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Clive Thompson

I built this tool a year ago but I feel like Mastodon folks would like it

The "Weird Old Book Finder"

Type in a search query, and it'll find one randomly-chosen public-domain book that matches the query -- and present it for immediate reading: weird-old-book-finder.glitch.m

Why only one book? To prevent the paradox of choice! Just *start readin'*

Can't promise every book will be weird, but most are

A longer essay on how/why I developed it: debugger.medium.com/a-search-e

This was a search for "mastodon"

A screenshot of the Weird Old Book Finder, showing the book returned for the search "mastodon" -- the book is "Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man"
9 Nov 2022 at 17:57 | Open on saturation.social
58 comments
Deborah Rose

@clive I love this. I am a collector of weird old books.

9 Nov 2022 at 18:01 | Open on democracy.town
Clive Thompson

@DebErupts Super! I have a bunch in hard copy too ... they are just delightful. The illustrations are typically *off* the *hook* amazing

9 Nov 2022 at 18:01 | Open on saturation.social
Vicki Ziegler
Clive Thompson

@bookgaga I exist to serve

If you find something cool, take a screenshot and share it!!

9 Nov 2022 at 18:07 | Open on saturation.social
Clive Thompson

If anyone finds something cool, screenshot it and share it (with alt-text describing what it is!)

9 Nov 2022 at 18:07 | Open on saturation.social
Anne @annevelink_ad

@clive I just saw a cool book on Intlligence. Check my TOOT

9 Nov 2022 at 18:09 | Open on mastodon.green
che chou :breadified:

@clive this is super awesome. i love RNG content.

9 Nov 2022 at 18:10 | Open on mastodon.coffee
Clive Thompson

@chespace Yessss

random is my favorite function in the standard library of literally every computer language

I once wrote an ode to it: debugger.medium.com/my-single-

9 Nov 2022 at 18:11 | Open on saturation.social
che chou :breadified:

@clive I have over 11,000 #retrogames on my handheld device. I love using the RNG function to randomly select a game. it's the discovery that appeals to me most.

9 Nov 2022 at 18:12 | Open on mastodon.coffee
Clive Thompson

@chespace aha, that's a great way to sample old games!!

9 Nov 2022 at 18:15 | Open on saturation.social
Hans Gerwitz
Darius Kazemi

@clive I love this, it's kind of "I'm Feeling Lucky" but for old books

9 Nov 2022 at 18:09 | Open on friend.camp
Clive Thompson

@darius Yeah, that's exactly the vibe I was going for!

9 Nov 2022 at 18:12 | Open on saturation.social
Al Wirtes

@clive Three searches, three weird books returned. Checks out.

I'm sending this link to a friend of mine who is a rare books librarian. (His standard for "weird" may be higher than mine.)

9 Nov 2022 at 18:10 | Open on indieweb.social
Al Wirtes

@clive First search WINNER! I actually searched for "cows" not "cattle" for this result. But I went back a couple books to find this gem for a screenshot.

A search result from the word "cattle" in the Weird Old Book Finder showing a book titled "How to select cows" and featuring prominently a line drawing of the posterior of a cow.
9 Nov 2022 at 18:15 | Open on indieweb.social
Loukas Christodoulou

@clive ohmy god!!!! This is amazing!

9 Nov 2022 at 18:26 | Open on mastodon.nu
Clive Thompson

@Loukas Wooo!

If you find something cool take a screenshot, alt-text it, and post it!

9 Nov 2022 at 18:30 | Open on saturation.social
Loukas Christodoulou

@clive yes I just did! And coincidentally I just wrote a short story hinging on the same events described in this book from 1772 :)

9 Nov 2022 at 18:51 | Open on mastodon.nu
lucybernholz
OliverC

@clive This book is not for left handers (or left eyers) apparently.
9 Nov 2022 at 18:33 | Open on glasgow.social
Michael :mastodon:

@clive Excellent. I'm now learning HUNT TO HUNT AND FISH in a late Victorian manner.

9 Nov 2022 at 18:42 | Open on mastodon.social
Clive Thompson
Michael :mastodon:

@clive I can't believe I managed to get one of the words wrong in the title there.

I was clearly too obsessed with visualising the author's recommended technique for bringing the shotgun to the shoulder.

9 Nov 2022 at 19:06 | Open on mastodon.social
Clive Thompson

@mykd It's pretty fascinating writing, isn't it?

9 Nov 2022 at 19:24 | Open on saturation.social
Michael :mastodon:

@clive Yes, the I first looked it I was all "whoa, big wall of text there, pal", but his descriptions are great; clearly written and succinct, and lots of practical tips thrown in there. Looking forward to see what others gems your WOBF sends my way!

9 Nov 2022 at 20:01 | Open on mastodon.social
ilen
Clive Thompson

@ilen That is fabulous!

What on earth is that book about??

9 Nov 2022 at 18:57 | Open on saturation.social
ilen

@clive it’s a report/how-to book from the dept of labor on a coordinated week-long campaign focusing on baby care and health in the US in 1914-1916. Weirdly compelling! I foresee my problem with weird old book finder will be not getting sucked in to random new obsessions…

9 Nov 2022 at 19:37 | Open on mastodon.social
Clive Thompson

@ilen That book sounds fascinating!

Yeah, when I first made this thing I lost like a solid week to reading 100 incredibly strange but compelling old books

9 Nov 2022 at 19:59 | Open on saturation.social
Neil

@clive I love it! Keep it weird! 🤣

9 Nov 2022 at 19:01 | Open on sfba.social
Space

@clive Welp. There goes my week. Thanks Clive

9 Nov 2022 at 19:27 | Open on freeradical.zone
Liza Daly

@clive I got "The WHIGGS Have Lost their SMELL" so yes, this delivered.

Extremely low-res scan of a very old book titled "The whiggs have lost their smell". There's some anti-Catholic stuff in the text.
9 Nov 2022 at 19:28 | Open on post.lurk.org
Clive Thompson
Jonathan Hoefler

@liza @clive I feel sure that “♫♩/♫♩/Whiggs have lost their smell” concludes some stanza of a Beastie Boys song

9 Nov 2022 at 19:39 | Open on saturation.social
Clive Thompson
Liza Daly

@jonathan @clive I say
PRAY TELL / Whiggs have lost their / SMELL / This anti-Catholic / TRACT / is sketchy as / HELL

9 Nov 2022 at 20:03 | Open on post.lurk.org
Jonathan Hoefler

@liza @clive Where is the Mastodon button that shouts this in the voice of Ad Rock, that’s what the people want to know

9 Nov 2022 at 20:07 | Open on saturation.social
Nathalie Tasler
DELETED
@pineywoozle (s) for HARRIS

@clive Are the searches based in the Gutenberg Project data base? I love that resource.

9 Nov 2022 at 19:58 | Open on masto.ai
pandion (formerly toorsdenote)

@clive omg I cannot wait to read this book and/or get a tattoo of the illustrations.

"a Shakespeare may be but an oyster raised to the one-thousandth power, or even a Darwin the cube root of a ring-tailed monkey."

The Fall of Man: or, The Loves of the Gorillas. A popular scientific lecture upon the Darwinian Theory of Development by Sexual Selection, by a Learned Gorilla
9 Nov 2022 at 20:01 | Open on kolektiva.social
pandion (formerly toorsdenote)

@clive

haha this but unironically:

"From the high estate of gorilla-hood [man] has descended to that of manhood; and [gorillas] are in a measure disgraced by his humiliation. This is the fall of man—that he has descended from monkey-hood to humanity."
9 Nov 2022 at 20:11 | Open on kolektiva.social
Peter Butler

@clive This is awesome. Thank you!

Look how all the Englishmen used to hold their ping-pong paddles. Nary a penhold grip amongst them. (I went for "table tennis.")

Picture of five different old-fashioned British table-tennis grips, from the book Table Tennis and How to Play It With Rules by M. J. G. Ritchie and Walter Harrison.
9 Nov 2022 at 20:05 | Open on mas.to
Sascha Freudenheim

@clive Ok, this is great! And thanks to @anildash for boosting it!

9 Nov 2022 at 20:07 | Open on mas.to
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