Goblin-proofing a chicken coop takes Oddest Book Title

 Most writers strive when publishing their book, to draw attention to well-written content, a good story and if they're fortunate, to get on a best seller list. Honors are in the eye of the beholder and the winner of the Oddest Book Title of the Year award is Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh, who together wrote the fascinating book, "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop." Be still my beating heart!

There is no information supplied as to the background for coming up with this story but I would never have thought that chicken coops experience goblin problems. Perhaps a wolf raid or a drop in egg production on occasion, but it's really disturbing to think that chickens fall victim to goblins.

The book attracted 38% of 1,225 on-line votes to beat out a craft manual on "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" which acquired 31% of the vote to win the annual Diagram Prize. As a devoted tea drinker, this is somewhat disappointing. Tea cosies are a very important  tool in maintaining a hot pot of tea and one would imagine and even assume that this would be a fascinating subject for tea drinkers world-wide, who would want to create and personalize their very own tea cosie. I know I would!

The third place honors went to Tom Hickman for his book, "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis." Again, no background information provided but did a search and came accross a review on Amazon.com:  "The story of the penis -- a brilliant history of the male member that tells you EVERYTHING you wanted to know but were too shy to ask." Now you know.

In addition, shortlisted for an award was a study of Adolf Hitler's health entitled, "Was Hitler Ill?", "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts" and a guide book about "How to Sharpen Pencils." As a person who at some points in my life has attempted to sharpen a pencil with a knife, or a pencil sharpener that continously broke the lead, the latter could come in handy. Here is a short video by the author, for people reading this who are interested in the art of...pencil sharpening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spMaP-_Cq_8

The Diagram Prize was founded at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978, and past winners include "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and last year's "Cooking with Poo", a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong whose nickname is Poo.

There's still hope for me to write my book detailing the fun and enjoyment of re-using tea bags. This is something the world is waiting to read.