Behold the Weird Old Book Finder

January 22, 2022 8:18 AM

"Old books are socially and culturally fascinating...Still, sifting through old books can be a hassle. You have to go to those search sites and filter for the right vintage (and public-domain-status). It’s a pain. So: I decided to partly automate this — by making my own search tool. Behold the Weird Old Book Finder." Clive Thompson has built A Search Engine That Finds You Weird Old Books (Medium).
posted by MonkeyToes (13 comments total)

It's a single serve kind of thing, so if you type the same search in you get a different book each time.

Thanks for posting. This is fun!
posted by hippybear at 8:29 AM on January 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

This is great, but is there a way to get a random book without entering a search query? I don't see one.
posted by NBelarski at 8:32 AM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

That's fun! I was surprised how close the titles were to my searches (lace making and little brown bats--maybe I should have tried something odder.)
posted by pangolin party at 8:50 AM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I typed in "camels I have known" and got a book with the second chapter being "John Wycliffe Is in Trouble Again," which... in the ballpark.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:59 AM on January 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

This couldn't be more up my alley. I have the habit of hopping from old book to old book based on the advertisements for other volumes on the flyleaves. Flagged as fantastic, MonkeyToes.
posted by jocelmeow at 9:25 AM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is awesome. There appears to be a lot of interesting stuff in Clive Thompson's blog, of which I am now a follower.
posted by neuron at 9:46 AM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is absolutely my kind of thing! I love to read old books, sometimes for specific purposes, sometimes just for fun. And this is an enjoyable way to randomize my selection, when I'm feeling frolicksome.

My first search result, for the word "meringue" (I've been feeling a bit old-cookbooky lately), got me the January, 1917 issue of the "Pacific Coast Gazette", a trade journal for bakers/confectioners/restaurateurs of the US west coast. Yessssssss.
posted by theatro at 1:31 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Here's another weird old book: De Re Metallica, a Latin book on mining and smelting metals first published in 1556, then translated by Herbert Hoover in 1912. Never had the fortitude to sit down and read it fully, sadly.
posted by ymgve at 7:19 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I just read Clive Thompsons post "Rewilding your attention" and it is fantastic.
posted by rebent at 6:24 AM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Not only is this awesome and Clive is a national treasure, but it's also up on glitch so you can remix it and make your own version. Also Clive's (or someone's) comments in the code are hilarious.

// I tried do this form in pug and could never get it to work, so I used
// regular old HTML, like an animal
posted by jessamyn at 9:30 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

This tickles me to no end. I am a collector of old books (my oldest are from the 1700s), that I tend to choose simply based on titles ("Coffee, Repertoire, and the Idiot") occasionally. This is going to be so much fun - and when I find one I love, I'll have to check my old book sites and get it in it's vintage form.

This couldn't be more up my alley. I have the habit of hopping from old book to old book based on the advertisements for other volumes on the flyleaves. Flagged as fantastic, MonkeyToes.
posted by jocelmeow --- I completely agree! I often look up books I've read of in the back pages of other old books!
posted by annieb at 3:09 PM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

This is good! Typed in "tractarianism sheep" and got HOW LONG WILL THE LAITY BEAR IT? A Question for the Sheep against the Shepherds" which does seem appropriate.

And sign me up as another member of the "finding books in the ads in the back of old books" group. I read one the other day that had some fascinating-sounding ones listed, including

That Printer of Udell’s. By Harold Bell Wright.
Miss Philura’s Wedding Gown. By Florence Morse Kingsley.
Motor Maid, The. By C. N and A. M. Williamson.
Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The. By Anne Warner.
Andrew The Glad. By Maria Thompson Daviess.
Indifference of Juliet, The. By Grace S. Richmond.

Sometimes I just write them in my head instead of seeking them out.
posted by paduasoy at 2:35 AM on January 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

I found Lives of the Necromancers (don't ask) and it's soooo cooool! Thanks for the link
posted by BlunderingArtist at 3:51 PM on January 27, 2022 [3 favorites]