When you work at a university library, you expect a certain degree of eclecticism out of the subjects of the books you come across while checking items out (or back in).
And then...you come across books that just catch your attention just by title... for better or for worse.
I was checking in a whole bank of books the other day when I came across this title: The History of Shit . Complete with a soft black velour/velvet cover (though I hear the paperback cover is a certain shade of brown) ... Not the cultural history of the expletive... A history of the (getting rid of the) excrement.
I'm likely to check it out for myself... not that I'm particularly interested in the subject at large -- I'm more interested in seeing how it was academically treated. The study, it seems, is not parody -- My immediate supervisor took a skim and was under the impression that it was a very dry, somber, academic treatment of the subject. Some of the reviews point to that direction as well.
Pretty much up there (as humorous title finds go) as having to do a book search for A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis a few years ago. If I correctly recall, that was a similarly academic handling of the subject. (Section/Chapter titles also apropo: I. Demon Rod -- II. Gear Shift -- III. Measuring Stick -- IV. Cigar -- V. Battering Ram -- VI. Punctureproof Balloon).
Though personally? I still need to pick up The World of Caffeine -- one among many books on my long reading list.
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