# What's the strangest book you own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347 "2003-03-22T12:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/21 "2003-03-22T19:04:10Z")
I think if I looked hard enough underneather the copies of “The Big Book of Death”, “Three-Fisted Tales of ‘Bob’”, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol”, “Opium For the Masses”, my Jean Genet, Anatole France and J.G. Ballard, the ReSearch book about body modification and the booklet about how celebating the sabbath on Sunday is the work of Satan that was left in my mailbox, I might possibly discover I own a book written by Stephen King or Tom Clancy. And that would be strange :). ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/22 "2003-03-22T19:05:47Z")
“The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cookbook and How To Raise Wolves”. All one title, by Jack Douglas. He was a writer of a certain comedic genre in the early to mid-1960’s. The book is OK, but not as good as the title. I also have, “The Theory and Practice of Hell”, which, IIRC, is about the design of the Nazi prison camps. Actually a fascinating read. I also have a copy of “The Yippie Handbook”; Dave Forman’s “Eco-Defense” and some classic underground manual on bomb building.\* I have to laugh when they arrest some guy and say, “He had guns and bomb manuals!” So do half my friends. Whistlepig - Not that I intend to build any bombs. But when the invasion/revolution/apocalypse comes, I’ll be ready to fight back. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/23 "2003-03-22T19:26:56Z")
**The Complete Guide to Birdfeeding** **Tijuana Bibles** (a collection of those Depression-era, X-rated underground comic pamphlets) **Is That You Laughing Comrade?** (A collection of underground Soviet jokes, as collected from Lithuanians. Many are recognizable “Polish” jokes that substitute CP apparatchiks for the dumb Pollack; others are specifically Communist/Soviet in their references. Oddly moving.) **The Japan That Can Say “No!”** (another historical curio) \*\*On Being Swedish Markings\*\* (a personal collection of poems and philosophical musings and various epigrams). What makes this one a curio is that its author was Dag Hammarskjold (a U.N. Secretary General during the height of the Cold War) and its translators, Leif Sjoberg and W.H. Auden. FWIW, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen once authored a collection of poems, as did Leonard Nimoy (with his original photographs)… just in case one is interested in building a collection of oddball “poets”. **London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer** I once (very briefly) owned a copy of **The Principles and Practices of Embalming**. If you ever wanted to know exactly what decomposing humans look like, get your hands on an embalming textbook. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/24 "2003-03-22T19:47:34Z")
I’ve got the _Malleus Maleficarum_ too, and one of the fake _Necronomicons_, which startles people from time to time. But they blend in with various books on magic and offbeat religion … Strangest thing I’ve bought recently was a copy of _Beowulf_. In the original Old English. ---
**Author:** ![Aleq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@Aleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aleq)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/25 "2003-03-22T20:06:32Z")
Mine is “Hear the Sound of My Feet Walking Drown the Sound of My Voice Talking” by Dan O’Neill, originally published in like 1971 or something. My copy has been colored in by several generations of kids and acidheads and it’s a bloody marvel… ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/26 "2003-03-22T20:07:02Z")
And another here with _Malleus Maleficarum_. And a lot of books on torture and executions. I really miss my _Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practises_ though. I lost it in a move. It sure earned me some strange looks. I’ll need to grab that one again. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/27 "2003-03-22T20:17:15Z")
Wow, you guys make me look positively sane. I think that the weirdest book I own is a high-school physics textbook. From 1903. Well, that and _Winnie the Pooh_ translated into Latin, but I’m sure a lot of folks have that one. But then again, I was cleaning the apartment a bit yesterday and discovered that I have a copy of _Gulliver’s Travels_ which I didn’t know I had, so who knows what else might be lurking in the lower strata? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/28 "2003-03-22T20:31:46Z")
- In Memory of James L. Feurgeson \* This is a book which was apparently published by the subject’s children after he died to memorialize their father. It tells the story of his rather ordinary life in excruiating detail, and includes several pictures of James. I bought it in a box of books at a yardsale. Being an avid non-fiction reader, I have a large amount of books that the average person would think odd, such as books on the history of salt production, the social history of flatulence, corsets, toilets, city planning and food production. (Minor historical details fascinate me.) ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/29 "2003-03-22T21:21:29Z")
My book collection is very mixed-up; I’m not sure _what_ is the strangest book. I have “The Medicine Show” published in 1974 by Consumer’s Union. This book intends to “help consumers better understand the differences between genuine advances in health and medicine and the exaggerated claims of the sellers.” It’s quite informative, actually. I also have a very cute Doonsbury collection, “That’s _Doctor_ Sinatra, You Little Bimbo!” **whistlepig** : you might like my copy of FM 5-34, Engineer Field Data, published by the US Army. Very cool survival stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/30 "2003-03-22T21:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*\* I have a large amount of books that the average person would think odd, such as books … on the social history of flatulence (and) toilets. \*\* Have you met **Lieu**? ---
**Author:** ![catnoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@catnoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catnoe)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/31 "2003-03-22T22:11:42Z")
A copy of ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus in Czech, found it in a thrift store. ‘A Field Guide to Germs’ by Wayne Biddle. Not really strange but a cool title. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/32 "2003-03-22T22:37:04Z")
Mine can’t really compare to some of those already mentioned. 🙂 I’ve got a fairly eclectic mix in my library - here are a couple of my more odd ones: A kids book called **Everyone Poops** by Taro Gomi **How to Shit in the Woods** by Kathleen Meyer - Hmm, it might look like I have a fixation here… **Flattened Fauna** by Roger M. Knutson. It’s like the nature books that help you identify bird or animal species, except it’s how to recognize which animals you’ve found flattened along the highway. **Telephone Boxes** by Gavin Stamp. A history (with photos, of course :)) of British phone booths. It’s part of a series: other books cover such subjects as manhole covers and park benches (I’m serious!). **Manifold Destiny** by Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller. A cookbook on how to cook meals on the engine of your car. I’ve also got a stack of **Little Blue Book** volumes from Haldeman-Julius Publications dating to the 30’s. I found them years ago in an old box of stuff my great-uncle had. Some of the titles: [ul] [li] **Survival of the Fittest** - H.M. Tichenor[/li][li]**Ridiculous Women (Les Precieuses Ridicules)** - Moliere[/li][li] **How to Argue Logically** - Arthur Schopenhauer[/li][li] **Why I am an Infidel** - Luther Burbank[/li][li] **Character Reading from the Face** - Leo Markun[/li][li] **the Psychology of the Criminal** - Leo Markun[/li][li] **Trial by Jury: the Great Burlesque of Modern Criminal Justice** - Harry Elmer Barnes[/li][li] **How to test Your Urine at Home** - B.C. Meyrowitz[/li][li] **Who Started the World War** - Harry Elmer Barnes (note this is _WW I_ it’s talking about…)[/li][li] **Herbert Hoover: the Fatuous Failure in the White House** - E. Haldeman-Julius[/li][li] **Questions and Answers About Birth Control** - Margaret Sanger[/li][li] **Einsteins’s New Space-Substance Theory** - Isaac Landman[/li][li] **Socialism and Communism** - Norman Angell[/li][/ul] Eric ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/33 "2003-03-23T00:18:07Z")
Hey **Lissa** I also have the big **Salt** book, as well as **Cod** , written by the same author (if we’re talking about the same thing :D). The wierdest books I currently have would be my extensive Bukowski collection. Not hard to find, but disturbing in their own special way. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/34 "2003-03-23T00:31:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > The Smythe Report-Atomic Energy For Military Purposes What edition ? PS No “e” in Smyth. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/35 "2003-03-23T01:23:36Z")
I have a first-edition of “Rose is a Rose” by Gertrude Stein. A children’s book, about a little girl named Rose, it has bright pink pages & bright blue type. Opening it, I am 8 years old again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/36 "2003-03-23T01:38:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by summerbreeze \* > \*\*I have a first-edition of “Rose is a Rose” by Gertrude Stein. A children’s book, about a little girl named Rose, it has bright pink pages & bright blue type. Opening it, I am 8 years old again. \*\* I got 800 bucks for identifying this on Jeopardy. Thanks for the memory. And _The Realist_ editor Paul Krassner put out _Pot Stories for the Soul_ . It’s in one of the boxes here, someplace. As for my favorite oddball, gotta be _Presidential Trivia and Meat Facts_ . For the title alone. -Myron ---
**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:** [March 23, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/37 "2003-03-23T01:52:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\* … Strangest thing I’ve bought recently was a copy of _Beowulf_. In the original Old English. \*\* Ooh, I have one of those too, but in my line of work that counts as normal. I’ve also got _Winnie Ille Pu_, like **Chronos**. Just remembered that I have a children’s book about the life of King Arthur, as told by his dog, but I haven’t read it yet. Probably the most unusual book I own and _have_ read is _The Housewife’s Rich Cabinet_, a compilation of home remedies and household hints from early modern conduct books, on such topics as: – “How to Make a Young Face Exceedingly Beautiful or an Old Face Tolerable” – “To Take out the Marks of Gunpowder Shot into the Skin of the Face” (one wonders if this was a common problem in early modern England – I hope not, as the remedy calls for fresh cow dung). – “To Cure Armhole Stench” – “To Make Common Drunkards Loathe and Abhor Wine” (This one involves a live eel, and is quite alarming.) Great stuff. I love weird books. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/38 "2003-03-23T02:06:38Z")
a 1910 biology book… I love it… 90% of it is “we don’t know” and it has the BEST chapter on races… it explains in detail about how blacks and whites are nearly identical in anatomy and how there is no reason to belive any superiority of whites and all sorts of stuff… its amazeingly forward thinking… in 1910 it must have been a real controversy to write that, its real good. then you turn a few pages and get to the section about parasites and it says something along the lines of “all chinamen have worms because they live an awful filthy lifestyle”. it cracks me up every time… they do SUCH a good job going into detail about how blacks and whites are equal… and then right after it they come up with that. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/39 "2003-03-23T03:41:31Z")
_How to Build a Corpse_ (in the comfort and privacy of your own home!) has a prominent place in my bookcase, and has drawn a few odd looks. Of course, leaving it out on the coffee table drew even odder ones. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347/40 "2003-03-23T03:44:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bonzer \* > \*\*What edition ? > > PS No “e” in Smyth. \*\* I’m currently staying at a relative’s. I’ll be returning home in about a week and can tell you then. **Mapcase** Is absolutely correct. But just who is Mapcase? Just an SF fan? Or something more? Have I, through the anonymity of the web, been given a chance to atone for the key? Or am I just babbling like an idiot? I’m hoping it’s both. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-strangest-book-you-own/163347.md?page=3)