The Guardian book blog tells us about the Diagram Prize, given to the oddest book titles. You may have guessed it already: the title of this blog entry, is also a winner of the Prize.

Says the Guardian:

The Diagram is unique, and perhaps uniquely blessed, in that spotters and judges alike do not actually have to read the books in question. Indeed, they are actively discouraged from doing so, in case a close knowledge of the subject makes them realise the book is less odd than it first appears. The imagination should be allowed to run wild. Why, we wonder, did the author need so many pages to explain the art of Big And Very Big Hole Drilling? Did the level of local interest really merit an entire tome about the question Did Lewis Carroll Visit Llandudno? Surely a simple yes or no would have sufficed.

But almost even greater than the article, is the gallery, which also shows us the cover of the books.

Last week, a book with the collected winning titles was published… That definitely goes on the wishlist.

At the wikipedia entry, you can read all the winning titles up to 2007. And here’s the 2007 shortlist.

Good stuff.