more bookshelves! I also have: Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, and the KJV. Ones nobody mentioned: - Winnie ille Pu, A. A. Milnei, trans. into Latin by Alexander Lenard, MCMLX. Yes, the bear. - Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, Victor Appleton, 1911. Really bad kid’s adventure. - Before Hansard, Horace King, 1968. “A quaint Collection of curious Details from the Story of the Mother of Parliaments, gathered from the ancient Journals and from the Diaries of former M.P.s” ## Probably there are more oddities there, and I’m going to the library book sale next weekend. 🙂 Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/30 "1999-09-06T05:37:00Z")
No, I read the Lovecraft bio, but the book I was visualizing is Planets and Dimensions, Collected Essays of Clark Ashton Smith. Close, but no cigar. ## (This post really belongs in the ‘Why do we forget?’ thread over in GQ. 🙂 ) Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/31 "1999-09-06T07:25:00Z")
The Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan (a wonderful read) A handbook for Russian Parents (Picked up in Asia during a dirth of available reading material and a very enlightening read) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/32 "1999-09-06T08:05:00Z")
1. Mayonnaise and the Origin of Life 2. If You Meet the Buddha On the Road, Kill Him! 3. 1959 Boy Scout Handbook 4. 1917 Pharmacopoeia 5. Much Depends On Dinner 6. The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said 7. Mark Twain In Hawaii 8. My Friend The Dog 9. Laugh! I Thought I’d Die (If I Didn’t) 10.The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste And the one book that I am absolutely certain is in no Doper’s possession: 1975 Hixson High School Wildcat (yearbook) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/33 "1999-09-06T16:08:00Z")
Sorry, rjk, you’re not the only one with _Winnie Ille Pu_. * * * “Succurrite, succurrite, horribilis heffalumpus! Hoff, hoff, hellibilis horralumpus! Holl, holl, hoffabilis hellerumpus!” ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/34 "1999-09-06T16:50:00Z")
Thought of a few more that nobody else here probably has: _Victims of Memory_ by Mark Pendergrast _Scams from the Great Beyond_ by Peter Huston _Monty Python: The Case Against_ by Robert Hewison _Hystories_ by Elaine Showalter _Deliberate Intent_ by Rod Smolla ---
**Author:** ![popokis5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@popokis5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/popokis5)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/35 "1999-09-07T05:20:00Z")
I have the dictionary of Imaginary Places, Ten. How about Gold Buckle, The Grand Obsession of Rodeo Bull Riders? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/36 "1999-09-07T05:27:00Z")
_United States Customs Service Field Guide to Detecting Disguised Weapons - 1973 Edition_ Everything you never wanted to know about how to make a shock absorber or motorcycle handlebar into a shotgun, a keychain into a pistol or a flashlight into a shrapnel throwing bomb. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/37 "1999-09-07T05:50:00Z")
Wow! I’ve got a lot of books, some of them obscure, but the only one I’ve got that was mentioned here is _Mark Twain in Hawaii_. (Sorry, TennHippie!) My candidate is one called _Save the Last Bullet for Yourself_. It’s an account of Custer’s Last Stand and the premise is that when it was obvious the battle was lost, the soldiers shot themselves because they were fearful of being captured. (The Sioux were not in the habit of killing their enemies to the last man, and there had been a lot of yellow press about how savage the Indians were to their prisoners.) Interesting and plausible. I purchased the book at the Little Bighorn Battle Site in Montana. Visiting the site, it’s obvious that Custer was foolhardy in the extreme – he was out on the end of a ridge in plain sight where the only way back was a narrow trail and he was outnumbered about a zillion to one. But the media of the day made him a martyr, if not a hero. I’m excluding books that are related to my vocational and/or avocational specialties. I doubt any of you have books written in the Maori language. ## Wait! – I do have a copy of _Practical Astronomy With Your Calculator_, which is not unusual but it’s autographed by a Space Shuttle astronaut who used to work in my group here at Boeing. I met her (Janet Kavandi) exactly once – when she signed my book! 🙂 “non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem” – William of Ockham ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/38 "1999-09-06T19:28:00Z")
I have many odd books on my shelves. Some titles: “The Circus of Dr. Lao” “If At All Possible, Involve A Cow” “How To Make War”–this is a do-it-your-selfer’s guide “Bigot Hall” “The Crime Studio” “The Cartoon History Of The Universe” “Bride Of The Rat God” “Songs Of The Doomed” “The Complete Pegana”—I recommend this one in particular “How To Tell Your Friends From The Apes” “Bored Of The Rings”—the spelling of this title is correct ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/39 "1999-09-06T22:51:00Z")
Sorry again, TennHippie, I also have Much Depends on Dinner. It’s a keeper. And a few more oddities. (Like I didn’t have better things to do than read my bookshelves. But it’s fun! 🙂 ) - Several Pogo collections, including a couple of first paperback editions. - Anastasia, Marcelle Maurette, “Now a Twentieth Century Fox Motion Picture …” - The Drama of Glass, Kate Field. Published by Libbey Glass Co. Inspired by the Chicago World’s Fair. - Lectures and Essays, T. H. Huxley, 1908. The naturalist discusses Darwin. - Full Fathom Five, N. R. Syme, 1946. History of diving. - The Next Hundred Years, C. C. Furnas, 1936. Far out of date already, but interesting. - Gods, Graves, and Scholars, C. W. Ceram,1949 (trans. 1951). Popularized archaeology. - Arabia Felix, Thorkild Hansen, trans. 1964. The Danish expedition , 1761-1767. - A Ride to Khiva, Fred Burnaby, 1983 (first pub. 1877). Across central Asia in the winter. - The Wallet of Kai Lung, and Kai Lung Unrolls his Mat, Ernest Bramah. Ancient China the way it _should_ have been. - The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Beirce. One last one, since the quote could be paraphrased to fit this topic: - Consuming Passions, Jonathon Green, 1985. Quotations. “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” - Brillat-Savarin 🙂 * * * Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![keystream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@keystream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keystream)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/40 "1999-09-07T02:22:00Z")
two good ones: How to Know People by Their Hands - Josef Ranald My Petition for More Space - John Hersey [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046.md?page=3)