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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:05 PM
Original message
CONFESS: Name the strangest book you own
I would have to list 2 of them.

I own the SEX book by Madonna. I was in a major Madonna phase at the time and wanted to own the book.

I also own a book about Psychological Sexual Dysfunctions and it was published sometime back in the 1950's. Bizarre reading!!!

What's the strangest book you OWN???
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XNASA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:07 PM
Response to Original message
1. A college textbook about "Trees" written in 1938.
I'm not sure why we keep it around. We just do.
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:07 PM
Response to Original message
2. An American with Guts
A Cold War, McCarthyesque diatribe that is so innocent in its illusions, it's actually entertaining.
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:08 PM
Response to Original message
3. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Had to get it just for the title.
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:11 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. That sounds wonderful
This review from Amazon:

"Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? Why do financially sensible people jump lemming-like into hare-brained speculative frenzies--only to jump broker-like out of windows when their fantasies dissolve? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and over-valued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but Mackay's classic--first published in 1841--shows that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds. These are extraordinarily illuminating,and, unfortunately, entertaining tales of chicanery, greed and naivete. Essential reading for any student of human nature or the transmission of ideas."

In fact, cases such as Tulipomania in 1624--when Tulip bulbs traded at a higher price than gold--suggest the existence of what I would dub "Mackay's Law of Mass Action:" when it comes to the effect of social behavior on the intelligence of individuals, 1+1 is often less than 2, and sometimes considerably less than 0."
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #13
44. It is a good read ....
Edited on Thu Dec-11-03 02:40 PM by meegbear
I love books like that. Hoping some other posts will give me some books to check out.
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LARED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 01:02 PM
Response to Reply #3
114. Read it too, Fun Book n/t
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GOPisEvil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:08 PM
Response to Original message
4. The Big Book of M*A*S*H*
Yeah, I'm kind of a fan. :D

Also, I have first editions of the following books:
1. The Sun Also Rises, E. Hemingway
2. The Caine Mutiny, H. Wouk
3. The Godfather, M. Puzo
4. In Cold Blood, T. Capote
5. The Armies of the Night, N. Mailer
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VelmaD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:08 PM
Response to Original message
5. "Clash of the Titans"...
the novelization of the movie. In hardback no less.
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Dookus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:09 PM
Response to Original message
6. I own an autographed copy....
of "With a Feather on My Nose", the autobiography of Billie Burke, the wife of Flo Ziegfeld and most famous for playing Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
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felonious thunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:09 PM
Response to Original message
7. The Anarchist's Cook Book
It's, um, "recipies" probably make it unlikely that it can still be purchased anywhere.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:13 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. It's still in the bookstores
I saw one the other day. Wouldn't buy it and if I did I'd wear a wig and pay cash. Don't want that thing showing up on my credit cards.

You didn't have that book while growing up in HS did you???
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felonious thunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:15 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. Wow, I can't believe you can still purchase it!
I'm SURE they track whoever buys it.

Ha. Well, let's just say that Ron Julian was never the same....
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #19
30. God I hated Mr. Julian
He gave me a freaking "B" my last semester of Spanish because I couldn't pronounce things properly. Asshole!

Hope you did something interesting!!!
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La_Serpiente Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
8. "The Joy of Gay Sex"
:-)
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #8
47. How is it?
Often debated about getting it.
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TrogL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:31 PM
Response to Reply #47
74. I have it, but don't consider it strange or wierd
It's a bit conservative in its approach but an excellent read with tasteful pictures and explanations.
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Zero Gravitas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
9. 1820s Geology book
Modern geology had yet to be borwn when it was written, and boy did the author have some whacky ideas. Many of the pages hadn't even been cut when I aquired it, so I was the first person to read that copy, and I suspect there weren't too many copies of it printed in the first place.
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laura888 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 07:13 AM
Response to Reply #9
104. that sounds really interesting - and possibly valuable! n/t
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HERVEPA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
10. The Little Red Book
Quotations from Chairman LBJ
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alonso_quijano Donating Member (240 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
11. Siegfried & Roy's...
...autobiography.

In German. "Siegfried und Roy: Meister der Illusion"

Still wrapped in umweltfreundlich plastic and untouched by human hands. So I haven't read it, but it was so strange I just had to own it.
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ET Awful Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
12. A copy of the Bghavad Gita that I got from a Hare Krishna
at the airport in Atlanta, GA in 1988. It was the only way I could get him out of my way so I didn't miss my flight :).
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ldoolin Donating Member (642 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #12
23. LOL!
I bought a Baghavad Gita from a Hare Krishna in the Atlanta airport in 1990. It was probably the very same Hare Krishna. A very persistent little pest, he was.
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ET Awful Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #23
39. Little bald guy in an orange robe?
Yeah, that was the same dude :) :) :) :)
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ldoolin Donating Member (642 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #39
41. That was him!!!
Aren't they *all* little bald guys in orange robes? :)
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vi5 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:12 PM
Response to Original message
14. Deathtripping: The Cinema of Transgression...
Basically a book written in an academic style about an obscure movement of painfully low budget shock cinema based in New York in the 80's. It's written in interview and thesis style and dicusses with some attempted deeper meaning to review this incredibly strange, low budget super 8 films.
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theivoryqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:13 PM
Response to Original message
15. Larry - the Stooge in the Middle
speaks for itself
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swittersnc Donating Member (69 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:14 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. a book about sexual diversity
in the animal kingdom
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thebigidea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:21 PM
Response to Reply #15
29. ah, with art by Drew Friedman
that's great!
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bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:13 PM
Response to Original message
17. "The Bipolar Express." A disturbing Christmas book for kids.
Actually I made that up. The wierdest book I own is "The Diictionary of the Underworld." I think it was put out by the FBI back in the 1940s. It's a dictionary of criminal slang.
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Richardo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:15 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. Bif, you are 'en fuego' today...
Everytime I'm cracking up it's at one of your posts.

Keep your stick on the ice.
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bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #20
21. If the women don't find you attractive...
Edited on Thu Dec-11-03 02:21 PM by bif
They should at least find you funny. (Sorry Uncle Red for the mis-quote)

Thanks. I'm just in a goofy mood. Bored here at work.
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theivoryqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #21
24. yay a red green fan
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theivoryqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #17
22. funnnnnny!
both of 'em - tho' I think maybe someone should write the "Pipolar Express".... I heard Madonna needed a new project
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Rabbit of Caerbannog Donating Member (742 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:19 PM
Response to Original message
25. The bible
confusing, violent, sometimes creepy, contradictory, and what's with all this smiting and begatting?
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Bertha Venation Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:04 PM
Response to Reply #25
70. Me too. The Bible.
Several different versions, of course.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:19 PM
Response to Original message
26. Bernarr Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture
I forgot about this book - this was a freaking trip of a good read. This guy was a health nut who though he could solve any ailment based on diet and fasting. BTW, he spent 1 page on how to cure cancer but 4 pages on how to cure Masturbastion.

Go figure

It was published in the early 1900's
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flamingyouth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:47 PM
Response to Reply #26
53. Oh, I love that book! He's a riot
I also have a bunch of copies of his magazine of the same name. He published a lot of pulp-type stuff, detective magazines and also "Movie Weekly" in the '20s.
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greyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
27. "The Big Book of Mismatched Nipples"
-just kidding.

Probably "Are You a Transhuman" by FM-2030
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bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #27
33. "The Little Book of Breasts"
Edited on Thu Dec-11-03 02:27 PM by bif
Really. That's not the real title but my wife bought me this small picture book that filled with breast photos. Amazing how diverse they are. I never looked but someday I should return her the favor and buy her "The Little Dick Book- A Private Eye's Companion"

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theivoryqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #33
38. unbelievably I saw the little book of breasts at Borders
never would a thought they had it in 'em... If you run across that dick book, give me a yell.
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bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:35 PM
Response to Reply #38
42. It'll probably be "hard" to find
n/t
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curse10 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
28. I have Tom Sawyer in Russian
:-)
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toddzilla Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #28
32. i've got a book on crop circles..
I bought my sister "Zolar's encyclopaedia of ancient and forbidden knowledge" for xmas one year.
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RandomKoolzip Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:22 PM
Original message
"Rat Catching" by Crispin Glover
Published in 1990. Crispin Glover, the actor who makes everybody uncomfortable, took an old book from the mid-1800's about, well, catching rats, and deleted every fourth word, blacked out entire passages, deleted various letters from words, and re-published it as his own work, and it's a MASTERPIECE of dada.
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thebigidea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
56. there's another one, OAK MOT which is good too
(fondles signed copy)
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AlienGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
31. ...that I, *personally*, own?
It'd have to be the 1970's Brad Steiger book about the Heaven's Gate cult, in which paranormal-investigator Steiger buys into Bo and Peep's story and calls them ambassadors from space.

But this household contains several copies of a book known as "that book in the plain brown wrapper." That's the strangest book I can actually see from my computer desk.

Tucker
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Loonman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:27 PM
Response to Original message
34. "Femalia"
First Edition.

Actually, I don't know if they printed any more.


The woman in the store was extremely rude, also.

"what, you've never seen the clitoris, before, right?"


I had to wait until I got my change back to tell her prejudiced ass to fuck off.
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skypilot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:06 PM
Response to Reply #34
59. I've seen that book!!!
I had no idea there was so much...um...variety.
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ldoolin Donating Member (642 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
35. I dunno, which one of these is the strangest?
Edited on Thu Dec-11-03 02:29 PM by ldoolin
Yeah, I have a few. A North Korean book that I found in a used bookstore, Ecodefense by Dave Foreman and Bill Haywood, Ponder On This by Alice Bailey...

Out of all of them I think The Urantia Book takes the cake.
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Rainbowreflect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
36. A book about how wonderful the 80s were.
Very pro Ronny. I won it and everyone said I would throw it away, so I keep it in the basement.
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:30 PM
Response to Original message
37. Hutchison's Physiology and Hygiene
Clark & Maynard, Publishers
711 Broadway and 67 & 69 Ninth St.
New York
1894

Maybe not the strangest, but very odd today.
Picked it up at a garage sale years ago. Quaint and funny.
Many illustrations and discussion (lectures?) about the evils of alcohol as affects every part of the body.
Nowhere in this rather detailed explanation of the human body, and how to keep it healthy, is there any mention whatsoever of Ess-Ee-Ex.
<snicker>

In very faint pencil (on the fly leaf) is written:
"Don't steal this book my honest friend
For fear the gallows might be your end
The gallows is high and you are low
And when you are on top you look like a crow
signed - Sarah Gaffery
Hartland, Ill
Mar 17, '94"

I wonder about Sarah, and what her life was like. I suspect this was one of her textbooks.
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amazona Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
40. i used to collect strange books and still have many
I got rid of the ones least likely to amuse our glorious leaders but I have still have some weird books unlikely to get me in any hot water with the authorities.

Perhaps the oddest I still have is a book purporting to tell how to cause an abortion from a concoction made from Queen Anne's Lace, the wildflower.

A friend used to work with Uncle Fester and I had a copy of his acid manufacturing book but I decided that the sentimental value of the book was outweighed by the hazard of possessing it and I sold it to someone in Australia. It had a great cover though.

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ironflange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
43. Steal This Book by Professor Abbie Hoffman
A never-ending cavalcade of fun, but I don't think his tricks for getting free plane rides will work anymore.

Runner-up: The Unexpurgated Code by J. P. Donleavy. That book will make you laugh till it hurts.
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JackSwift Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 05:57 AM
Response to Reply #43
99. Yep, Steal This Book
a reprint with a half dozen other Hoffman ramblings.


And weirdly, as a sign of the end times, referring to the Necrocromian post below, Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.
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Screaming Lord Byron Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
45. The Necronomicon by some mad medieval arab priest.
I want to be eaten first.
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TacticalPeek Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
46. The Journal of Albion Moonlight - Kenneth Patchen,
especially the part with Christ and Hitler in the back seat.
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TrogL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
48. Wierd religious stuff

  • Roman Catholic stuff about exorcisms
  • strange Jehovah's Witness stuff (eg. you will live in Paradise forever)
  • old Missels
  • the liber usualis
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amazona Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #48
50. The Last Days of Jesus Christ the Vampire
...by J.G. Eccarius is probably my most unusual "religious" book.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:42 PM
Response to Original message
49. Dominatrix - How to free the Dominate Woman in You n/t
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:45 PM
Response to Reply #49
51. Got any tips you can share for us
:shrug:
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KinkyDem Donating Member (748 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:10 PM
Response to Reply #51
71. LynneSin, may I suggest a few titles?
Try:

Screw the roses send me the thormns

Different Loving

or

The book of topping ... damn I forget this one and can't look them up right now...

For visuals I like the works of Barbara Nitke, check out her web site, I think you should be able to just google her name to find it.

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PissedOffPollyana Donating Member (258 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 06:11 AM
Response to Reply #71
101. Greetings, fellow kinkster!
Jay Wiseman SM101 is a good starter too. He did an excellent book on practical bondage too. Jack Rinella is also quite good (I forget his home site...).

Screw the Roses is one of the best across the board. The Boss still refers to it for finer points and it's a fun, light-hearted style of writing.

Granted, the best read for any sort of kinky fun is still the Kama Sutra. The euphamisms can get hilarious, but it's a treasure of great stuff!
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Donating Member ( posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:46 PM
Response to Original message
52. one by Ira Einhorn
can't remember the title

& another called Supreme Meditation (I think) by the mastermind of the cult that released gas in Tokyo subways.

both of them are full of New Age type stuff, but even before the truth about their authors emerged you could tell there was something creepy about them.
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NightTrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:49 PM
Original message
Manifold Destiny: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine

I kid you not!
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ACK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
54. The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History
enuf said.
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Logansquare Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #54
84. I've got that one, too n/t
.
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bratcatinok Donating Member (786 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
55. "History of Civilization"
by Hutton Webster - Stanton University circa 1940. It was my Mom's textbook when she was in college. It's been close to 20 years since I read all 989 pages of it. I may re-read it now that I have it pulled out.
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regularguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
57. "He died with a felafel in his hand"
By John Birmingham. Funny weird book.
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:04 PM
Response to Original message
58. Lots of witchcraft books.
I was into that for a while. And also Anton Levay's(sp) Satanic Bible.
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forgethell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:08 PM
Response to Original message
60. I own a copy of
the Qu'ran. I read it all the way through. Maybe I just need someone to explain it to me, but it didn't make sense to me. No offense is meant to any Muslims out there; I am only commenting on my own lack of comprehension.
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skypilot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:10 PM
Response to Original message
61. "Zen, Mysticism, and LSD"
Read it about 18 years ago. Don't remember that much about it anymore but it did help me through my first LSD trip.
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commander bunnypants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
62. A book of sex toons featuring
Pop-Eye and Olive Oil, The Archies.

DDQM
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bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:13 PM
Response to Original message
63. "High Priest" by Timothy Leary
One in a whole series he put out. Goofy book for sure.
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DoNotRefill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
64. "Russian root list"
and I don't speak russian.
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ronnykmarshall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:36 PM
Response to Original message
65. Madonna's "Sex"
Which I still think is HOT!

and used to have a book "How To Be A Jewish Mother". I lost it in one of my many moves over the years.
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maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:48 PM
Response to Original message
66. "Dick For A Day"
a compilation of stories, poems, and artwork done by various women asked the question: "What would you do if you had a dick for a day."

Some are quite hilarious. One woman used hers to have a weenie measuring contest in the men's room with her boss - she got a raise!

Naturally I was captivated by the title!
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starroute Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:49 PM
Response to Original message
67. The strangest book I have is one I don't actually own
Our local mad scientist insisted on lending it to us, then left town without leaving a forwarding address, then died mysteriously. (No, I am not making this up.)

The title is "Imperium" and the author is listed as "Ulick Varange (Francis Parker Yockey)." He was some sort of eccentric right-winger of the 1940's and 50's -- I don't know if he was exactly a fascist, but he was certainly in that general territory.

I don't know what to do with it. I'm not comfortable giving it house-space, but I don't feel I have a right to get rid of it either, because it doesn't belong to me.

Does anyone have any advice?
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amazona Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:17 PM
Response to Reply #67
73. here's more information about it
http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/imp.htm

I think I would try to sell it on Ebay as the original owner has passed and he did put it in your hands. Yeah, the author was a Nazi sympathizer and very anti-American. It may have historical value, I suppose.
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SiobhanClancy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 03:51 PM
Response to Original message
68. Son of A Preacher Man
This is evidently an autobiography of the son of Tammy Faye Bakker and former hubby. I don't know how it got into my house,and I haven't read it.
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ronnykmarshall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
69. Charo's Guide To Gooder English
It goods
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Khephra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:12 PM
Response to Original message
72. John Ashcroft's Autobiography
It was for research, so don't worry about me.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:39 PM
Response to Reply #72
78. You should have a calico cat pee all over it
and then return it back to John!!!
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Khephra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 05:14 PM
Response to Reply #78
83. Nah, it's filled with potentially embarassing quotes
depending on what he does in the future.

:hi:
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ikojo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 01:11 PM
Response to Reply #78
115. I have just the calico cat to do such a thing!!
Said cat lives in St Louis, MO!!!


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TrogL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:35 PM
Response to Original message
75. 1898 Comptons Encyclopedia
Did you know the sun is fueled by burning coal? Even they admit it's probably wrong.
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Rowdyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:36 PM
Response to Original message
76. Against the Grain by JK Huysmans
I'm not sure how to describe it other than bizarre and dripping with savagely beautiful imagry.
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trackfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:36 PM
Response to Original message
77. A book from about 1918 called "Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex
Living" by a Dr. Long. Very amusing. But I have several thousand books, so I'm not sure if this is the strangest; just the first to come to mind.
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grannylib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:40 PM
Response to Original message
79. Bunch of stuff on dealing with JWs and other cultists, used to teach
Sunday school and got lots of questions about that kind of thing from my jr hi and hi school kids
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HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:42 PM
Response to Original message
80. Freud on women.....
My friend bought it as a joke for me after I had a few girl problems.
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Palacsinta Donating Member (929 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 04:43 PM
Response to Original message
81. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Mary Baker Eddy.
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southerngirlwriter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
82. Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality.
My best friend gave it to me for my birthday in July. Haven't read it yet. The cover art is so fascinating that I'm afraid the book won't measure up. I flipped through and read passages in two different places -- VERY strange book.
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populistmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 05:23 PM
Response to Original message
85. Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child
My daughter used to say she remembered things that never happened (at least in this life) and I bought this, but never ended up reading it. Now, at almost 12, she's forgotten it all.
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AlienGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #85
92. It's a neat book...
I've read it and its sequel and had some email correspondence with the author.

Tucker
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NoPasaran Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 05:38 PM
Response to Original message
86. Life & Public Services of James G Blaine
Campaign biography from the 1884 election.
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Tredge Donating Member (152 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 06:30 PM
Response to Original message
87. "Mein Kampf"
I minored in German and this wasn't required reading, but it helped when we started studying the Third Reich. If there is a weirder book I don't know what it is.

Many people own it but few have actually read it all the way through, for at least one very good reason: it is just the kind of disjointed rambling one would expect from a sociopathic narcissist. It's couched in reasonable language thanks possibly to the ghostwriters but when you take it as a whole it's as maniacal as any treatise written by a denizen of a modern psycho ward.

Every time someone sees it on my bookshelf I have to rush into disclaimer mode lest they think I'm a National Socialist. But I'm not taking it down - I consider it a mark of perserverence that I actually made it all the way through that tangled mess.
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Tredge Donating Member (152 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #87
88. Runner Up: "Ulysses"
I have read it AND I understood it, thanks to two biographies on Joyce and some help from an annotation. It only took four years but it was worth it. I've got "Finnegan's Wake" too, but I haven't read it and I have no plans to, after reading about how it was constructed.
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AlienGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #87
93. You could always cover it
That way it wouldn't freak out your guests. :shrug:

Tucker
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Padraig18 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 06:35 PM
Response to Original message
89. God, this is gonna sound strange...
I own an encyclopedia of mass murderers worlwide, almost 1400 pages long.
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paulk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 06:35 PM
Response to Original message
90. I have a wonderful book of short stories called "The Creeping Madness"
It was put out in the early seventies by some religious organization to warn youngsters about the dangers of illegal drugs. The title story is about a teenage girl who takes LSD, then "hallucinates" spiders everywhere. She ends up ripping her skin to shreds and clawing her eyes out. Great stuff!
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doubleplusgood Donating Member (810 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 06:42 PM
Response to Original message
91. "Feature Film" (Vertigo)
This is a book consisting solely of closeup photos (no text) of James Conlon conducting the Paris Opera Orchestra during a recording of the film score to Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (music by Bernard Herrmann).

The book also included a CD of the entire Vertigo score, all on one track.
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Breezy du Nord Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 08:15 PM
Response to Original message
94. "Naked Pictures of Famous People"
Jon stewart's book you know.
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Sentath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-11-03 08:19 PM
Response to Original message
95. fiction : Iron dragon's daughter
It starts out fantasy and ends up weird sex and mental depravity.

NonFiction: Kooks. Its a collection of biographies and accompanying/sp/ theories.
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Awsi Dooger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 05:24 AM
Response to Original message
96. Letters From A Nut, by Ted L. Nancy
Absolutely hysterical. I bought the sequel also, More Letters From A Nut, although that was not quite as good.

The book includes nothing but bizarre letters, mostly to corporations, and the responses:

"I have a corn on my foot that resembles Shelly Fabares..."

"I am 2 feet 3 inches tall and weigh 65 pounds. I would like to perform at your hotel as PIP THE MIGHTY SQUEAK..."

It's amazing how often the inquiries are taken seriously. Damn, based on my teenage goodnatured prank phone calls, this is one book premise I should have come up with first.
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OldEurope Donating Member (654 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 05:39 AM
Response to Original message
97. I´ve got one from 1875 where a Doctor explains
that all women are cretins due to physical reasons.
Oh my, this one is really weird!
:silly:
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regnaD kciN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 05:48 AM
Response to Original message
98. "Survival into the 21st Century"...
I can't even remember the author, and can't figure out where in the house the book is at the moment, but it was a mid-70s era large paperback (with a genuine fake Peter Max cover) written by a hippie survivalist convinced that all of civilization was about to collapse, and that the few who followed the book's principles and made it to the mountains before the failure of industrial capitalism combined with WWIII into a general Armageddon would be able to rebuild human civilization into one big communal macrobiotic agrarian utopia.

The major force that would bring this about would be...wheatgrass juice. Both for drinking and for enemas (there was an interesting quote from one of the Apocryphal Gospels in which, apparently, Jesus recommended wheatgrass-juice enemas for internal cleansing). Eventually, renewed humanity would no longer need even wheatgrass, but would survive on a pure fruititarian diet, except for those advanced souls who could manage breathetarinaism. (I also seem to recall something about achieving immortality through proper diet and meditation, but I'm not sure.)

Far out, man!

:hippie:

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PissedOffPollyana Donating Member (258 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 05:59 AM
Response to Original message
100. I collect antique books, so it is
Martine's Hand-book of Etiquette and Guide to Politeness: A complete manual for those who desire to understand the rules of good breeding, the customs of good society and to avoid incorrect and vulgar habits... published circa 1866.

It's a SCREAM!
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MSchreader Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 06:37 AM
Response to Original message
102. My whole library would be considered "strange"
By some people here. But, in reality, most of them are just rare:

-- 45-volume Collected Works of V.I Lenin (w/2 vol. index)
-- 15-volume Writings of Leon Trotsky
-- Books from the USSR on various subjects
-- Specialty books from East Germany and Czechoslovakia
-- All three editions of Our Bodies, Ourselves
-- David Thorstad's Modern Homosexual Rights Movement

... and tons more. But, some of my personal favorites are:

-- First edition, first printing of John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World, circa 1919
-- First edition, second printing by Charles H. Kerr Publishing of Karl Marx's Capital, Vol. 1, circa 1897
-- Autographed copies of Basics and Fighting Racism, both by Gus Hall (yes, he was an acquaintance of mine)
-- Stylebook of the Daily Worker, circa 1927
-- Michigan's "Green Book" of the Civil War, circa 1880

If these qualify as "strange", so be it.

Martin
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Iverson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 06:50 AM
Response to Original message
103. Lose Weight Through Great Sex With Celebrities (cont.)
... (The Elvis Way!) by Colin McEnroe. At least that has to be in the top 20.

;-)
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OldSoldier Donating Member (982 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 08:26 AM
Response to Original message
105. Jane's Weapons Systems
Jane's Information Services was started by a British guy whose last name was Jane.

I'm looking for my own copies of Jane's Military Communications, Jane's Fighting Ships, Jane's Armour and Artillery and Jane's Infantry Weapons so I'll have the whole tactical man's set.
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amber dog democrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 08:28 AM
Response to Original message
106. Malleus Maliforcorum by Kramer & Springer
the 16th C text put out by the Catholic Church to detect witchcraft. Those folks took themselves way too serriously
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noonwitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-03 08:32 AM
Response to Original message
107. "Witches" by Erica Jong. It has some tripped out pictures in it.
I also have Anne Rice's "Sleeping Beauty" trilogy.
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dwckabal Donating Member (854 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 11:17 AM
Response to Original message
108. The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide
to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases
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randr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 11:30 AM
Response to Original message
109. The Secret Museum of Mankind
Published by Manhattan House in the early 1900's. Has no author listed.
A collection of captioned photographs from around the world circa late 1800's.
Contains five volumes of American, African, Asiatic, European, and Oceanic tribal peoples.
Most amazing are the images of eastern europeans in traditional garb.
Images display the diversity of humanity to the point that our similarities become evident.
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LanternWaste Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 11:35 AM
Response to Original message
110. American Psycho
Edited on Sat Dec-13-03 11:38 AM by LanternWaste
"American Psycho" by Brett Ellis. Got very curious a few years back about what makes Serial and Thrill Killers "tick" and after going through a stack of non-fiction that really didn't anwer my most fundamental questions, AP was recommended to me by a pal.

Very odd use of interchanging first and third person narrative that I had a hard time understanding. Looking back, I have an idea that the author was using that to illustrate the disconnect the main charater had.


On Edit: Just remembered- in high school, I had a copy of the Necronomicon and a few books by some whacked-out, self-proclaimed anti-Christ from the first half of the twentieth century. I guess it was just some bizarre phase I was going through, or maybe trying to freak out Traditionalists...lol
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short bus president Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 11:42 AM
Response to Original message
111. I own a copy of "The Turner Diaries"
Had to buy it for a Sociology class on racists and hate groups, and have never gotten rid of it. Maybe next bonfire.

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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #111
112. really?
You should keep it, but do not let people see it. It is like a militia bible. If the FBI ever came by, I would make sure it is well hidden. That is usually a red flag.
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ikojo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #111
116. Short bus...I also own a copy of the Turner Diaries...
I wanted to read it to see for myself what it was about. It was in the news a lot following the OKC bombing and I don't like taking other's interpretation of books and such so I sought it out.

Right wing garbage.

Other odd books owned by me...

Apocalypse Culture I and II...short essays about some strange habits of our fellow human beings.

Freaks...the name says it all

A biography of George Lincoln Rockwell called Hate.
I also have a bio of Yockey who wrote the Imperium.

I went through a period a few years ago where I wanted to read as much info as possible on the extreme right. I read almost everything Sara Diamond has written as well as that written by Chip Berlet.

In high school my independent reading teacher had us read Blood Letters and Bad Men which is about serial killers and other murderers. I remember reading about Ed Gein. Can't imagine a teacher getting by with assigning that now.

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ldoolin Donating Member (642 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 04:58 PM
Response to Reply #116
117. This is gonna sound scary but
I used to own a copy of Imperium.

Out of curiosity more than anything else. Got rid of it a long time ago. I can sum up the entire content of that book as: Completely incomprehensible, rambling, and clearly the work of a nut. I don't remember any of the content except that it was impossible to make heads or tails of what he was writing.
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The Lone Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Dec-13-03 12:28 PM
Response to Original message
113. The Supplemental Hardware Guide.


Slow reading and the plot is so damn predictable.
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