Category:
Books
Books
The Westermarck Effect
The Westermarck Effect is a psychological phenomena named after Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck. The effect is that (according toWikipedia): "when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, both are desensitized to later close sexual attraction." Which is why most people don't get the hots for their sibling.
However, if siblings don't grow up together and only meet for the first time later in life, they may be intensely sexually attracted to each other. This is known as genetic sexual attraction, or GSA. Again, from Wikipedia:
Several factors may contribute to GSA. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive, trustworthy, etc. than average... Shared interests and personality traits are commonly considered desirable in a mate... In cases of parent-child attraction, the parent may recognize traits of their sometime mate in the child. Such reunions typically produce complex emotions in all involved.
Finally, there is the phenomena known as the Westermarck Trap, which occurs when two people who have grown up together (and thus are sexually desensitized to each other) are expected to marry each other, because of an arranged marriage. According to one theory, this is what the novel Frankenstein depicts:
Students of the Westermarck effect may be interested to know that this trap is depicted in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, in which Victor Frankenstein is expected to marry a cousin reared with him. Instead, he creates a monster that persecutes him and murders his prospective bride before the marriage can be consummated. It is suggested that the plot owes something to Mary Shelley's own experience of the Westermarck effect, following a childhood in which she was reared with a stepbrother. Her own personal solution was not to create a monster but to elope with a married man (Percy Bysshe Shelley) at the age of 16.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 30, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Literature, Books, Sexuality, Psychology
Castles In the Air
Read the author's take on the whole affair here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 25, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Art, Books, Goofs and Screw-ups
The Caterer
Lint is the "biography" of Jeff Lint, poverty-stricken, mad genius, hack writer, who is basically a cross between Kilgore Trout and Salvador Dali.
One of Lint's fictional creations was a comic-book character dubbed "The Caterer." And now you can read an actual issue of this gonzo masterpiece, thanks to Floating World Comics. A sample is to the right.
You must investigate this saga of one man and his senseless quest for perfect absurdity in a violent world, or risk being rendered null and void!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 28, 2009 -
Comments (4)
Category: Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Writers, Comics, Surrealism
High Weirdness by Mail
In those antique pre-internet days of the book's debut, your only resources for contacting and receiving strange information was the USPS. There are plenty of cheap copies of HWBM available online, if you want to get a nostalgic snapshot of that era.
But the SubGeniuses behind the book have also launched THE HIGH WEIRDNESS PROJECT, which strives to replicate the book as a web-based experience.
Pay them a visit, and get your slack on.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 03, 2008 -
Comments (7)
Category: Eccentrics, Religion, Weird Studies and Guides, Books, 1980s
Encyclopedia of Strange Things
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Strange Things, by Boris Servais, is a book you won't find for sale on Amazon. Servais had it "Produced in Italy by a specialized printer for small-size books, it collects odd discoveries and inventions around nostalgic aviation, astronautics, time trips or science fiction warfare." Below is an example of one of the entries. (via Book By Its Cover)
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 28, 2008 -
Comments (4)
Category: Art, Books
World’s Weirdest Comics
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 13, 2008 -
Comments (14)
Category: Comics, Books
First WEIRD UNIVERSE Contest!!!
Here's the deal:
The single prize is a used but in-good-shape trade paperback copy of Ricky Jay's Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, an essential handbook for any true lover of the weird.
Please make your guess in the COMMENTS section of this post, not through email. Priority of the response, in the case of multiple correct guesses, determines the winner.
When we have a winner, I'll get their snailmail and post the book with some of my mailart on the envelope.
Good luck, and play nice!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 27, 2008 -
Comments (6)
Category: Art, Weird Universe, Contest, Books
Di Filippo & Woodring Book Signing
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 09, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Travel, Weird Universe, Paul
Weird Horses
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 02, 2008 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Photography and Photographers, Science, Books
Dion Fortune
I haven't read it yet, but I'm much looking forward to learning how to protect myself against various types of intrusive mind assaults. Sample a few pages yourselves below.
And thanks to Google Books, you can read the whole thing online here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 26, 2008 -
Comments (8)
Category: New Age, Paranormal, Self-help Schemes, Psychology, Books, 1930s
| Who We Are |
|---|
| 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 |