As much as the reading habits of the members of society speak volumes about what kind of society it is, what books one wants to dispose of can leave us a few clues as well.
Here is the top ten list of books donated to The Book Thing of Baltimore according to its founder Russell Wattenberg. The list appeared in a 2002 article in the Chicago Tribune.
The Book Thing is a bookstore where all the books are free for the taking, sort of a Goodwill without the commerce or a stationary, less interactive Book Crossing.
The Top Ten are:
1. Iacocca by Lee Iacocca with William Novak
2. Passages by Gail Sheehy
3. Megatrends by John Naisbitt.
4. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg
5 Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
6. What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles
7. The Silent Passage: Menopause by Gail Sheehy
8. Readers Digest Codensed Books
9. Harlequin Romances
10.Iacocca by Lee Iacocca with William Novak
Oh and here are the 14 strangest titles donated to The Book Thing according to Wattenberg:
-Alien Abductees Handbook
-How to Enjoy Sex while Conscious
-Handbook of Underwater Acoustics
-How to Read a Book
-Psychological Effects Preventing Nuclear War
-Population Control through Nuclear Pollution
-How to Make a Moron
-Headhunting in the Solomon Islands
-Elephants in pink Tutus
-The Screwing of the Average Man
-1978 Oahu Bus Schedule
-Advice from a Failure
-Suture Self
-Superfluous Hair and Its Removal