SMALLEST BOOK, EDITED BOOK, FREAKS, SWINDLERS, ECCENTRICS AND MORE.

This is the world's smallest book - smaller than a pinhead but set to last more than a million years.

Boffins set the new world record with the scaled-down version of Malcolm Douglas Chaplin's Teeny Ted From Tulip Town.

The nano book - which has to be read using a microscope - measures a mere 0.07mm by 0.10mm. 

Valued at £10,000, it's kept in a tiny box in a bank vault. More

A 200 year old book illustrating 'freaks, swindlers, murderers, and eccentrics', such as an Irish Giant, a Hairy Girl and a Wild Boy (pictured right), has been discovered.

Entitled The New Wonderful Museum and Extraordinary Magazine, the book is a complete listing of all the ‘wonders, curiosities and rarities of nature’ known to man in 1808 in this Georgian-type freak show display, its pages filled with images and descriptions of a variety of society's outcasts. More



"The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath"

A children's book publisher has outraged the American literary community (and me) by editing the 18th century poem ''A Visit from St. Nicholas' - which is better known by its first line, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' - by omitting any mention or image of Santa puffing on a smoking pipe.

Canadian publisher Pamela McColl changed the poem, which was written in 1823 by the late American professor Clement Clarke Moore, to 'save lives and avoid influencing new smokers,' she claimed on her website. 

McColl's version also clips the classic illustration of Santa holding a pipe between his teeth. The edited the poem is printed in a book that McColl published through her own publishing company.

The American Library Association has cried foul, saying the changes amount to 'an act of censorship that denies the audience access to the author's authentic voice.' More

Simon Callow is acclaimed as one of Britain's finest Shakespearean actors, but he's gone from Bard to barking by narrating the world's first bedtime story for dogs.

Called Teddy And Stanley's Tall Tale, the book has been scientifically developed to relax canines on and after Bonfire Night (5th November) by minimising the stress caused by fireworks. More

Books which portray ‘traditional’ images of mothers caring for their children or fathers going out to work could be barred from schools under proposals from Brussels.

An EU report claims that ‘gender stereotyping’ in schools influences the perception of the way boys and girls should behave and damages women’s career opportunities in the future.

Critics said the proposals for ‘study materials’ to be amended so that men and women are no longer depicted in their traditional roles would mean the withdrawal of children’s classics, such as Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five series, Paddington Bear or Peter Pan. More


Remember my mentioning Wearside Women In Need who planned to burn copies of 50 Shades Of Grey on Bonfire Night (5th November)? Well, more recently spokesperson Clare Phillipson had this to say .... 

"There were a range options.

"We discussed the book burning while getting the message across that this book is a dangerous trend.

"I think we've got a culture now which has completely sexualised women and in which women feel obligated to take part in that culture. We want to draw a line under that.

"We will be cutting them up, using them for toilet roll and sticking them on our compost heap and they will go back into the ground... although the ideas they represent will continue." More

Dennis Wilson, a World War Two veteran who wrote poetry during lulls in fighting on the front line has secured a publishing deal at the age of 91.

The then 22-year-old soldier wrote about the horror of war and the life-changing injuries he sustained during enemy action in Normandy. Ripping pages from his Field Service Pocket Book, he sent copies home to his mother in Southampton, Hampshire, so his work would survive if he died in battle.

Now Dennis has finally made it into print with his book, Elegy of a Common Soldier, after a researcher at Goldsmiths College, University of London, read his collection of 125 poems. More

And finally .....

Who would have thought it .... a book I read and reviewed way back in May has become an e-book literary session.

Hilary Boyd's Thursdays In The Park (see my review HERE), the  romantic tale of a sixty something woman who meets the man of her dreams while looking after her grandchildren, has now topped the charts for four weeks, outselling noted thriller writer Ken Follett and Fifty Shades Of Grey author EL James. More