# What's in your bathroom library? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137 "2002-12-11T23:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/1 "2002-12-11T23:31:05Z")
Which literature do you happen to have on hand, right now, for reading while attending to your excretory necessities? This is a snapshot of what I happened find accumulated in my bathroom today: Cirlot, J. E. _A Dictionary of Symbols_. Corbridge-Patkaniowska, M. _Polish_ (Teach Yourself Books). Eliade, Mircea. _Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy_. Mitton, Jacqueline. _A Concise Dictionary of Astronomy_. O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. _Dreams, Illusion and Other Realities_. Raun, Alo, et al. “Languages of the World: Boreo-Oriental Fascicle One.” _Anthropological Linguistics_ Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 1965). I’m going to reshelve these now. Maybe a couple months from now I’ll check back in with a different assemblage of books. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/2 "2002-12-12T00:16:25Z")
the shipping news the physics of immortality the universe in a nutshell Dante’s Inferno the origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/3 "2002-12-12T00:18:41Z")
Great topic! I currently have The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour. I figured that I didn’t want anything too mentally taxing detracting from the business at hand. ---
**Author:** ![verybdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/49beb7/32.png) [@verybdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verybdog)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/4 "2002-12-12T04:11:08Z")
Playboy, Penthouse, and a Bible. Just kidding. There’s nothing in the bathroom. How can you read while you poop? ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/5 "2002-12-12T04:40:40Z")
My new housemates haven’t put any reading material in the bathroom, so I leave political leaflets and printouts of articles there in hopes of finding a captive audience. ---
**Author:** ![Flowerchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@Flowerchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flowerchild)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/6 "2002-12-12T04:44:13Z")
“The Mad Bathroom Companion Book” full of old articles in mad and very funny, that really is the name too, I swear. ---
**Author:** ![mdf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@mdf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mdf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/7 "2002-12-12T04:49:37Z")
The November This Old House, a fairly recent copy of Network Computing, and the [Speedway Motors](http://www.speedwaymotors.com/) 2002 catalog. -mdf ---
**Author:** ![Smaug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Smaug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smaug)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/8 "2002-12-12T04:55:18Z")
…PSM… ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/9 "2002-12-12T05:57:44Z")
More of the Straight Dope by Cecil Adams. That and the latest issue of The Advocate magazine. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/10 "2002-12-12T06:13:19Z")
Hmmm… “Bathroom”…I know _that_ word. “Library”…yes, that one too… But put them together, and it just…doesn’t make any sense. What _is_ this strange concept you put before us, **Jomo**? ---
**Author:** ![kspharm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kspharm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kspharm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/11 "2002-12-12T07:31:48Z")
I have every one of “Uncle John’s” Bathroom Readers. They will be the cause of my hemmorhoids later in life. Also, assorted work related journals, Anne Rice’s **Interview with the Vampire** , John Grisham’s **The Summons** , as well as a Ross-Simons catalog. And the ingredients list on a shampoo bottle. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/12 "2002-12-12T08:46:27Z")
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Reader’s Digest (3 issues from a _long_ time ago) ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/13 "2002-12-12T09:05:07Z")
_The Art of War_ Sun Tzu ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/14 "2002-12-12T11:52:51Z")
Are you kidding??? How can you _not_ read on the pot!!! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/15 "2002-12-12T12:35:16Z")
I’ve got 3-volumes-in-one of Uncle John’s, plus a bunch of very old Reader’s Digests. ---
**Author:** ![Maxxxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/16 "2002-12-12T12:37:29Z")
I have two of Scott Adams’ Dilbert Books, "Shave the Whales"and another whose name escapes me but could possibly be “It’s obvious you won’t survive by your wits alone”. There is also a brochure from Trek America advertising holidays I don’t plan to actually go on. There is a brochure from my credit card provider describing awards that I qualify for … most of which are of no use to me LOL Every day I sit there and think… I really need to update this collection of toilet-reading material. Yet do I update it? No. I’m such a lazy git! ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/17 "2002-12-12T14:15:28Z")
Great, I get to post my anti-bathroom reading rant all over again, TO WHIT: It smells. The seat is not particularly comfortable. The light is not the best. Go in, drop your pants. Sit down, do whatever it is you have to do. Clean yourself up, wash your hands. Then, go find a nice comfy chair, with a good light, in a room that doesn’t smell like shit, and read to your hearts content. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/18 "2002-12-12T14:17:21Z")
And if it takes you so long to do whatever it is you need to do that you can read more than an obituary column, eat more fiber. For those of you with irritable bowel syndrome or some other medical condition that requires you to camp out in the bathroom for days on end, my apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/19 "2002-12-12T14:31:30Z")
I have a book that I probably will never read and an electronic yahtzee game. I’ll also bring in whatever I’m currently reading if I’m in the mood to read. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137/20 "2002-12-12T14:35:45Z")
1. The current issue of _Eos_ and _Physics Today_ and a few back issues of each. 2. _Big Secrets_, _Bigger Secrets_, and _Biggest Secrets_ by William Poundstone. 3. _Old Mr. Boston’s Bartender’s Guide_ and 1. A copy of the 2002 _World Almanac_. The 2003 copy is not allowed into the bathroom until a 2004 copy is purchased. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-your-bathroom-library/142137.md?page=2)