What are some of your favorite or most unusual reference books?

[BurtWorm]

One of my favorites is Weekly's Etymological Dictionary in two volumes from Dover press. It used to sit on my shelf for the longest time collecting dust, but lately my 8-year-old daughter has taken an interest in why words mean what they do, so it comes out once every couple of weeks or so.

How about you?

[terrya]

I loved "The People's Alamanc" books by David Wallinshinksy (sp)

And his father, Irving Wallace.

GREAT reference books.

Terry

[Salviati]

4. That's a fun one to just flip through...

[wryter2000]

1. The History of Underclothes

It's also from Dover. They finally got a website, I see.

I write romance novels.

[BurtWorm]

10. Have you written about medieval underwear?

Or do you write mostly about bodices and such? You never hear about medieval romance novels. I guess it wasn't such a sexy time. But it might be an interesting challenge to try to make it sexy. A paleolithic romance might be interesting too.

[Armand]

2. My "Geology in the Field" book

by Robert Compton is my favorite. It has everything from taking good field notes to symbols of various lithologic units. :)

[Roon]

3. ASL dictionary

A friend gave me a copy the other day..I LOVE IT!

[BurtWorm]

6. I've never seen one of those. Is it English-ASL/ASL-English?

How many pages is it?

[Roon]

13. It's just called the American Sign Language Dictionary

It's put together just like a dictionary, but instead of a defintion, it just tells you how to sign the words. There is also an illustration for each word. It's a thick book, 772 pages.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Well known to reference book fans, not so well known to everyone (and I don't know if it's available in the USA).

1898 version available online at http://www.bartleby.com/81/

[non sociopath skin]

7. I have copies ...

... of The Statesman's Year Book for 1933 and 1938. They list almanac details for every country in the world, with very generous entries for The British Empire and the United States. Fascinating - and in the light of history - sometimes pretty depressing stuff.

The Skin

[trotsky]

8. The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics!

No good scientist should be without it.

[scarlet_owl]

9. Fenton and Fowler's Best, Worst, and Most Unusual.

I re-read it for fun all the time. Lots of great facts.

[GOPisEvil]

11. A textbook on survey sampling from college.

Every once in a while, that subject pops up, and I'm glad I have it.

[Insider]

12. Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits

and the All Music Guide (AMG)(4th ed) definitive guide to popular music

have been known to spend a whole weekend in those two.

[bif]

14. Dictionary of underworld slang

Written for the FBI and other crime fighters. From about 1950 or so. It's very cool.

[slappypan]

15. Encyclopedia of Amazons

Fun to browse through for stories about female warriors, soldiers, godesses, mythical heroines, lady pirates, revolutionaries, etc.