The Oddest Book Titles

Since 1978, the pseudonymic diarist Horace Bent of the Bookseller magazine, with the sponsorship of The Diagram Group, managed an annual contest for the oddest book titles. The contenders are often as alarming as the winners.

In 2008, a book celebrating the prize winners and nominees was released:

Joel Rickett,
How to Avoid Huge Ships: And Other Implausibly Titled Books,
Aurum Press, 2008,
ISBN: 9781845133214.

2022

• Winner: RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning With RuPaul's Drag Race, by Lindsay Bryde, Tommy Mayberry.
• What Nudism Exposes: An Unconventional History of Postwar Canada, Mary-Ann Shantz.
• Jane Austen and the Buddha: Teachers of Enlightenment, Kathryn Duncan.
• Frankenstein Was a Vegetarian: Essays on Food Choice, Identity, and Symbolism, Michael Owen Jones.
• Smuggling Jesus Back into the Church, Andrew Fellows.
• The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More, Ron Riekki

2021

• Curves for the Mathematically Curious, by Julian Havil.
• Handbook of Research on Health and Environmental Benefits of Camel Products, edited by Omar Amin Alhaj, Bernard Faye, Rajendra Prasad Agrawal.
• Hats: A Very Unnatural History, by Malcolm Smith.
• Winner: Is Superman Circumcised?, by Roy Schwartz.
• The Life Cycle of Russian Things: From Fish Guts to Faberge, edited by Matthew Romaniello, Alison Smith, Tricia Starks.
• Miss, I Don’t Give a Shit: Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools, by Adele Bates.

2019

• Winner: A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path, by Gregory Forth.
• Introducing the Medieval Ass, by Kathryn Smithies.
• Classical Antiquity in Heavy Metal Music, by K Fletcher, Osman Umurhan.
• How to Make Love to a Despot, by Stephen Krasner.
• Lawnmowers: An Illustrated History, by Brian Radam.
• The Slaughter of Farmed Animals: Practical Ways to Enhance Animal Welfare, by Temple Grandin, Michael Cockram.

2018

• How to Drink without Drinking, by Fiona Beckett.
• Noah Gets Naked: Bible Stories They Didn't Teach You at Sunday School, by Xanna Eve Chown.
• Winner: The Dirthole and its Variations, by Charles Dobbins.
• Ending the War on Artisan Cheese, by Catherine Donnelly.
• Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich, by Eric Kurlander.
• Viking Encounters: Proceedings of the 18th Viking Conference, edited by Anna Pedersen, Soren Sindbaek.

2017

• Are Gay Men More Accurate in Detecting Deceits?, by Hoe-Chi Angel Au.
• Call of Nature: The Secret Life of Dung, by Richard Jones.
• Equine Dry Needling, by Cornelia Klarholz and Andrea Schachinger.
• Jesus on Gardening , by David Muskett.
• Winner: Joy of Waterboiling, published by Achse Verlag.
• Why Sell Tacos in Africa?, by Paul Oberschneider.

2016

• Winner: The Commuter Pig Keeper: A Comprehensive Guide to Keeping Pigs when Time is your Most Precious Commodity, by Michaela Giles;
• Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors: The Premier Guide for Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors, Ian McConnelly;
• Nipples on my Knee, by Graham and Debra Robertson;
• An Ape's View of Human Evolution, by Peter Andrews;
• Love Your Lady Landscape: Trust Your Gut, Care for "Down There" and Reclaim Your Fierce and Feminine SHE, by Lisa Lister;

2015

• Reading the Liver: Papyrological Texts on Ancient Greek Extispicy, by William Furley and Victor Gysembergh;
• Winner: Too Naked for the Nazis, by Alan Stafford;
• Paper Folding with Children, by Alice Hornecke;
• Transvestite Vampire Biker Nuns from Outer Space: A Consideration of Cult Film, by Mark Kirwan-Hayhoe;
• Behind the Binoculars: Interviews with Acclaimed Birdwatchers, by Mark Avery and Keith Betton;
• Reading from Behind: A Cultural History of the Anus, by Jonathan Allan;
• Soviet Bus Stops, by Christopher Herwig.

2014

• Divorcing a Real Witch: For Pagans and the People That Used to Love Them, by Diana Rajchel;
• Nature's Nether Regions, by Menno Schilthuizen;
• The Ugly Wife is Treasured at Home, by Melissa Margaret Schneider;
• Winner: Strangers Have the Best Candy, by Margaret Meps Schulte;
• Where do Camels Belong?, by Ken Thompson;
• Advanced Pavement Research: Selected, Peer Reviewed Papers from the 3rd International Conference on Concrete Pavements Design, Construction, and Rehabilitation, December 2-3, 2013, Shanghai, China, edited by Bo Tian;
• The Madwoman in the the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones, by Sandra Tsing-Loh.

2013

• Are Trout South African?, by Duncan Brown;
• Winner: How to Poo on a Date, by Mats and Enzo;
• How to Pray When You're Pissed at God, by Ian Punnett;
• The Origin of Feces, by David Walter-Toews;
• Pie-ography: Where Pie Meets Biography, by Jo Packham;
• Working Class Cats: The Bodega Cats of New York City, by Chris Balsiger and Erin Canning.

2012

• Winner: Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop, by Reginald Bakeley;
• God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis, by Tom Hickman;
• How Tea Cosies Changed the World, by Loani Prior;
• How to Sharpen Pencils, by David Rees;
• Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts, by Jerry Gagne;
• Was Hitler Ill?, by Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle.

2011

• A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel: Volume Two, by Peter Gosson;
• Winner: Cooking with Poo, by Saiyuud Diwong;
• Estonian Sock Patterns All Around the World, by Aino Praakli;
• The Great Singapore Penis Panic: And the Future of American Mass Hysteria, by Scott Mendelson;
• Mr Andoh's Pennine Diary: Memoirs of a Japanese Chicken Sexer in 1935 Hebden Bridge, by Stephen Curry, Takayoshi Andoh;
• A Taxonomy of Office Chairs, by Jonathan Olivares;
• The Mushroom in Christian Art, by John Rush.

2010

• 8th International Friction Stir Welding Symposium Proceedings, by various authors;
• The Generosity of the Dead, by Graciela Nowenstein;
• The Italian's One-night Love Child, by Cathy Williams;
• Winner: Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way, by Michael R Young;
• Myth of the Social Volcano, by Martin King Whyte;
• What Color is Your Dog?, by Joel Silverman.

2009

• The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, by Ellen Scheri, Maria Dubinsky;
• Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich, by James Yannes;
• Winner: Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, by Daina Talmina;
• Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, by Ronald Arkin;
• What Kind of Bean is this Chihuaha?, by Tara Jansen-Meyer;
• Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter, by David Crompton.

2008

• All Dogs have ADHD, by Kathy Hoopman;
• Baboon Metaphysics, by Dorothy Cheney;
• Christian Texts for Aztecs, by Jaime Lara;
• Curbside Consultation of the Colon, by Brooks Cash;
• F**k It, by John Parkin;
• A God or a Bench, by Anne Betty Weinshenker;
• Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings, by Kuzhali Manickavel;
• Living with Dormice, by Sue Eden;
• Malformed Frogs, by Michael Lannoo;
• Sketches of Hull Authors, by Reginald Walter Corlass;
• Strip and Knit with Style, by Mark Hordyszynski;
• Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring, by Lietai Yang;
• Winner: The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Frommage Frais, by Philip Parker;
• The Emotional Life of Contemporary Public Memorials, by Erika Doss;
• The Industrial Vagina, by Sheila Jeffreys;
• The Large Sieve and its Applications, by Emmanuel Kowalksi;
• The Price of Everything, by Russell Roberts;
• Toilets that Make Compost, by Peter Morgan.

2007

• Are Women Human? and Other International Dialogues, by Catherine MacKinnon;
• Cheese Problems Solved, edited by PLH McSweeney;
• How to Write a How to Write Book, by Brian Paddock;
• I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen, by Jasper McCutcheon;
• Winner: If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs, by Big Boom;
• People Who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Doctor Feelgood, by Dee Gordon;

2006

• Better Never to Have Been: the Harm of Coming into Existence, by David Benatar;
• D Di Mascio's Delicious Ice Cream: D Di Mascio of Coventry - an Ice Cream company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of Ice Cream Vans, by Roger De Boer, Harvey Pitcher, Alan Wilkinson;
• How Green Were the Nazis?
  - Nature, Environment and Nation in the Third Reich, edited by Franz-Josef Brueggemeier, Mark Cioc, Thomas Zeller;
• Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium, edited by Robert Anderson, Juliet Brodie, Edvar Onsoyen, Alan Critchley;
• Winner: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification, by Julian Montague, published by Harry N Abrams;
• Runner Up: Tattoed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan: Magic Medicine Symbols in Silk, Stone, Wood and Flesh, by Robert Chenciner, Gabib Ismailov, Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov, Alex Binnie.

2005

• Ancient Starch Research, by Robin Torrence, Huw J Barton;
• Bullying and Sexual Harassment: A Practical Handbook, by Tina Stephens, Jane Hallas;
• Circumcisions by Appointment; A View of Life in and Around Manchester in the Eighteenth Century, by Roy Westall;
• Dining Posture in Ancient Rome, by Matthew Roller;
• How to Toilet Train Your Cat: The Education of Mango by Eric Brotman;
• Introduction to Adult Swallowing (The most likely book with this title is actually called "Introduction to Adult Swallowing Disorders".)
• Knitting with Dog Hair: Better a Sweater From a Dog you Know and Love Than From a Sheep You'll Never Meet, by Kendall Crolius and Anne Montgomery;
• Living with Sheep: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Flock, by Geoff Hansen, Chuck Wooster;
• Nessus, Snort and Ethereal Powertools: Customizing Open Source Security Applications, by Neil Archibald, Gilbert Ramirez, Noam Rathaus, Josh Burke;
• Winner: People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders - and What to Do About It, by Gary Leon Hill, said to have sold 15,000 copies;
• Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India, by Meera Nanda;
• Queen Victoria and Ping-pong: Diaries of a Girl a Century Ago, by Gwendolen Freeman;
• Rhino Horn Stockpile Management: Minimum Standards and Best Practices from East and Southern Africa, by Simon Milledge;
• Scouting for Boys;
• Short Walks at Land's End;
• Soil Nailing: Best Practice Guidance, by C Dew, B Ozsoy, NJ Wharmby, J Judge, AD Barley, A Phear;
• Urogenital Manipulation, by Jean-Pierre Barral;
• What Bird Did That?: A Driver's Guide to Some Common Birds of North America, by Burton Silver.

2004

• The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox, by Kenji Ekuan;
• Application of High Tech Squids, by John Braginski, Alex Clarke; ("Squids" is actually "SQUID's", meaning "Superconducting Quantum Interface Device", a kind of medical scanning system.)
• Winner: Bombproof Your Horse, by Rick Pelicano, Lauren Tjaden;
• Detecting Foreign Bodies in Food, by Mike Edwards;
• Equids in Time and Space, by Marjan Mashkour;
• Sexual Health at your Fingertips (This might actually be: "Sexual health for men: At your fingertips", by P Kell and V Griffiths.)

2003

• Winner: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories, by Alisa Surkis, Monica Nolan;
• Celtic Sex Magic: For Couples, Groups and Solitary Practitioners, by Jon Hughes;
• Design for Impact: 50 Years of Airline Safety Cards, by Eric Ericson, Johan Pihl, Carl Reese;
• Hot Topics in Urology, by Roger Kirby, Michael O'Leary;
• 227 Secrets Your Snake Wants You to Know, by Paulette Cooper;
• The Voodoo Revenge Book: An Anger Management Program You Can Really Stick With, by Mark Shulman.

2002

• After the Orgy: Towards a Politics of Exhaustion, by Dominic Pettman;
• The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy: Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking;
• First You Take a Leek, by Maxine Saltonstall;
• Forensic Examination of Rubber Stamps, by Jan Seaman Kelly;
• Winner: Living with Crazy Buttocks, by Kaz Cooke.
• Melons for the Passionate Grower, by Amy Goldman, Victor Schrager;
• Passing Gas: and Other Towns Along the American Highway, by Gary Gladstone;
• Postmortem Collectibles, by C L Miller;
• Red-Haired Irish Women on the Bog;
• Second-hand Parrots: A Complete Owner's Manual;
• Six-Legged Sex: The Erotic Lives of Bugs, by James Wangberg;
• Wigglers, Undulators, and Their Applications, by Hideo Onuki (editor);
• Without Regret: A Handbook for Owners of Canine Amputees, by Susan Neal;
• Women and Integrated Pest Management.

2001

• The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers: No Paint, No Ink, Just a Hammer!, by Laura Martin;
• Winner: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service, by Gerard Forlin;
• Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself, by Dale Power;
• The Flat-Footed Flies of Europe, by Peter Chandler;
• Lightweight Sandwich Construction;
• Tea Bag Folding, by Lani Temple, Suzanne McNeill.

2000

• Did Lewis Carroll Visit Llandudno?;
• Winner: Designing High Performance Stiffened Structures, by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers;
• Psoriasis at Your Fingertips, by Tim Mitchell, Rebecca Penzer, Gillian Clarke, Jane Taylor;
• The Sexual Male: Problems and Solutions, by Richard Milsten, Julian Slowinski;
• Whose Bottom? A Lift-the-Flap Book, by Fiona Munro;
• Wood Carving with a Chainsaw, by Lynn Mangan.

1999

• Betel Chewing Equipment of East New Guinea, by Harry Beran;
• Good Practice in Working with Violence, by Hazel Kemshall, Jacki Pritchard;
• Guide to Eskimo Rolling, by Derek Hutchinson;
• Lakeside Car Parks;
• Male Genitalia of Butterflies of the Balkan Peninsula, with a Checklist;
• Procrastination and Task Avoidance: Theory, Research and Treatment;
• Toothpick Culture and Ice Cream Stick Art, by Bruce Bowman;
• Winner: Weeds in a Changing World, by Charlest Stirton;
• Women and Wasteland Development, by Andrea Singh, Neera Burra.

1998

• Winner: Developments in Dairy Cow Breeding and Managment: and New Opportunities to Widen the Use of Straw, by Gareth Williams;
• Muscular Disorders in Supermarket Cashiers, by Colin McKay.

1997

• Winner: The Joy of Sex, the Pocket Edition, by Mitchell Beazley

1996

• Winner: Greek Rural Postmen and their Cancellation Numbers, by Derek Willan. (In 2008, this also won the prize as the oddest oddest title of the 30 years of competition)

1995

• Winner: Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes, by Douglas Davies;
• Earthworms of Ontario, by John Reynolds.

1994

• Winner: Highlights in the History of Concrete, by Christopher C Stanley.

1993

• Winner: American Bottom Archaeology, by Charles Barels, James Porter.

1992

• Winner: How to Avoid Huge Ships, by John W Trimmer.

1991

• (No award)

1990

• Winner: Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual, by Pat Califia;
• What Bird Did That?, by Burton Silver.

1989

• Winner: How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art, by Kathleen Meyer;
• What do Bunnies do all day?, by Judy Mastrangelo.

1988

• Winner: Versailles: The View From Sweden, by Elaine Dee and Guy Walton.

1987

• (No award)

1986

• Winner: Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality, by Glen Ellenbogen;
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Personal View;

1985

• Winner: Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Power: How to Increase the other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts, by Donald Wilson.

1984

• Winner: The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History, and Its Role in the World Today, by C Anne Wilson.

1983

• Winner: Unsolved Problems of Modern Theory of Lengthwise Rolling, by A Nikitin, G Rokotyan, S Tselikov.

1982

• Winner: Population and Other Problems: Family Planning, Housing 1,000 million, Labour Employment;
• What do Socks do?, by Keith Geary, Tanya Nugent.

1981

• Winner: Last Chance at Love - Terminal Romances;
• New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers, by Robert Desowitz;

1980

• Winner: The Joy of Chickens, by Dennis Nolan.

1979

• Winner: The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution, by Barbara Sherman Heyl.

1978

• Winner: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice;
• 100 Years of British Retail Catering;
• 50 New Poodle Grooming Styles

Contenders of Unknown Date

• Attractive and Affectionate Grave Design
• God's Chewable Vitamin C for the Spirit
• Gymnastics for Horses
• Hair Loss for the Next Millennium
• Male Genital Organs and their Improvement, by Felix Grange.
• A Method for Calculating the Size of Stone Needed for Closing End-Tipped Rubble Banks in Rivers
• Pedagogical Lexicography: A Case Study of Arab Nurses as Dictionary Users
• Postal Rates in Iceland 1870-1997
• The Prostate: A Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them
• Stick Making: A Complete Course
• A Theory of Shopping

Just Odd

• Amputation Stumps, Their Care and Aftertreatment, Godfrey Huggins, 1918.
• Build Your Own Hindenburg
• Castration: The Advantages and the Disadvantages, Victor Cheney, 2003.
• Constipation and Our Civilization, by JC Thomson, 1943.
• Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat, by Kaori Tsutaya, 2011.
• Daddy Was an Undertaker, McDill, McGowan, and Gassman, 1952.
• Explosive Spiders and How to Make Them
• Excrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred Filth and Chaucer's Fecopoetics
• A Government Committee of Inquiry on the Light Metal Artificial Leg, by Henry Hulme and Chisholm Baird, 1923.
• Heave Ho, My Little Green Book of Seasickness, by Charles Mazel.
• How to Manage Your Dick, by Sean O'Reilly.
• Italian Without Words
• The Lull Before Dorking
• Monumental Beginnings: Archaelogy of the N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road
• More Balls Than Hands, by Michael J Gelb (about juggling)
• Old Age: Its Cause and Prevention
• On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers
• Optical Chick Sexing
• Penetrating Wagner's Ring, by John DiGaetanao.
• A Pictorial Book of Tongue Coating, 1981.
• The Punctured Thumb, or, Cactus and Other Succulents, by George Ashley.
• The Romance of Leprosy, by E Mackerchar, 1949.
• The Romance of Proctology
• Round Ireland with a Fridge, Tony Hawks
• Sex After Death, BJ Ferrell and DE Frey, 1983.
• So Your Wife Came Home Speaking in Tongues! So Did Mine!
• A Study of Masturbation and its Repeated Sequelae, JFW Meagher, 1924.
• Waterproofing Your Child
• What's Your Poo Telling You?
• Who's Who in Barbed Wire
• Why Bring That Up? - A Guide to Seasickness, by JF Montague, 1936.
• The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India, a print-on-demand book of 144 pages, selling for $495, and issued by Philip Parker's Icon Group International. Parker claims to have developed algorithms that allow him to assemble a book on a specific topic using a small amount of specific text plus the reformatted results of Internet searches, in about 13 minutes. Parker has "authored" or generated more than 200,000 books this way.