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Revealed: The oddest book title of the year

WION Web Team
London, London, UK (Great Britain)Updated: Nov 27, 2020, 02:10 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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'A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path' has beaten 'Introducing the Medieval Ass' to win the Diagram prize for oddest book title of the year.

Nothing beats an odd book title -- for it's as entertaining as it is informative.

Don't believe this?

'A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path' has beaten 'Introducing the Medieval Ass' to win the Diagram prize for oddest book title of the year.

The winning book is an idiom for someone who begins a task but is then distracted by other matters. It is written by University of Alberta anthropologist Gregory Forth. It sees Forth look at how the Nage, an indigenous people primarily living on the islands of Flores and Timor, understand metaphor, and use their knowledge of animals to shape specific expressions. 

The runner-up title explores “the ass’s enormous socio-economic and cultural significance in the middle ages”. 

Other contenders for the award included Classical Antiquity in Heavy Metal Music, Lawnmowers: An Illustrated History and The Slaughter of Farmed Animals: Practical Ways of Enhancing Animal Welfare.

The prize, run by the Bookseller magazine, was first established in 1978 to reward the year’s strangest book title. 

The winner is decided on by the public.