Books
The Forsaken Army—lost, rewritten, then found
Heinrich Gerlach's semi-autobiographical novel, The Forsaken Army, recounts events at the Battle of Stalingrad, which he participated in as an officer in the 14th Panzer Division. But what sets the novel apart as a literary curiosity is that Gerlach wrote much of it while under hypnosis.
The story goes that Gerlach wrote the book while he was being held prisoner by the Soviets after the battle. However, the Soviets then confiscated his manuscript.
Years later, after he had been freed and was back in Germany, Gerlach used hypnosis to reconstruct his lost manuscript. When it was published in 1957, it became a bestseller.
Life - Mar 7, 1960
In 2012, after Gerlach was dead, his original manuscript was found in Russian military archives. It was published a few years later as Breakout at Stalingrad (or, sometimes, Breakthrough at Stalingrad). So, if you want, you can read both versions.
Somewhat related, the Guardian has a list of 10 famous lost manuscripts.
More info: wikipedia; The Forsaken Army (archive.org link)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 19, 2024 -
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Category: Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, War, Books
Nati-anal Airlines
Joshua Alper's 1978 book, The Documentary Record of an Infringement, documents his "pseudovandalist" alteration of a damaged billboard to make it read "anal Airlines."Pre-alteration and damage, the billboard was for National Airlines, which is now defunct.
The book is quite rare, but you can get a copy for $100.
I haven't been able to find a picture of the billboard post-alteration, and I'm not going to pay the money for his book.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 07, 2024 -
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Category: Books, Air Travel and Airlines, 1970s, Billboards
1000 Cigarettes
Plexiglas book. Pages are laminated with collage elements embedded. Collage elements comprised of debris from smoking 50 packages, a total of 1000, of Camel cigarettes including cigarette butts, match-book covers, burnt matches, ashes, and smoke. Book is Coptic bound with various colored threads. The front cover of the book is laser-etched with the title; the back cover is laser-etched with the name of the press. Dimensions: Book 29 x 22.5 x 6 cm. Container/box 32 x 25.5 x 9 cm. Unique, one-of-a-kind.
The box cover and internal tray are made by Mark Wagner. The cover is collaged from 1/4-inch slivers cut from packages of Camel cigarettes. These cut slivers are reconstructed to form the image of the camel and desert landscape as they appear on the package of Camel cigarettes.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 24, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Books, Smoking and Tobacco, Twenty-first Century
2002: Child Life One Hundred Years from Now
We have a theme on WU of predictions of a future we have already reached. Some are way off, others more accurate. You may decide for yourself how this book fares. While we do not yet have personal winged flight for kids, we do have telephones with visuals.Read the whole thing here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 20, 2024 -
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Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, Children, Books, Science Fiction, 1900s
Every Book-of-the-Month Club Selection
The Book-of-the-Month Club launched in 1926. New York lawyer Eustace Seligman became the first member.Life magazine caught up with Seligman 23 years later and discovered that not only was he still a member, but he had bought (and still owned) every monthly selection, plus the various extra books offered, for a total of 449 books.
source: Google Images
Seligman died in 1976. I wonder if he had continued to purchase every monthly selection.
So what were the titles of all those books that Seligman owned? Blogger Jeyla Briar has compiled a list of every monthly selection from the Book-of-the-Month Club since 1926. (Around 2015 they started offering 4 or 5 monthly selections rather than one).
I don't recognize the majority of the titles. But if you're looking for a reading challenge, working your way through every Book-of-the-Month Club selection would be a daunting one.
And yes, the Book-of-the-Month Club is still going strong, with around 100,000 current members.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 19, 2024 -
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Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Books
LOW AND INSIDE and THREE MEN ON THIRD
Weird baseball lore? Try these two books--LOW AND INSIDE and THREE MEN ON THIRD--by H. Allen Smith.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 09, 2024 -
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Category: Sports, Weird Facts, Books, 1940s
Heraldry of Fish
All that you'd ever want to know about fish, as they pertain to heraldry.Available to read via archive.org.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 15, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Signage, Fish, Books, Nineteenth Century
Jailbait!
This text seems to be missing coverage of fully half of all possible juvenile delinquents. But why not see for yourself at the Internet Archive.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 11, 2024 -
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Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Teenagers, Books, 1940s
Oddities: A Book of Unexplained Facts
Read it here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 10, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Weird Facts, Weird Studies and Guides, Books, 1920s
100 Photos That Aren’t Horse Photos
The title of Claude Closky's 1995 book, 100 Photos Qui Ne Sont Pas De Photos De Chevaux (100 Photos That Aren't Horse Photos), is totally accurate. His book consists of 100 photos of chickens.You can view all the photos on his website.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 04, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Photography and Photographers, Books
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |