# Weird and bizarre book - title?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138 "2006-07-26T19:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![billywizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billywizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billywizz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/1 "2006-07-26T19:13:42Z")
Hi, all. I’m after identfying a book I once owned, and really hope you can help. The book was paperback, maybe 8 x 5 in size, and detailed strange and bizarre facts from times gone by. Two of the stories I remember in particular, are one about the research done by a French doctor - when the guillotine was still used - into whether or not decapitated heads still retain sences. The other story was the true account of a nine-year prositute at the start of the 20th century which inspired a film starring Brooke Sheilds in the title role. The cover was mainly white in colour, I think, with maybe some beige, and was very ‘Victorian freak show’ in style, but I can’t remember the cover illustration. Thanks very much in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/2 "2006-07-26T19:14:40Z")
Doesn’t ring any bells, but I’ll bump the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/3 "2006-07-26T19:21:39Z")
Cecil, 1982: [Do decapitated heads briefly remain conscious?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_221a.html) More to the point, Cecil, 1998: [Does the head remain briefly conscious after decapitation?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html) > [@](#): > > A lot of people disputed my claim that victims of the guillotine blacked out immediately. Many had seen a TV show on the Discovery Channel called “The Guillotine” in which a medical expert tells the story above, with the added detail that the scientist was the pioneering French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was beheaded during the Reign of Terror in 1794. > > Not likely. There is no mention of the blinking incident in the standard biographies of Lavoisier. The expert quoted on the TV show, neurosurgeon Robert Fink, says he heard the story from a colleague. The colleague says he read it in a book, but can’t remember which. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/4 "2006-07-26T19:23:41Z")
I can’t help you out with the name of the book but Cecil has written a column on the subject of consciousness after beheading, you can read it [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html). May I also suggest cross-posting this question in Cafe Society which is the forum for discussing books. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![billywizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billywizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billywizz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/5 "2006-07-26T19:55:50Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > I can’t help you out with the name of the book but Cecil has written a column on the subject of consciousness after beheading, you can read it [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html). > > May I also suggest cross-posting this question in Cafe Society which is the forum for discussing books. Good luck! Thanks very much, to you both. I actually posted the query here after reading Cecil’s account on said subject, but I’ll try the cafe whatsname now. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/6 "2006-07-26T20:06:30Z")
These threads have more on decapitated heads & consciousness, including book refs and links: [Decapitation experiments](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=257242&highlight=Lavoisier) [Decapitated heads & consciousness](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=240129&highlight=Lavoisier) [Headless consciousness/Conscious headlessness](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=197507&highlight=Lavoisier) ---
**Author:** ![billywizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billywizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billywizz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/7 "2006-07-26T20:21:49Z")
Thanks, squink, but none of those links lead me nearer to my goal ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/8 "2006-07-26T20:54:09Z")
Is this it? [An Underground Education.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385483767/sr=8-1/qid=1153947176/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4321811-4371341?ie=UTF8) 'Tis one of my favorite books. ---
**Author:** ![billywizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billywizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billywizz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/9 "2006-07-26T22:23:06Z")
> [@Lazlo](#): > > Is this it? [An Underground Education.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385483767/sr=8-1/qid=1153947176/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4321811-4371341?ie=UTF8) > > 'Tis one of my favorite books. Oh, lazlo!!! I fall at your knees and kiss your sweet, sweet feet!! You’ve made my day, pal! Thank you so, very, very much!!! 😃 Er, yes, that’s the book! Incidently, did my dicription ring a bell, or was in just incredible detective work? I love you! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/10 "2006-07-26T22:52:48Z")
The movie _Pretty Baby_ was inspired by the life of the photographer E. J. Bellocq. ---
**Author:** ![billywizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billywizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billywizz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/11 "2006-07-26T23:14:46Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > The movie _Pretty Baby_ was inspired by the life of the photographer E. J. Bellocq. Ah, sorry, I don’t know where I got the idea that the account detailed in _An Underground Education_ was the inspiration. Maybe I just presumed! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/12 "2006-07-26T23:43:57Z")
Read _An Undeground Education_ with many, many grains of salt. It credulously vectors the old myth about the [origin of the phrase ‘rule of thumb’](http://tafkac.org/language/etymology/rule_of_thumb.html). (And also [here](http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mythsofwomenshistory/a/rule_of_thumb.htm).) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-and-bizarre-book-title/366138/13 "2006-07-27T04:34:41Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > I can’t help you out with the name of the book but Cecil has written a column on the subject of consciousness after beheading, you can read it [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html). > > May I also suggest cross-posting this question in Cafe Society which is the forum for discussing books. Good luck! We (the moderating staff) don’t allow cross postings. We will close one or all of the threads if we see cross posts. Lynn For the Straight Dope