Index of Odd Books

Dedicated to that constant source of delight and wonder, the second-hand bookshop.

Doctors Strange

Robert G Jackson, M.D.
For some reason it has been the pattern for those of the early health food and breakfast cereal... more
Arnold Lorand, M.D.
The author, as well as having a forename which is an anagram of his surname, had some unusual... more
Arthur Gould & Dr. Franklin L Dubois
On its title page this little book claims to be “a study of the sacred laws that govern the sex... more
Peter S Blobbs [pseudonym of Arthur John Hubbard]
I acquired this curious little book in the early 1970s, paying 5 pence for it. I was attracted by... more
Donald L Wilson, M.D.
(Or, "Think and Grow Boobs".) The myth that we only use 10% of our brains is an enduring one though... more
R. Connell [pseud], M.D, F.R.C.P.I and Geraldine Cummins
If there's such a thing as ESP, then surely it can be employed in the cause of psychotherapy. That'... more
Charles W Littlefield, M. D.
"All illustrations in this book are photographs of MENTAL PICTURES" As a boy, Charles... more
Fuat Ulus, MD
Fuat Ulus's book seems to be a sincerely-meant manual for practitioners of Movie Therapy - the use... more
Dr Aric Sigman
Erroneous ideas [...] about how people should feel, behave and love, have become deeply... more
H K Whitehorn, A Long
Foreword Since the main part of this small book was written, partly based on Mr. Long’s... more

Inexact Science

A.H. Winterflood
The author, a retired optical engineer, published this historically negligible work himself. It was... more
Walter C. Wright
[Walter C Wright, Carlton Press, 1979] As its title suggests, this book expounds a theory that... more
Maurice B. Cooke [pseudonym]
This is a beautiful example of what might be called dilettante physics: science conducted as if... more
William Westfield [pseudonym of William Edgell?]
In the compiling of this little book as a contradiction of the theory of the present Astronomers... more
Joong-Man Quark [pseudonym]
This book has the distinction of being one of the stupidest attempts at theoretical physics I have... more
George Lindsay
As a schoolboy I did not do well at History. Maybe things are different now, but in those far-off... more
R. Clay Jackson
Another author on this site discusses the question Why Jesus Was a Man and Not a Woman. R. Clay... more
W Bonnar
Ten years after the annus mirabilis in which Einstein overthrew established ideas about time and... more
Ed Bush, Terry Gaston
Suppose for a moment that you are Ed Bush, and you, together with your pal Terry Gaston and some... more
Benjamin Zarr
Science is hard, man. You have to know all those theories and equations and stuff, and if you get... more

Lone Voices

Charles W. Johnson, Jr,
This rather dull-looking paperback book is actually a little gem of oddball literature, with many... more
Nino M. Volpe
One of the best books ever written from the inside of a delusional state, Nino Volpe's exposure of... more
Chet Fleming [pseudonym]
This is a a large, professional-looking volume, running to 461 pages including a detailed index,... more
Frank Nimrod [pseudonym of Fr. Francis Nemeth]
My interest in the man who called himself Frank Nimrod began when I chanced on an item listed in an... more
Annie R Patterson
It is unusual to find an address label on the dust jacket of a book: it is even more unusual to... more
Dr. Roy Foster
Conspiracies. They are everywhere, you know. Equally ubiquitous it would seem are books exposing... more
Alfred Lawson
Alfred Lawson, 1904. Some books by Alfred Lawson Alfred Lawson (1869-1954) was an unusual man: a... more
Samuels-Bacon [pseudonym of Philip Samuels]
Since the nineteenth century a number of writers have questioned whether William Shakespeare... more
Wm. Carterator C [pseudonym of William Carter]
Here we have a very weird book indeed. Comb-bound in a cheap imitation leather... more
Zara W. Leach
The Human Puppet is the sad story of a disintegrated mind: a woman convinced that she is being... more
Nick Smith (aka "ulillillia")
The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters is the only work of fiction I have encountered which takes... more
Wayne Groves Barrows
The author of this obscure work poses an important question, one that remains unanswered almost 50... more
Patience Strong
When I picked up this book recently I knew Patience Strong only as the author of queasy verses on... more
William Edwards Wootten
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for? -- Robert Browning ... more
James A. Knight
There is a special circle of Odd Book heaven reserved for elderly gentlemen who spend their... more
Richard Wallace
From The Adventures of Alice in Nonsequiturland.   Alice laughed. 'One can't believe... more
Demetri Marchessini, Adrian Mott
Demetri Marchessini's unusual picture book answers that important question so often asked by women... more
Raymond Westbury Maxwell, Jr.
Of the thousands of titles which have been written on the subject of the Death-Life Law, this -... more
John L. Van der Heyden
Between September 1996 and her death just under a year later in August 1997, Dutch businessman John... more

Numb and Number

Leo D Holloway, Jr.
As I have remarked before, many of the authors featured here are retired gentlemen. With retirement... more
Prophet of U.S.A.
This is not a book to be read from cover to cover except by the most committed of individuals. A... more

Ooh, Spooky

M. M. Moncrieff
When I was young there was a comic strip called 'The Numskulls', about some little men who lived... more
Anon.
I obtained this book from my correspondent Michael Osler in exchange for my copy of Peter Blobbs.... more
Vincent Lopez
The rules for a successful oracular career are simple:- Be prolific. Make a lot of prophecies... more
Frank Rudolph Young
Power. Deep down, isn't that what we all want? Power over others, power to induce them to do our... more
Albert Durrant Watson
In the early part of the last century, when this book was written, Spiritualism was much more... more
John J Donnelly
In this crazy book written, as we'll see, to prove that its author was not crazy, Donnelly... more
Gervée Baronte
“Gervée Baronte” is (ignoring the accent) an anagram of “be ever rot agen”: an observation as... more
Laura Shellabarger Hunt
Ultra, Laura Shellabarger Hunt's remarkable only published work, is intended to convey a message.... more
Robert James Lees
If you are looking for a thrilling mystery with a supernatural twist: this is not it. On the other... more
William Danmar
What if all spiritualist mediums are genuine, and the phenomena of the seance are real? Could not... more
John Armstrong Chaloner
The author, John Armstrong Chaloner (born Chanler), known as Archie to his friends, made frequent... more
Sheikh Habeeb Ahmad
It is difficult to forecast the scope of the present treatise without seeming to make arrogant... more
Mary Jane Herold
Ms Herold's little handbook strives to alert police officers to the menace of the occult, though as... more
Leonardo Blake
It was with some scepticism that the public looked at copies of Hitler's Last Year of Power on... more
Roy Radford, Evelyn Gregory
This charming little item is, like The Animals and Birds Redeemed from Death, an attempt to... more
P. M. Doucé
In Incredible Alliance P. M. Doucé describes her experiments with automatic writing, in which she... more
Charles Palmer
This little book is an introduction to Spiritualism for small children, which understandably... more
King W. Chow
Too many authors choose snappy and memorable titles: not King W. Chow, though, who wisely picked... more
Max Gunther
With Martin Scorsese's film about the worst excesses of Wall Street in cinemas in the UK this week... more
Alastair W. MacLellan
Alastair MacLellan's fascinating and troubling little book is one of a small number of works about... more

Physiognomical Follies

Timothy Burr
BISBA - which stands for the “Burr Identification System of Breast Analysis” - is misogyny... more
Sales people are notoriously always looking for a way to get an advantage - over their customers,... more
Frank J & Delia H McDonald
According to its blurb “A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE presents the... more
Earnest Albert Hooton
This large and very seriously intended publication from one of America's major academic presses... more
Harry De Windt
New! Moles and their Meaning is available to buy from Lulu.com. This little book is something of... more

Precious Guidance

Imogene B. Wolcott (Mrs Roger Wolcott)
(Thanks must go to my most excellent correspondent Nancy Beiman for steering me to this submerged... more
Constance J Foster
The fashions of the past, whether of dress or of thought, help to make it seem remote from today.... more
James Maratta
Judging this book by its disturbing cover, with its promise that “people can be easily influenced... more
Corinne Wentworth
Thanks again to Nancy Beiman for this useful little book which she generously passed on to me -... more
Ethel Cotton
Do YOU suffer from poor conversational skills? Although nowadays I may seem confident to the point... more
George Leonard Herter
What a title, eh? Sadly it isn't quite the full-on male chauvinist rant one might hope for: rather... more
Unknown. Illustrated by Kenichi Imayoshi
It would be unfair for me to poke fun at the hairstyles of the 1980s. As one whose then-abundant... more

Pyramidal Pinheads

George R Riffert
According to Riffert, the Great Pyramid was built by the biblical king Enoch, as 'God's Bible in... more
G. Pat Flanagan
This book was not the first to attribute quasi-magical powers to pyramids, but it has been one of... more
Christopher Hills
From the late Christopher Hills' Wikipedia page  (at least as it stands at the time of writing) you... more

Rancid Rhymes

Alexander B. Beard
Connoisseurs of bad verse will know of Amanda McKittrick Ros, Julia Moore or William McGonagall,... more

Remainder Pile

REP stands for “Rubbing Eases Pain”, the slogan of Elliman's Embrocation, a product happily still... more
Will H. Towles
This book purports to teach something of the art of lighting for studio portrait photography, but... more
Joseph Haydn, Benjamin Vincent
It is possible to know innumerable things and understand very little: to have a magpie kind of mind... more
The Kemsley Newspapers group was in 1950, when this book was written, a significant force in the... more
The desperation of the post war years, the cheapness and shoddiness of those times, is captured... more
Kenji Myakoshi
Once in a while I come across a book whose oddity is charming rather than idiotic: Faces of World'... more
Gus Pulakos
In his delightfully eccentric book Gus Pulakos sets out to write a history of confectionery, but he... more
Mary Margaret Bitting
I know very little about Mrs Bitting but no one could say she lacks ambition. To attempt to adapt... more
E. W. Martell
I have chosen self publication of my book as unless one has achieved notoriety either by... more
Kenneth B Shaw
If you publish a book yourself, you can have it just the way you want: you can, for instance, give... more
Leo Guild
Ah, yes, the good old days, when men were men, even men like Liberace. This is a patchy, half-... more
Very occasionally one comes upon a book whose existence is the oddest thing about it. Wartime... more
A Corey
Properties and Powers is an 19th century science primer for children. It might seem churlish to... more
Frank Scully
In his 1943 book Rogues' Gallery Frank Scully provides us with profiles of various notable writers... more

Space Between The Ears

R. Stamp
This adventure story by R Stamp, a retired draughtsman, suffers from two major disadvantages: a... more
Ann Druffel
Undeniably many people believe they have been abducted by aliens, and why they should do so is a... more
I. W. Whiteside
It was on an evening in 1981 when 9-year-old Sharon was staying with her grandfather, retired Bell... more
George E. Kaeck
Most references say the first use of the term “flying saucer” was in 1947, after pilot Kenneth... more
Virginia Essene and Sheldon Nidle
If there are aliens out there, they are having a good laugh at our expense: that is the message I... more
Noah Henry with Andy Rage
If this unorthodox work ever wins a wider readership, it might greatly simplify the practice of art... more
Cherie J Gierak
There is little information about the publisher of this questionable work online, but what there is... more

The Religious Bent

G. H. Pember
(Please note that this article contains mockery of sincerely held Christian beliefs, albeit of the... more
A W Webster and Wm Dryburgh
I remember as a small boy attending the family service at our local church and seeing the vicar... more
Dr. Roy A Kemp
The Book of Revelation is, according to the Wikipedia entry for it, “one of the most... more
David A Noebel
Jesus said (Matthew 5-44.) “Love your enemies”, but some appear to have read this verse as “... more
Rev. Ralph C. Nelson
Everything's in the bible, isn't it? Text messages, genetic engineering, the internet, anti-... more
Sidney C. Tapp
Sidney Tapp, who wrote this curious book, was a lawyer. Having read it, I assume his principal... more
Dr. Petti Wagner
Wagner's account of her kidnapping and miraculous escape is a sort of fairy story for the soft of... more
T. Christie Innes
I have mentioned elsewhere the pleasure to be gained from the absurd analogies... more
Frank Aymer
It was not always so, but nowadays it is more than respectable to appreciate Naive Art. Good prices... more
A Carr
Animal-lovers who are also Christians often find the Church doctrine that life after death is... more
Sofia Marie Gabriel (Sister Marie)
Those of you who read UK national newspapers in the early 1990s may remember the strange full-page... more
Jack D Mallay, Warren Vaughn
This book asks a simple question: was Elvis the Messiah? Plainly, he wasn't but the authors do... more
Bro. Yhugm, Rev. W. V. Grant
Brother Yhugm's tale is an exciting one. Escaping from a life of primitive savagery, he came to the... more
Bill Looney
In this combination of personal memoir and guidebook to spiritual improvement, the unhappily-named... more
C David Parsons
On the cover of The Quest for Right, Volume 1, there's a row of stars with just one brighter than... more
G A Gaskell
Gaskell's two-ton monster of a book claims "to give the true solution of the age-long problem of... more
Dr Emil Gaverluk, Dr Patrick Fisher
Those of us who exist in a state of shuddering trepidation at the advances of technology will be... more

Unexpected Authors

Benito Mussolini. Trans. Hiram Motherwell
How many of the twentieth-century's vicious dictators also wrote a bodice-ripping historical novel... more
https://oddbooks.co.uk/oddbooks
oddbooks.co.uk
crawl=CC-MAIN-2016-50
122794
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:7KLQ3T3PPHQMV7DPSFXB2UEC3MORGJ53
<urn:uuid:c834d843-e2f4-4fba-a655-882b56759230>
2016-12-07T20:20:44Z
149.255.58.112
sha1:THPWDYPUBCYCP7RSAD6JVPKXOSTFVUHZ
<urn:uuid:2b7c2c2c-ed08-42ac-9b12-d8dfb7ede99e>
https://oddbooks.co.uk/oddbooks
length
response
<urn:uuid:d6c975de-9c20-4262-86ca-1c4192701200>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2016-50
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for November 2016
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf