Southern Plantation Cooking
Gunderson
2000
Submitter: I recently came across Southern Plantation Cooking in my high school library’s cookbook section. It’s part of a series that includes titles called Civil War Cooking: The Confederacy, Civil War Cooking: The Union, and Cooking on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. [Read on for more]
Holly: This was published in 2000???
Mind and Vision: A Handbook for the Cure of Imperfect Sight Without Glasses
Agarwal
(7th Ed.) 1978
Submitter: We are a small public library. I found this in the health section. It was added in 2007 and, apparently, not donated but in fact purchased with real money from Amazon for $9.95. There is potentially helpful advice in this book. Unfortunately it also suggests that staring into the sun, with your eyes closed, will cure the need for corrective lenses. It was a shelved in 617.7, near books on LASIK. This book is a wonderful example as to why we need to weed our health sections regularly.
Holly: Well, dang, if I knew that I wouldn’t have spent $600 on bifocals!
The 100 Deadliest Karate Moves
Gambordella
1982
Submitter: While cleaning up the sports and athletic section I found this book tucked behind the other books in the section. It looks like it escaped weeding by cowering behind all the other books. Rest assured this was kicked to the recycling bin.
Holly: I see what you did there, submitter.
The only thing saving this book from being the most boring karate book on earth, with its black and white photos of early-80s collars and short shorts, is its title. Well, that and the impending wardrobe malfunction on the cover.
Contingency Cannibalism: Superhardcore Survivalism’s Dirty Little Secret
Takada
1999
Submitter: This was found in the survival and wilderness section of our little library. At first I was surprised by the title, then I was even more surprised when I realized it was misclassified. This probably would have done better in the humor section.
Holly: What the….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Good grief. The summary at WorldCat is priceless.
Blindsided: Planet X passes in 2033: Earthchanges!
Hazlewood
(2nd Ed.) 2001
Submitter: This amazing conspiracy rant explains how the media, all the governments (except Putin’s Russia) and society in general suppress the truth that Planet X is coming to destroy civilization in 2003. (Oh wait…). Cited sources include news articles and prophecies by, amongst others, Mother Shipton, Edgar Cayce and various conspiracy theorists. Buy this book so you can survive what was coming in 2003! Small public library in Florida, found shelved in 550 with Space Science.
Holly: We dodged that bullet, I guess.
If I’m God’s Handiwork, Would Someone Please Explain These Thighs!: Discovering Your Unique Destiny
Lechner
2002
Submitter: I work at a public library in a small city in NC. We found this book from 2002 during a recent sweep. I think it’s a good example for your blog because of the outdated humor both in the title and within the work, as well as the outdated design of the cover and call outs within. The book never had particularly good circulation numbers and probably should have been weeded a decade ago.
Holly: I know it doesn’t seem like that long ago, but 2002 was 21 years ago. Let it gooooo!
Hunger: Understanding the Crisis Through Games, Dramas, and Songs
Sprinkle
1971
Submitter: This is a book of literal Hunger Games by an author whose last name is Sprinkle. You just can’t make this up. The idea of the book is to help church-goers and likeminded folks better understand the experience of hungry people. There are bingo games for kids, as well as the attached activities. I find the drama interesting; Jane, the “active churchwoman” actually tells the long-haired young man to cut his hair to find a job. Spoiler, she dies at the end, goes to heaven, and gets a bread crust, an empty jar, and an old bathrobe. There’s also a song called “We plough the fields with tractors.”
Weeded from an academic library. Last circulation: ILL in 1987. Browsed in 1993. Not applicable to any academic program at the university… and probably not of lasting interest for students, faculty, or staff, either.
Holly: What does listing on a placemat what Jesus ate (second image below) have to do with learning about people who have nothing to eat?
Early Pleasures and Pastimes
Kalman
1947
Submitter: We found this gem in our Children’s department of our public library, on a recent much needed weed. The children on the cover seem to enjoy waterboarding Grandpa. The actual photos inside are very disturbing. They dare you to wrestle a bear, and how about the crying little girl watching her beloved turkey get it’s head chopped off. I don’t understand why we had this one on the shelves for so long!
Holly: None of these are pleasures or appropriate pastimes for children! Pretty sure Grandpa is bobbing for apples. He doesn’t seem to be very good at it, though.
