The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year

List from here; article about The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais here.

Bombproof Your Horse

that's gotta be a typo

I am stangely drawn to Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, which I know would be a total letdown to read, but still that whole imagery - the juxtaposition of affable bucolic charm and the menacing intimation of imminent termination, possibly through violent means - well, that's something I find quite irresistable.

Best Diagram Award Book Title

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61hSAU-PAML._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

http://www.bookofjoe.com/images/157863297801lzzzzzzzhh.jpg

okay wow

1990: Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual (Lace Publications)

^^ this is not a particularly odd title really

Neither is Bombproof Yr Horse, if you know anything about horses.

and the people trying to bomb them

ach, sorry. I should have searched. Why didn't I get a 'are you sure you want to post this' warning?

The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories

This has to be the least odd of the lot.

this is not a particularly odd title really

This is my reaction to a lot of these, to be honest

1992: How to Avoid Huge Ships (Cornwell Maritime Press)

^^^ also not odd & probably fairly useful in certain circumstances

some of these are odd in the way that the Ignobel Award winners' papers/projects are odd - that someone went to the trouble to write them and someone else published them.

xp President Keyes: I'd say the Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual is the least odd -tied with Joy of Chickens

People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It

So what is that one really about?

Least odd-looking to me = Last Chance at Love: Terminal Romances, which seems pretty easily recognizable as a book about relationships involving terminal illnesses

The leg-closure one is also really not odd, and actually somewhat snappy, as relationship-advice books go

I have actually heard of the 1978 and 1980 winners before.

Voting "Bust Enlargement"

xpost - non-fiction tie-in from The Sixth Sense, obv

I remember 1988's, BTW: it is, as you might guess, about 18th-century French art and architecture and its influence on / relationship with Swedish art and architecture, which is apparently significant

Actually, the "People Who Don't Know They're Dead" one is possibly odder than my pick, but too late now

xp nabisco: yeah the leg-closure one looks pretty normal compared to the natural bust enlargement one. And How to Shit in the Woods looks like a humorous guide to low-impact camping or roughing it. The shopping cart one is probably a hipster coffee table book.

In fact, I could guess/project what the context or audience for all of these except the crazy buttocks one.

1997: The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition (Mitchell Beazley)

See I assume this is someone on the judging panel trying to go for a masturbation joke - I am 100% in favour of masturbation jokes in more or less any event but if I was the guy who had already put a lot of thought into the publishing of this book I would not let a tenuous innuendo deter me, I don't think

^^ I'd bet the tenuous innuendo increased the sales of this one.

I remember 1988's, BTW: it is, as you might guess, about 18th-century French art and architecture and its influence on / relationship with Swedish art and architecture, which is apparently significant

― nabisco, Friday, March 27, 2009 3:54 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it is extremely significant and if youd read my girlfriends senior thesis youd know more about it dummy

please post this senior thesis on ILX. Clearly, we all should read it.

max needs to get cracking on his novel imo

It seems pretty insensitive to call Population and Other Problems an odd title, especially as it's published by China National Publications.

Yeah -- I would almost say the same about Highlights in the History of Concrete, because really, what else is the British Cement Association going to publish?

The Joy of Concrete? The 2009 - 2014 World Outlook on Concrete? How to Avoid Hitting Things with a Huge Cement Mixer?

2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks (Kaz Cooke – Penguin US/Australia)

In fairness Kaz is a comedian/cartoonist so this'd be deliberately odd, this one.

She does stuff like this

http://www.mhhg.com.au/Images/Womens%20trouble.jpg

So crazy buttocks is perfectly her style.

^^^couldn't be more australian if it wore thongs to the dunny.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The only of these these titles from which I would never guess the content of the book is "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice". Since it was published in Japan I kinda assume it's a case of broken English?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51V9k4gQ7iL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nude_mouse

Okay, apparently nude mice really exist, and the workshop was indeed titled like that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.