Three rather different books showed up recently so I decided to put them together in sort of 'side trail' ... a detour if you will. Cheap Laffs: the Art of the Novelty Item, by Mark Newgarden and Picturebox, Inc., with photography by Michael Schmelling is a history of the gag gift. It was not an easy book to write because while such things have been around for a long time, there are not a lot of records showing when, where, and who might have been involved. (Although, think about it, would you want to go down in history as the inventor of fake vomit, etc. ?) The items were not art, according to the author, although some had an elegant design. Sold door to door, then in catalogs, and now on-line (bad taste is big business!), there is no end for the popularity of these items. And, some have been updated: the whoopee cushion now comes with a remote control.

In my post of January 12, 2018, I did a book on things once popular that were now obscure, this time it is things that have become obsolete. Now, it could be that those were all (or mostly) fads, and there is a difference, according to author Anna Jane Grossman, between actual obsolescence and something just going out of style. It might be fun to read Obsolete: an Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By, with that book. :-) Some things we won't miss: buffering, or visible braces on teeth. Some things were a surprise: nuns (!). Some are still around: vinyl records and manual typewriters.

And finally, for a fun to read collection of tidbits about many things read Weird-O-Pedia: the Ultimate Book of Surprising, Strange, and Incredibly Bizarre Facts About (Supposedly) Ordinary Things, by Alex Palmer. There's a word for fear of an empty glass. I think you'll be surprised at which company produces the most tires each year. How many names are there (according to the OED) for the first finger? A great read for during all those ads on tv these days! ;-)

Reading Hermit With Dog