Market Snapshot
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Asia
Ticker Volume Price Price Delta
DJIA 15,354.40 +121.18 0.80%
S&P 500 1,667.47 +17.00 1.03%
Nasdaq 3,498.97 +33.72 0.97%
Ticker Volume Price Price Delta
STOXX 50 2,817.99 +11.29 0.40%
FTSE 100 6,723.06 +35.26 0.53%
DAX 8,398.00 +28.13 0.34%
Ticker Volume Price Price Delta
Nikkei 15,138.10 +100.88 0.67%
Hang Seng 23,082.70 +38.44 0.17%
S&P/ASX 200 5,180.77 +15.11 0.29%

‘Was Hitler Ill?’, ‘How to Sharpen Pencils’ in Odd Titles

“How to Sharpen Pencils,” “Was Hitler Ill?” and “How Tea Cosies Changed the World” are among finalists for the annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title.

First awarded in 1978 and organized by the U.K.’s Bookseller trade magazine, the prize seeks to celebrate the diversity of publishing.

Past winners include “The Joy of Chickens,” “How to Avoid Huge Ships,” “Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers” and “Versailles: The View From Sweden.”

This year’s finalists -- announced by the Bookseller in an e-mailed statement -- also include “Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts,” “Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop” and “God’s Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis.”

The contending titles were nominated by publishers, booksellers, authors, agents and librarians. The person who nominates the winner receives a bottle of “fairly passable” claret.

“Was Hitler Ill?” by Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle (Polity Press) is an analysis by a historian and professor of medicine of the German dictator’s mental condition. David Rees’s book about pencils, published by Melville House, is a lengthy illustrated guide for artists and others on how to achieve a perfect point.

First awarded in 1978, the contest was conceived as a way to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Bookseller editors say. The inaugural prize in 1978 went to “Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.”

Genghis Dentists

Since 2000, the prize has been put to a public vote, allowing “the unwashed masses to decide,” as a past Bookseller release put it. Since then, winning titles have included “Living With Crazy Buttocks,” “Cooking With Poo,” “The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais,” “Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way” and “If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.”

The prize has become an institution, generating two bound collections of winning jackets, including “How to Avoid Huge Ships: And Other Implausibly Titled Books.”

The winner will be announced on March 22. Information: http://www.thebookseller.com/diagram-prize

(Mark Beech writes for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

Muse highlights include Richard Vines on food; New York and London weekend guides; Lewis Lapham on history and Lance Esplund on New York art.

To contact the writer on the story: Mark Beech in London at mbeech@bloomberg.net or http://twitter.com/home/Mark_Beech.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.

Enlarge image 'How to Sharpen Pencils'

'How to Sharpen Pencils'

'How to Sharpen Pencils'

Melville House/The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

"How to Sharpen Pencils," an illustrated guide to achieving the perfect point. Author David Rees's title has encouraged its sale as a gift, and was in the running for the strangest title award.

"How to Sharpen Pencils," an illustrated guide to achieving the perfect point. Author David Rees's title has encouraged its sale as a gift, and was in the running for the strangest title award. Source: Melville House/The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

Enlarge image 'How Tea Cosies Changed the World'

'How Tea Cosies Changed the World'

'How Tea Cosies Changed the World'

Murdoch Books/The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

"How Tea Cosies Changed the World" by Loani Prior. The book is a guide on how the conventional tea cosy can become a piece of art.

"How Tea Cosies Changed the World" by Loani Prior. The book is a guide on how the conventional tea cosy can become a piece of art. Source: Murdoch Books/The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

Enlarge image 'How to Avoid Huge Ships'

'How to Avoid Huge Ships'

'How to Avoid Huge Ships'

The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

"How to Avoid Huge Ships" by Joel Rickett. The volume contains reproductions of the title pages of many other books with unusual titles.

"How to Avoid Huge Ships" by Joel Rickett. The volume contains reproductions of the title pages of many other books with unusual titles. Source: The Bookseller magazine via Bloomberg

Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions.

Sponsored Link
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-22/-was-hitler-ill-how-to-sharpen-pencils-in-odd-titles.html
www.bloomberg.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2013-20
140172
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:RNGNGMGTPLPTOSWUZEKECADUVGTAPZNI
<urn:uuid:1b53dcd5-2cdd-4d5a-9336-ab0a6b93d8ca>
2013-05-18T21:30:25Z
165.254.27.74
sha1:A7ZEWWPXEQUSTFNSPUFRCVJTTL3E565N
<urn:uuid:cb71572f-2554-410c-8bf5-f9ab266b5d01>
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-22/-was-hitler-ill-how-to-sharpen-pencils-in-odd-titles.html
response
<urn:uuid:b2595567-72b7-4e60-b64f-f2597099ab05>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2013-20
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for Spring 2013
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf