Baboon Metaphysics

The eagerly-anticipated Diagram Prize contest is back, and has selected this year's most bizarre book title. Established in 1978 by the Diagram Group to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Bookfair and now presided over by the Bookseller, the prize has become an annual media event. Stuffed full of sniggeringly-good titles such as Hot Topics in Urology, When Men are Pregnant and Everything I Know About Women I Learned from My Tractor, Baboon Metaphysics includes the funniest titles short-listed for the prize in previous years. Nominees range from the thoughtful Why Replace a Missing Back Tooth? to the alarming Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality to the down-right puzzling Children Are Wet Cement. Also featuring are some surprising self-help titles such as How to Write While You Sleep and If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. British publishers and booksellers compete fiercely to get suggested titles on to the short list, before the final winner is votedfor by Bookseller readers. The fame of the Diagram Prize has stretched beyond the book trade, with blanket coverage from national newspapers and the BBC. While rival literary awards have sold out, the Diagram Prize has refused all offers of corporate sponsorship for over 30 years. The Costa and Man Booker may receive the lion's share of media attention, but the Diagram is privately considered the one that really matters. Baboon Metaphysics is sure to match and most likely better the success of its prequel How to Avoid Huge Ships.