The Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year (which I’ve written about before, here) has named a “very longlist” of finalists for the first time. It turns out that Twitter led to a huge increase in nominations this year, though Horace Bent, who oversees the prize, is not feeling very happy about technology in general:
The adage that everyone has a book in them may well be true, but that doesn’t mean every Tom, Dick and Harry out there can bash a few words out on a keyboard and then upload it to Scribd with a humorous title like: The Historic Adventures of the Purple Waffle Iron on His Horse Made of Asparagus, and then think they have a chance at winning my prestigious award. I refuse to acknowledge such submissions.
The shortlist will be announced on Feb. 19, and then the public gets to vote for the winner. For my money, these five should be the early favorites for the award:
A Tortilla is Like Life
Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich
Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots
Is the Rectum a Grave?
The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin
(Via)
