The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History

A fascinating book. I am neglecting all sorts of things to look through it’s pages- the text is easy to read, the book selection quite mad. I particularly like the book made of Kraft Singles...or the Japanese farting competition book. Gruesome things like books wrapped in human skin to beautiful illustrated books like those above. A wonderful coffee table book but only if you have nothing else planned because it will grab you!

This is one of those curiosity, coffee-table style books. The graphics are intriguing, illustrations, colorful, and the information complete enough to make it an interesting artefact either to read fully or to browse casually. It made for a perfect gift for a friend who is a book-lover.

I didn’t much care for this book. Parts are interesting but mostly not. I didn’t like it.

I just got this book late yesterday in the mail and am already almost to the half-way point. Totally engrossing and hard to put down not to mention the photos and illustrations are mesmerizing. This is a book-lover's must have to their collection. If the second-half of this books is as good as the first, it will be my go-to book for years to come! A previous reviewer mentioned the font size which is a weak argument. It's comparable to about a million other books out there. It's not large print but it's not microscopic either. Don't let that deter you.

This book would have been fascinating but frustrating to me as a kid because it mentions so many fascinating subjects in passing, sometimes only in a photo caption or a couple of sentences. But in the age of google searches and digitized archives, this is more of a boon than a blemish because it manages to pack so many leads to so many rabbit holes in a single volume. The writing is excellent and the number and quality of photos is astonishing considering the low price of this book. Photos have been sized on the pages in a thoughtful way to enable one to actually see and read the details. If you think this book might appeal to you and you like the idea of being inspired to further research on your own, I highly recommend.