# Your reference shelf **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302 "2004-06-02T18:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/1 "2004-06-02T18:32:39Z")
What do you have on your reference shelf? What do you wish you had? Feel free to add comments, recommendations, or whatever. Any subject allowed. My shelf, or as much of it as I can get at just now: **American Heritage Dictionary** , college ed. **Webster’s** and **Roget’s Thesaurus** A generic, cheapo dictionary of quotations **Scrabble Dictionary** Dictionaries of Middle English, Danish, Russian, German, and Spanish Strunk and White’s **Elements of Style** **Chicago Manual of Style Torn Wings and Faux Pas**–one of Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s books, on style **Fowler’s Modern English Usage Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable** (truly cool book; get an old edition) **An Exaltation of Larks, or, the Venereal Game** –a book of ‘nouns of multitude’ **Home Comforts** –greatest housekeeping book ever **Household Hints for Dummies** **The Encyclopedia of Country Living** –everything from how to milk a goat to what to do with a dead body Most of Miss Manners’ books **Merriam-Webster Encyc. of World Religions** A lot of tomes of folklore and poetry anthologies **Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes Oxford Book of Children’s Verse** (those aren’t meant for reading with kids, but as reference books with sources and footnotes and whatnot) A bunch of child-care stuff, including Dr. Spock and a couple of “What to expect…” books **Merck Manual of Medical Information** Barnes and Noble’s **Essential Atlas of the World** –not much, but kind of adequate **Timetables of History** (old and beat-up) And, of course, every **Straight Dope** book. My wish list: The **Oxford English Dictionary** , the compact edition that puts nine pages on every page so you need a magnifying glass but it fits into two volumes A real atlas and quotation dictionary More Gordon books And many, many more… ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/2 "2004-06-02T18:58:13Z")
Well… for dictionaries, I use either [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) or the OED Online, to which I have free access through my university. For thesaurus and encyclopedia, basically the same. Books that are actually sitting on my shelf, though… (you’ll be able to tell that I have degrees in biology, literature, and linguistics) [ul] [li]Gray’s Anatomy[/li][li]The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment[/li][li]Intro to Biology book[/li][li]Cell Biology book[/li][li]Neuroscience book[/li][li]Intro to Psychology book[/li][li]Abnormal Psychology book[/li][li]A Very Short Introduction to Literary Theory[/li][li]Oxford’s Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms[/li][li]The Poetry Handbook[/li][li]The Elements of Style[/li][li]French dictionary[/li][li]Italian dictionary[/li][li]Swahili dictionary & three grammars[/li][li]Latin grammar[/li][li]The Crane Blue Book of Stationery (you must own this)[/li][li]Introducing Sociolinguistics[/li][li]Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook[/li][li]Semantics: Primes and Universals[/li][li]Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English[/li][li]Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation[/li][li]A Biography of the English Language[/li][li]Lass’s Old English[/li][li]Understanding Phonology[/li][li]777 And Other Qabalistic Texts (Crowley)[/li][li]Home Comforts (you must own this, too)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![jeevwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@jeevwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevwoman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/3 "2004-06-02T19:01:41Z")
Oh how I would love the _OED_! Alas, I think we’d need a bigger house first. We have tons of dictonaries, in many languages, plus I own a lot of \*Idiot’s Guides \* (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). **jeevmon** has all his old law books and I’ve got the market cornered on various literary anthologies (I’m not at home right now so I can’t name them). We also have a sickening amount of dog books–first aid, training books, ASPCA reference guides, etc. We also have a _Merck_ but we hardly ever use it, as my MIL is a doctor and a much quicker source of diagnosis, but there was a time when I used it a lot. There are quite a few decorating, financial and ‘all the geography you never learned’-type reference works, as well, and a whole lot of general history (but I guess those are more non-fiction than reference). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/4 "2004-06-02T20:50:32Z")
**OED** –20-year-old compact ed. **Chicago Manual** –15th and most recent ed. **Wired Style** an old edition–50s–of the **Joy of Cooking** ; more recent editions don’t have all the old basics. This book would give an alien scientist a pretty accurate picture of what, why, and how the human race eats. dictionary and thesaurus are almost online nowadays. As a freelance factchecker, my references have to be pretty up to date. So nowadays I use Google more than any single hardcopy book on my shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/5 "2004-06-02T21:34:20Z")
I’m a bit of a reference book addict, I love trolling library book sales for them. I have more than one quotation dictionary, a dictionary of phrase and fable, the New York Public Library Desk Reference, a couple year old Statistical Abstract of the US, a biographical encyclopedia, a couple film summary guides, various history books from all eras (I really like old history books), an architectural dictionary, a really really old Merk (from when my mother was in nursing school, I think), German/English and French/English dictionaries, a world atlas, an encylopedia of world religions, several art text books, and then your various style manuals (every university program I attended required different ones) - that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head, I know I have more… But my pride and joy is my two volume OED. The best thing about it is that I bought it at an estate auction for the grand total of $10 (I was the only one to place a bid) - my non-nerd friends just didn’t understand why I was almost shaking with excitement over the idea of getting it. I really miss the Encyclopedia Brittanica we had when I was growing up. I know it’s online now, but that’s just not the same as thumbing through actual volumes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/6 "2004-06-02T21:41:57Z")
I love reference books! Lessee… from memory: Shorter OED (the two-volume version) Bartlet’s Familiar Quotations Fowler’s Modern English Usage The Baseball Encyclopedia, c. 1990 edition; largely supplanted by the Internet Halliwell’s Film Guide, ditto Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion, ditto The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits – every song, by artist (and title) that made the charts between the '50s and the '80s. TV Encyclopedia (exact title escapes me) – every TV show, with cast and air dates. Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior Dictionary of American Slang ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/7 "2004-06-02T21:42:37Z")
_•American Slang •Foreign Words in Englis •Cartridges of the World •Military Small Arms of the 20th Century •The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft •The Anime Encyclopedia •Luftwaffe Secret Projects •Secret Wonder Weapons of the Third Reich •Directory of the World’s Weapons •The Illustrated Book of Guns •The Order of Things •Roger Ebert’s Movie Glossary •Weapons, an Illustrated Encyclopedia_ And about, oh…two, three dozen others. Maybe more. That’s not counting things like my dictionary, Time’s almanac, etc. Plus, the three and a half megs of odd data that I have stored in a series of text files, that I always add to. (You never know when you’ll need to know what “Black Damp” is, or what military districts the south was divided into after the civil war, or what a “Leman” is.) ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/8 "2004-06-03T01:25:19Z")
_Timetables of History_ _Writing research Papers Practical English Handbook Shrunk and White MLA Chicago Manual of Style_ Doug Hinman, _The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night: Day-by-Day Concerts, Recordings, and Broadcasts, 1961-1996_ Doug Hinman, _The Kinks, Part One: You Really Got Me: An Illustrated World Discography of the Kinks, 1964-1993_ N Martin and J Hudson, T_he Kinks: Well Respected Men_ _Official Kinks Fanclub Magazine_, various back issues Johnny Rogan, _The Complete Guide to the Music of the Kinks_ Johnny Rogan, _The Kinks: A Mental Institution_ \*Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Encyclopedia \* _Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600_ Capelli – a guide to shorthand in mediaeval manuscripts Oxford Latin Dictionary Freund’s Latin Dictionary Oxford Classical Dictional Brewer’s Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Many textile and fabric guides; wool and sheep breed books Mediaeval, Roman, and Greek history texts Latin dictionaries, grammars, verb books German dictionaries, grammars, verb book, idiom and slang books French dictionary, grammars, verb book, idiom and slang book (British) slang thesaurus Synonym dictionary (NOT a thesaurus; it’s about 100 years old, and I swear by it) a brilliant book called Britspeak, Amerispeak Lots more, but I’m packing stuff away as I just got ‘the call’ today that I have been accepted into a museum studies programme for my postdoc… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/9 "2004-06-03T01:30:23Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > 777 And Other Qabalistic Texts (Crowley) Crowley counts as ‘reference’?!?! 😛 Ah well, I’ve got _The notation of polyphonic music 900-1500_ to keep me company. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/10 "2004-06-03T01:38:06Z")
Oh, I also have _The Dictionary of Rude_ and _The Dictionary of Filth_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/11 "2004-06-03T02:38:35Z")
Well, it’s pretty easy to figure out who I am from my reference shelf. I’ve got several engineering textbooks, including Sidra and Smith’s _Microelectronic Circuits_, Rao’s _Mechanical Vibrations_, Hibbeler’s _Statics_ and _Mechanics of Materials_, Incropera and DeWitt’s _Heat and Mass Transfer_, Fox and McDonald’s _Fluid Dynamics_, Hilsen’s _Mechatronics_, Groover’s _Fundamentals of Manufacturing_, and Lai, Rubin, and Krempl’s _Introduction to Continuum Mechanics_. (etc. etc. - I’m sure I’ve forgotten or blocked out other texts… like Thermodynamics). Math texts include Etgen’s _Calculus in Several Variables_, Anton and Rorris’ _Elementary Linear Algebra_, and a differential equations book I can’t find. Oh, and a book on magic squares with several articles by Martin Gardner, probably entitled something creative like _Magic Squares_. Computer texts: O’Reilly: _Learning Perl_ and _Programming Perl_, Deitel & Deitel, _C/C++, an Introductory Course_, and Nyhoff and Leetsma’s _FORTRAN 77_. Literature and General Reference: _Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the King James Bible_, Strunk & White’s _Elements of Style_, _An Incomplete Education_, Perrine & Arp’s _Sound and Sense_ and _Story and Structure_ (6th and 7th eds.) The Norton _Anthology of Poetry_, 3d ed. _The Tongue And Quill_ (Air Force Handbook 37-137), and The National Geographic _Field Guide to the Birds of North America_ ---
**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:** [June 3, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/12 "2004-06-03T05:04:37Z")
All of the Dope, of course, including a copy of _Triumph_ autographed by Cecil One of Asimov’s essay collections _The Boy Scout Handbook_ _The Audubon Guide to the Rockies_ The _SMAS 50_ guidebook to the 51 best astronomical objects viewable from Montana (put together by the local astronomy club) Second edition D&D _Players Handbook_, _Dungeon Master’s Guide_, _Monstrous Compendium_, and _Psionics Handbook_ Third edition D&D Players Handbook and Monster Manual Assorted Tolkien references _The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction_ _Guiness Book of World Records_, 2001 edition _World Almanac and Book of Facts_, some edition or another The CRC _Handbook of Chemistry and Physics_, 56th edition _The Essentials of Calculus_ book of formulae The _Handbook of Particle Physics_, 2001 edition A groaning shelfload of astronomy, physics, math, and programming textbooks Three chemistry textbooks, and a biology textbook Caesar’s _War Commentaries_ Augustine’s _Confessions_ _On the Origin of the Species_ Newton’s _Principia Mathematica_ Copernicus’ _De Revolutionibus_ Galileo’s _Starry Messenger_ Galileo’s _Dialogues on Two Sciences_ Einstein’s _The Theory of Relativity_ _A Brief History of Time_ Gould’s _Bully for Brontosaurus_ The Jerusalem Bible Assorted software users’ manuals ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/13 "2004-06-03T05:17:25Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > Well, it’s pretty easy to figure out who I am from my reference shelf. Tell me about it: **Textbooks** McQuarry and Rock _General Chemistry_ Howard Anton _Calculus_ (third ed.) Halliday & Resnick _Fundamentals of Physics_ (third ed.) Douglas Giancoli _Physics for Scientists and Engineers_ (second ed.) Keeton _Biological Science_ (third ed.) A bunch of people _General Zoology_ (sixth ed.) Oberlander & Muller _Essentials of Physical Geography Today_ (second ed.) John McMurry _Organic Chemistry_ (second ed.) Kardong _Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution_ (second ed.) Withers _Comparative Animal Physiology_ Scott Gilbert _Developmental Biology_ (fifth ed.) Weaver & Hedrick _Genetics_ Eric Chaisson _Universe: An Evolutionary Approach to Astronomy_ A bunch of people _Fossil Invertebrates_ Milton Hildebrand _Analysis of Vertebrate Structure_ (third ed.) Knudt Schmidt-Nielsen _Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment_ (fourth ed.) Michael J. Benton _Vertebrate Palaeontology_ Raup & Stanley _Principles of Paleontology_ (second ed.) **Dinosaur (non-avian) Books** Michael Benton _The Dinosaur Encyclopedia_ Halstead & Halstead _Dinosaurs_ Glut _Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia_, plus Supplements I, II and III Weishampel, Dodson, Osmolska (Eds) _The Dinosauria_ A bunch of people _The Macmillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Mammals_ Gregory S. Paul _Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide_ Glut _The New Dinosaur Dictionary_ Kenneth Carpenter & Phillip Currie (Eds) _Dinosaur Systematics: Approaches and Perspectives_ Sattler _The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary_ A bunch of people _A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The First Complete Guide to Every Dinosaur Now Known_ (“Now” being in 1983 - it’s decidely out of date _now_) **The Rest** Peter Wellnhoffer _The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs_ Bejcek & Statny _Bird Encyclopedia_ Chiappe & Witmer _Mesozoic Birds: Above the heads of Dinosaurs_ Gregory S. Paul _Dinosaurs of the Air_ The Smithsonian Institution’s _Animal_ CRC _Handbook of Chemistry & Physics_ (first student ed.) Pierre Pfeffer (Ed.) _Predators and Predation: The Struggle for Life in the Animal World_ Fritz Schider _An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists_ _Gray’s Anatomy_ Carruth & Ehrlich _The Giant Book of American Quotations_ Peterson Fieldguides _Western Reptiles and Amphibians_ Gardner _The Whale Watchers’ Guide_ National Geographic Society’s _Field Guide to the Birds of North America_ _The Penguin Dictionary of Biology_ Guernsey & Doerr _Principles of Physical Geography_ Chris Matison _Snakes of the World_ Harrington & Durrell _How to Identify Plants_ Piven & Borgenicht _The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook_ William Zinsser _On Writing Well_ Merriam-Webster’s _Manual for Writers & Editors_ Bryan Garner _A Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ Turner & Anton _The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives_ Robert Carroll _Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution_ _The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language_ _American Heritage History of the United States_ _John’s Hopkins Family Health Book_ _The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages_ Springhouse _Physician’s Drug Handbook_ (sixth ed.) _The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern War_ The Diagram Group _Weapons: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 BC to 2000 AD_ And a bunch of other assorted books that while they probably don’t really count as “reference” books are still referenced on occassion for various reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/14 "2004-06-03T08:19:50Z")
In addition to the usual stuff, I am very fond of: **M-W Georgraphic Dictionary** Scarne’s **Complete Guide to Gambling** Davidson’s **The Oxford Companion to Food** A couple of Spanish and English dictionaries and grammars. For on-line use I reply on the **Wikipedia.** ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/15 "2004-06-03T14:50:12Z")
Forgot three off my shelf: Petersen’s Guide to North American Birds Guinness Book of World Records An Incomplete Education ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/16 "2004-06-03T15:51:49Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > Tell me about it: > McQuarry and Rock _General Chemistry_ > … > Halliday & Resnick _Fundamentals of Physics_ (third ed.) That first one should be a geology text. And that second one is my favorite general physics text ever. I can’t believe I gave it away. I know that poor freshman needed it, and I felt beatific and saintly for saving him a hundred bucks, but _damn_ I wish I had it back now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/17 "2004-06-03T16:03:54Z")
Some great ones here, but if I’m not mistaken, I haven’t seen my two most dog-eared and invaluable: Stephen Glazier’s remarkable \*\*\*Word Menu \*\*\*- a language reference organized by subject matter rather than alphabet; often used in conjunction with J. I. Rodale’s fantastic _ **The Synonym Finder** _ - a thesaurus on HGH I do a lot of brainstorming and concepting in the company of these two books. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/18 "2004-06-03T20:48:19Z")
I’m working on entering my library into [bibliophil.org](http://bibliophil.org) & as it happens, I’ve been working on my reference shelves: Besides a couple of dictionaries (no OED, alas) and a thesarus… Why Things Are: Answers to Every Essential Question in Life -Achenbach, Joel Why Things Are: The Big Picture -Achenbach, Joel More of the Straight Dope -Adams, Cecil Return of the Straight Dope -Adams, Cecil Straight Dope Tells All, The -Adams, Cecil Triumph of the Straight Dope -Adams, Cecil You Know What They Say: The Truth About Popular Beliefs -Alfie Kohn Panic Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Postmodern Scene -Arthur Kroker Real Men Don’t Bond : How to Be a Real Man in an Age of Whiners -Bruce Feirstein Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends, The -Brunvand, Jan Harold Life’s Little Destruction Book : Everyday Rescue for Beauty, Fashion, Relationships, and Life -Charles S. Dane Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? -Feldman, David How Does Aspirin Find a Headache? -Feldman, David What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway? An Imponderables Book -Feldman, David Do Penguins Have Knees? -Feldman, David Life’s Little Frustration Book: A Parody -G. Gaynor McTigue Life’s Little Instruction Book -H. Jackson, Jr. Brown Wrong Again!: More of the Biggest Mistakes and Miscalculations Ever Made by People Who Should Have K -Jane O’Boyle Tricks of the Trade: Over 79 Experts Reveal the Secrets Behind What They Do Best -Jerry Dunn Have You Ever Noticed? -Joe Moore Are You Normal? -Kanner, Bernice Forgotten Fads and Fabulous Flops: An Amazing Collection of Goofy Stuff That Seemed Like a Good Idea -Kirchner, Paul Blunder Book : Gigantic -M. H. Goldberg A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits -MacK, Carol K. The True Cognoscente’s Culture Test: Your Know Your I.Q.–Now Learn Your C.Q. (Culture Quotient) -Marvin Grosswirth Life 101 -McWilliams, Peter Best Book Of Urban Myths Ever -Mike Flynn Oops!: Movie Mistakes That Made the Cut -Molinari, Matteo Five Minute Iliad Other Instant Classics : Great Books For The Short Attention Span, The -Nagan, Greg Panati’s Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything & Everybody -Panati, Charles Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things -Panati, Charles Panati’s Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias: The Origins of Our Most Cherished Obsessions -Panati, Charles Myth-Informed: Legends, Credos, and Wrongheaded ‘Facts’ We All Believe -Paul Dickson There are alligators in our sewers, and other American credos -Paul Dickson Oops!: A Stupefying Survey of Goofs, Blunders & Botches, Great & Small -Paul Kirchner Loony Sex Laws -Pelton, Robert Wayne Bigger Secrets: More Than 125 Things They Prayed You’d Never Find Out -Poundstone, William Big Secrets -Poundstone, William Biggest Secrets -Poundstone, William The Play of Words: Fun & Games for Language Lovers -Richard Lederer The Miracle of Language -Richard Lederer VideoHound’s Cult Flicks & Trash Pics -Schwartz, Carol A. The Dictionary of Misinformation -Tom Burnam The Ultimate : The Great Armchair Debates Settled Once and for All -William Poundstone It Seemed Like a Good Idea… : A Compendium Of Great Historical Fiascoes -William R. Forstchen Fumblerules -William Safire Take My Word for It (More on Language from William Safire) -William Safire ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/19 "2004-06-03T21:47:06Z")
I’m jealous. My reference library is limited by space considerations, so I rely heavily on Googling these days. It works, but it just doesn’t have the same air as snagging a book (seemingly at random) from a huge shelf, flipping it open to the relevant page, and handing it to the poor fool who questioned me. 🙂 So, I just have references that are essential and/or are difficult to access online: Webster’s Unabridged (weighing in at roughly 20 pounds and adequate for those who don’t have the OED) Dictionaries and grammars for Latin Spanish French Gaelic Japanese Tagalog Swedish The Complete Encylcopedia of Arms and Armor\* _Gray’s Anatomy_ Knuth’s _The Art of Computer Programming_ an annotated dissection of the Linux kernel source code various programming language references an assortment of math textbooks, covering algebra, trig, and calculus an assortment of electrical engineering texts ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302/20 "2004-06-04T01:39:06Z")
Does _Monty Python’s Flying Circus - All the Words_ count? Seriously, a quick look shows: _American Heritage Distionary_ _American Medical Association Family Medical Guide_ Quite a few mathematics (mine) and economics (my wife’s) textbooks _The Victory Drill Book_ _The Complete National Geographic_ on CD-ROM Michael Jackson’s \*New World Guide to Beer \* and _Complete Guid to Single Malt Scotch_ The dog peed all over my _National Geographic Atlas of the World_, so that is currently waiting for a replacement. The OED (complete 20 volume set) is on my [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) wish list for only $895 if anyone is feeling generous. I’ll pay your SDMB membership fee for the next ten years 🙂 But really, who needs a reference library when you’ve got the Straight Dope? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reference-shelf/248302.md?page=2)