Diagram Prize shortlist

Time again for one of my favourite prizes, The Diagram Prize, a prize for the oddest title of the year. The award was created by publisher Bruce Robertson in 1978 when the winning title was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. Past titles have included Stray Shopping Carts (see picture) and Bomb-proof Your Horse (a must for homes everywhere I should think).

Nominees for the Diagram Prize are selected from submissions sent in by librarians, publishers, and booksellers. Winning titles were initially chosen by a panel of judges but since 1993 readers of The Bookseller have been allowed to vote. Now votes can be cast online and I urge you to take yourself off to thebookseller.com website to enter your vote and then look out for the winner being announced on 27 March. At the time of writing The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais (with my vote) is out in front.

This year's shortlist includes:
* Baboon Metaphysics
* Curbside Consultation of the Colon
* The Large Sieve and its Applications
* Strip and Knit with Style
* Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring
* The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais

To my surprise and horror I find that NONE of these books are held by my Library! Where's the Purchase Suggestion form?

Now, with your appetite for more silliness whetted, go take a peek at the list of past winners in Wikipedia's Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year page.