The 2004 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The prize this year goes to the quite barmy Bombproof Your Horse, which even in these troubling times would seem to be advocating taking things a bit far...

The shortlist for the 2004 prize was announced late last year.  My favourite competition of the year is run by columnist Horace Bent in the Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly) with input from dedicated odd title hunters from all over the world. The prize, set up in association with the Diagram Group, has been running since 1978 and is a joyous celebration of the barmy side of publishing.

As always, the shortlist included some memorably odd titles, but all had to be guaranteed to be authentic. So it's been a tough job choosing from the extremely bizarre 2004 line-up.

The 2004 shortlist

Applications of High Tech Squids

The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox

Bombproof Your Horse

Detecting Foreign Bodies in Food

Equids in Time and Space

Sexual Health at Your Fingertips

Aren't they wonderful?

The 2003 Winner

The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories

So how do you think Bombproof Your Horse lines up alongside glorious winners of the past, such as 2002's wonderful Living with Crazy Buttocks and the original classis Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice?

(Please note that, contrary to what you may think, all entries for the Prize must be genuine titles of books actually being published - no cheating allowed)

2003 Diagram Prize

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