Oddest book title of the year award

The shortlist for the oddest book title of 2009 was announced earlier this week. The candidates are:

Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter by David Crompton
The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Ellen Scherl and Marla Dubinsky
Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich by James A Yannes
Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Daina Taimina
Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots by Ronald C Arkin
What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua? by Tara Jansen-Meyer

The industry magazine, The Bookseller, runs the contest, which was first held in 1978. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop of Nude Mice. Other past winners include People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It, The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification and Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers.

Titles that didn't make the shortlist this year, for some reason, include The Great Dog Bottom Swap and The Wild World of Girly Men and Masculine Women - And Why Americans Suffer from So Many Other Idiotic Syndromes. The full longlist can be viewed here.

Comments

[Tessa]

I don't know what it says about me that I can easily imagine reading (and enjoying) 3 of the books on that shortlist ... and on of the previous winners also.

[Virtual Linguist]

I'm intrigued as to which 3, Tessa! Thanks for dropping by and reading.