Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Books for Fun & Enlightenment

If you’ve not heard of Abe Books, you might want to check them out. They sell books: textbooks, rare books, all kinds of books.

Today, just for fun, I thought I’d introduce you to their Weird Book Room. The books there are bizarre. In other words, weird.

This week’s Weird Book of the Week is:
The Teach Your Chicken to Fly Training Manual by Trevor Weekes.

Not interested in chickens? How about tattoos? Then try:
Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan by Robert Chenciner, Gabib Ismailov, Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov, and Alex Binnie.

Or how about this one, first published in 1951:
Nudism in Modern Life: The New Gymnosophy by Maurice Parmelee.

This one might just be the winner of the longest title:
Impeccable Birdfeeding: How to Discourage Scuffling, Hull-Dropping, Seed-Throwing, Unmentionable Nuisances and Vulgar Chatter at Your Birdfeeder by Bill Adler Jr.

I know some of you will want to get:
50 Ways to Use Feminine Hygiene Products in a Manly Manner by B. Koz.

Perhaps you could use:
The Bible Cure for Irritable Bowel Syndrome by Don Colbert.

But, if that doesn’t work, you may want:
Toilet Paper Origami by Linda Wright.

Abe Books has got lots of weird books. And you can always suggest ones you think they’re missing. What’s the strangest book you’ve ever read?
TweetIt from HubSpot

25 comments:

  1. In between Abebooks and Alibris, I'll never have spare money again. Darn rare and OOP books. Thanks for the share, Helen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my. What wonderful titles! Thanks for sharing this, Helen. I might not come up for air for weeks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can't say that I have ever read anything that comes close to these titles. Most interesting. :) Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you've named every strange book I've ever heard of in this post! Wow! This is too funny. I think I'll head over just for laughs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I only named a few. They have lots of weird titles!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You know, my bird feeder birds engage in vulgar chatter--I'll have to check that book out!

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

    ReplyDelete
  7. I visited Abe's Weird Book Room and I can't think of a single title that I've read that could compare to any of those you mentioned!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow - weird is definitely the word! The titles and covers are enough to cause fits of giggles!

    ReplyDelete
  9. LOL. I did not know all that noise at the bird feeder was vulgar chatter. I thought birds were above such crass behavior.

    I have not read any books with weird titles, but one of my favorite children's books was There's a Monster at the End of This Book. Cute title for a really funny book that my kids loved me to read to them, and I was never sure who enjoyed the read most.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ummm . . . I think I got the coffee out of my keyboard before it was permanently damaged. I'm still laughing over a couple of them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Too funny! I love it! I have to share this post...

    Michele
    SouthernCityMysteries

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some "ordinary" books have great titles, too. Tthere was a mystery whose title I loved: If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him ... I'd Be Out Of Jail By Now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very funny! I like the origami with toilet paper. Give you something to do in there.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cool list of weirdness! I've heard of the Weird Room, will have to check it out some.

    Marvin D Wilson

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love these! I'm headed over to Abe books! (And I wished I'd think of such great titles, too.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh gosh those are hilarious! I've got to go over and check out their other bizarre titles! Thanks for sharing, Helen :)

    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  18. I knew their site had some weird stuff! Bet they have my Teaching Cats to Paint book, too. (Christmas gift from my mother-in-law a while back.)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Diane, let us know how it goes, teaching your cats to paint!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Now I know what to do with all those extra toilet paper rolls that someone in my family brings when he visits. As if the stores in Washington, DC don't carry the stuff!

    Very funny stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I sort of want to read the one about teaching chickens to fly but then what would I do? I mean they'd fly alright - two of them still do because they aren't too meaty but what does one do with flying chickens? I ordered a very weird and wonderful book from Abe last week - it is maybe pretending to be a kid's book and it is called Merry Cherry. You'll have to look it up because there is no explaining it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Marisa, perhaps he has a very special brand he particularly loves.

    Jan, I don't know, Merry Cherry could be a lot of different plots. Hmm.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for the link, Helen. Until now I thought Wisconsin Death Trip was the weirdest book around...I see it's not!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Not nearly, bonita, at least when it comes to titles.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I can see I missed an opportunity with the title of my book... but on the other hand! Thanks for making me smile, Helen and for great, informative and entertaining posts through the year.

    Very best wishes to you for 2010.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...