Last year I brought you the results of the 2010 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title – Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Daina Taimina. The Diagram Prize administrator, Philip Stone, had this to say about it:
Although no prize is awarded to the author of the winning book, [Horace] Bent [diarist and custodian of the prize] said that last year’s winner, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, received a big sales boost thanks to the widespread, international coverage of the award: “Before the prize was awarded, Dr Taimina’s book was selling just half a dozen copies per week in the US. A week after she picked up my prestigious gong, her book sold an incredible 95 copies in just seven days at $35 a pop. You can’t buy that kind of publicity”.
So – you can plainly see what’s at stake here.
The new shortlist is in for the 2011 award:
- 8th International Friction Stir Welding Symposium Proceedings
Various authors (TWI) - The Generosity of the Dead
Graciela Nowenstein (Ashgate) - The Italian’s One-night Love Child
Cathy Williams (Mills & Boon) - Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way
Michael R Young (Radcliffe) - Myth of the Social Volcano
Martin King Whyte (Stanford University Press) - What Color Is Your Dog?
Joel Silverman (Kennel Club)
You can go to The Bookseller website to cast your vote through Friday, March 25. My own vote (and I don’t want to prejudice you in any way) will go to Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way. I believe my own dentist may already own this book!
What do you think?