The Odditorium: The tricksters, eccentrics, deviants and inventors whose obsessions changed the world

by David Bramwell

'I LOVE THE BOOK... A BRILLIANT READ' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show

'This book, that I approached with caution, turns out to be magnificent. Tested it with the Moondog entry. Passed A+' Danny Baker, Radio 5Live

A CELEBRATION OF CURIOSITY AND OBSESSION
Step into a world of gloriously unpredictable characters such as Ivor Cutler, Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Reginald Bray, Ken Campbell, Screaming Lord Sutch, Sun Ra, Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary and Ayn Rand.

The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history, told not through the lens of its victors, but through the fascinating stories of a wealth of individuals who, while lesser-known, are no less remarkable.

Throughout its pages you'll learn about the antics and adventures of tricksters, eccentrics, deviants and inventors. While their stories range from heroic failures to great hoaxes, one thing unites them - they all carved their own path through life. Each protagonist exemplifies the human spirit through their dogged determination, willingness to take risks, their unflinching obsession and, often, a good dollop of eccentricity.

Learn about Reginald Bray (1879-1939), a Victorian accountant who sent over 30,000 singular objects through the mail, including himself; Muriel Howorth (1886-1971), the housewife who grew giant peanuts using atomic energy; and Elaine Morgan (1920-2013), a journalist who battled a tirade of prejudice to pursue an aquatic-based theory of human evolution, which is today being championed by David Attenborough.

While many of us are content to lead a conventional life, with all of its comfort and security, The Odditorium reminds us of the characters who felt compelled to carve their own path, despite risking ostracism, failure, ridicule and madness. Outsider artists, linguists, scientists, time travellers and architects all feature in The Odditorium, each of whom risked ostracism, ridicule and even madness in pursuit of carving their own esoteric path, changing the world in wonderful ways.

'BRAMWELL CLEARLY HAS AN EYE FOR THE ODDBALL AND ARCANE' The Guardian

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2016

About the author

David Bramwell es un botánico, explorador, y profesor inglés. Bramwell estudió Botánica en la Universidad de Liverpool.

Premio a la "Conservación Excelente del Instituto de Investigación Botánica de Texas, en Estados Unidos.

Llegó a Canarias a principios de los 1970s para hacerse cargo de la dirección del Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo, situado en la isla de Gran Canaria, uno de los jardines botánicos más importantes del mundo y el más importante en flora macaronésica, hasta finales de noviembre de 2012.

David Bramwell is Director of the Jardin Botanico Canario 'Viera y Clavijo'- Unidad Asociada CSIC. His current research interests include the monitoring and mapping of wild populations of threatened species, the preparation of a Flora of the Macaronesia, mapping species decline worldwide, molecular studies of genetic diversity in small populations and the effects of climate change on island plants. Juli Caujape-Castells is Head of the Department of Molecular Biodiversity and DNA bank at the Jardin Botanico Canario 'Viera y Clavijo'- Unidad Asociada CSIC. His research uses molecular data to investigate problems related to the origins, taxonomic identification, microevolution and conservation of terrestrial vascular plants endemic to, or occurring in, Macaronesia

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

History may be written by the victors, but it is made by people from all walks of life. Who these people are is often overlooked in the grander history books, but thankfully we have authors like David Bramwell & Jo Keeling who are prepared to poke around in the dustier areas of our past and tell the stories of those that have made their mark in one way or other.

They have split the characters in this book into five different sections, the first is Tricksters & Subversives, Creative Mavericks, Wild at Heart, Pioneers & Inventors and Explorers of the mind. In each part, there are around ten different people that they have found and are telling the story of.

There are a few that stood out for me. W Reginald Bray was one, who in the pursuit of his art, posted anything and everything that he could get in a letterbox. Quentin Crisp who was camp and gay at a time when it was illegal to be, and Alfred Wallace Russell who worked out evolution at the same time as Darwin and is buried just down the road from me in Broadstone. Two particular favourites are Flora Tristan who stood up for injustice before anyone else and Joseph Campbell who took a huge pile of books to a shack in Woodstock and spent four years reading them.

If you want a history book that looks at the people who often go against the flow and you almost certainly haven’t heard of, then this is a good place to start.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. I had a very good laugh reading the book. Apart from the obvious fact that the people here are weirdos and wackos, the authors described them in such witty and entertaining ways.

[Rix · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fun, probably more of a bog book than anything but I'm happy to read that sort of thing through. My main criticism would be that the lives it focuses on are mostly white and American or European but it does dig out some interesting women

[Megan Mischinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book with brief bios written in a fun and snappy way. It was entertaining to learn about such bold and mischievous people who otherwise ended up under the radar. I enjoyed learning about a person or two with my morning coffee :)

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short biographies of some fascinating (and mostly) truely bizarre people.

Very easy to read.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. May lead to other follow up reads!

[Wendy Hreha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Very unique individuals and great story lines! Hope to read more like it in the future.

[NormaCenva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is beautifully made, it was really funny to read and informative too!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and lighthearted look at some interesting and strange characters.

[David Campton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful miscellany of people who thought (and frequently acted) outside the box and influenced the modern world to a greater or lesser degree, for good or ill. Some would make interesting dinner guests and others I wouldn't want to be within punching distance. It is the sort of book that devotees if QI or Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity would love, and I might have given it a bit higher score if there weren't so many typos in it. Co-author/editor Jo Keeling may claim to be "a devotee to slow and thoughtful journalism" and "is proud to be part of a growing subculture of independent publishers" but a bit of old fashioned slow and accurate proof-reading wouldn't go amiss.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was overjoyed to have won this book in a GoodReads giveaway, as the premise sounded amazing and it did not disappoint.

This book is the literary equivalent of sitting on the late bus, the one with all the nutters, drunks and outcasts, and they are all sitting next to you. But... you kind of like having them there, as it makes the journey more interesting.

The Odditorium contains a few pages each on a large number of eccentric characters, in a reference book sort of format. You will surely have heard of some of them, but perhaps not known the entirity of their history, and with a weird variety of people some of the biographies are more interesting than others. Each chapter ends with a "Seeker's Directory", with books and films and things to visit to find out more about each of the eccentrics. I frequently found myself going off on a tangent searching for more information, or books, wanting to know more than some of the all too brief entries provided (by which I mean, the length meant certain detail was omitted, rather than the entries were too short overall - they are a good length to get an overview, but the more interesting creatures you will want to find out more about).

Thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and educational to boot.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly enjoyable read, interesting ideas & facts, style was good.