# 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:** 3
**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 7, 1999, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/41 "1999-09-07T02:53:00Z")
Daniel, I also have _Bored of the Rings_ (never actually read it, mind you, but I’ve got it). I was going to list that one, but figured somebody else here would have it. Looks like I was right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/42 "1999-09-07T03:31:00Z")
I highly recommend _the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy_, but the all-out weirdest book on my shelves is a surprisingly dry, scholarly tome with the irresistible title, _Sex Songs of the Ancient Letts._ * * * Live a Lush Life Da Chef ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/43 "1999-09-07T06:06:00Z")
Okay, the books I’m pretty sure no one else has: _Dawn Song_, Sharon Green _Agent of Change_ and _Conflict of Honors_, Steve Miller & Sharon Lee _The Dictionary of Film Quotations_ _The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft_ _Dream Park_, Larry Nivens and Steven Barnes _From Beginning to End, The Rituals of Our Lives_, Robert Fulghum _Distant Friends_, Timothy Zahn _Blood River Down_, Lionel Fenn _World-Building_ _The Man Who Invented Saturday Morning_, David Owen That’s not even close to half of them, just a few books grabbed at random. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/44 "1999-09-07T11:34:00Z")
Sorry Kat but I’ve got the Encyclopedia of Witches and Withcraft in the back of my closet somewhere from when I was in college. A couple weeks ago I picked up A Traveler’s Guide To Western Great Lakes Lighthouses while I was visiting the Sodus Bay lighthouse, up around Rochester. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/45 "1999-09-07T12:24:00Z")
## After taking a look at my bookshelves, I’ve got a rather large collection of trade books (3 editions of the Fire Protection Handbook, the 1997 edition of the National Fire Codes, all sorts of other fire books), and sitting, mixed in with all of them, are Richard Scarry’s “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go” and “Busy, Busy World.” Jeremy… I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine - Kurt Vonnegut ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/46 "1999-09-07T12:39:00Z")
See, now is the time that I need to have a computer at home! I can’t look at my book shelves whilst I’m at work. Here’s some off the top of my head: 1. The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki 2. Preparing and Using Dried Foods Why these are the only two that I can think of, I’ll never know! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/47 "1999-09-07T13:20:00Z")
Auntie Pam, I have Wisconsin Death Trip, too–isn’t it wonderful? Great for late-night browing when you can’t sleep. Anyone else have a complete set of The Moving Picture Girl series by Laura Lee Hope? It’s a set of girls’ books from the 1910s about a pair of sisters acting in the Photo-Plays. ---
**Author:** ![NavinR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@NavinR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NavinR)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/48 "1999-09-07T14:49:00Z")
OK, Here goes a first post: “On Killing” “Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms Ballistics & Forensic Techniques” Unless of course someone reading this is an ER doctor or a forensic pathologist but wouldn’t that count as a technical manual for them? By the way, EnigmaOne (not to be too critical my first time out) but from your comment about Caliber Press, I think that Street Survival would count as job related for you and Blue Pony, wouldn’t it? Just guessing, but I have that along with Patrol Tactics sitting on my shelf at work. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/49 "1999-09-07T15:34:00Z")
The History of Hellenism - a nice weighty tome i picked up at a sharp discount while walking around a Barnes and Noble. Other odd titles you folks may not have: ## The Mind of Adolf Hitler (a psychological treatment) Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology Windows NT Network Adminstration Training Resource Kit. To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/50 "1999-09-07T15:35:00Z")
What a fun game. I wanna play! \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, I have \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Opal, …_The 13 Clocks_ (and several other Thurber books). Tengu and Popokis5, …_Dictionary of Imaginary Places_. TennHippie, …_Encyclopedia of Bad Taste_ (and most of Jane and Michael Stern’s other books). DavidB, …_Hystories_. Daniel p Bostaph,…_Bride of the Rat God_. rjk,…Many _Pogo_ collections. I also have (for starters) a fat stack of old Whitman Teen Novels, including _The Charmed Circle_, and _True to You_. A signed copy of _Vagabond’s House_ by Don Blanding. Both _Daddy-long-legs_ (with photos from the movie starring Janet Gaynor) AND the sequel, _Dear Enemy_. _Coffee, Tea or Me?_. _The Boy Who Looked like Shirley Temple_. * * * ``` Jess ``` Full of 'satiable curtiosity ---
**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, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/51 "1999-09-07T15:41:00Z")
Sorry, Kat, but I definitely have Dream Park…do you have the sequel? The title escapes me right now, but it’s almost as good. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/52 "1999-09-07T16:21:00Z")
I also have “The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste”–wonderful! I’m at work, so I can’t peruse the shelves right now; but here are a few from memory: “Great Medical Disasters” “Political Cliches” “The Robber Barons” “The Extraordinary Madness of Crowds and Popular Delusions” (or something close to that) “The Heterodoxy Reader: How to Survive the PC Campus” I also have a Grant first edition hardback of S. King’s “The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger” Took me years to find; didn’t want a reprint. ---
**Author:** ![Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/53 "1999-09-08T05:24:00Z")
Well just so you can all rest easy tonight…I haven’t even thought about owning any of those books! 😉 Hmmm…I don’t really have any books that are too strange… There’s one called ‘Mayan Prophecies’ by someone whos name I forget! or maybe ‘King Con’ by Stephen J Cannell. Yes the producer of ‘The A-Team’. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/54 "1999-09-07T18:13:00Z")
I was actually expecting more “No, I’ve got that too” posts, but people really have some unique titles! If rjk got specific about which Pogo books he has, I could probably shoot some of those down, but that’s about it. Here’s an easy one, considering how many musicians we have here: _The Best Fake Book Ever_ Fire away! ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/55 "1999-09-07T18:29:00Z")
I, too have: The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste How about these??? Maledicta (the best of) Winning Through Deception & Bluff How to Lie With Statistics How to Shit in the Woods I bet someone has one of my favorites that is rarely seen…Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/56 "1999-09-07T18:32:00Z")
David B wrote: > [@](#): > > Daniel, I also have Bored of the Rings (never actually read it, mind you, but I’ve got it). I was going to list that one, but figured somebody else here would have it. Looks like I was right. I’ve gotten halfway through Bored of the Rings and then had to stop. It was too silly. Hilarious, but I was laughing too much. “Hairy toes! I just _go wild_ over hairy toes!” ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/57 "1999-09-07T18:52:00Z")
I have _Bored of The Rings_, _Jitterbug Perfume_, and _The Ultimate Fake Book_. I’ve not seen anyone mention the Big Book o’ Masonry, or whatever it’s called, but I have a 1957 copy of that. Also, an old fave that I just recently laid hands on again, _The View From Nowhere, The only bar guide you’ll ever want, or need_ by Jim Atkinson. Waste Flick Lives! ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/58 "1999-09-07T19:01:00Z")
GET OUT, I’ve got The View From Nowhere. Good theory on why people go to bars and how to rank them. I think I picked it up as a $ .99 item, that was years ago. ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/59 "1999-09-07T19:03:00Z")
“The Bluejacket’s Manual” “They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?” “The Art of War” “Smokehouse Bear” and “Lowbush Moose” “A Book of Five Rings” “Tulku” “The Monkey Handlers” (signed by author) “Cutting Up In The Kitchen” “Things Fall Apart” ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046/60 "1999-09-07T19:43:00Z")
I’m at the office, so: “Transient Techniques of NMR in Solids” by Gerstein and Dybowski “Dynamics of Polyacrylates” (etc.; long title) by Funchess “The Infrared Spectra of Complex Molecules” by Bellamy Somewhat more mundane: “The Merck Index, Tenth Edition” “The Feynmann Lectures on Physics” by Feynmann, Leighton, and Sands “Structure and Spectra of Molecules” by Richards and Scott [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-book-on-your-shelf/8046.md?page=4)