The statistically improbable phrases game

[mmcirvin]

Guess which of my favorite books these are, from Amazon's Statistically Improbable Phrases (no peeking). Some of them will be easy if you've read the book, others not. Unfortunately, many of my favorite books don't have SIPs on Amazon, and I had to skip one because it was just too easy.

1. curriculum commission, six desserts, combination wheel
2. war sphere, ice ring, apostolic delegate
3. contour chair, real commanders, adhesive plaster
4. pig suit, pig mask
5. charming soubrette, seaside girls, quaker librarian (James Joyce, Ulysses - guessed by Crgre Jvyyneq)
6. borderline science, solar sailing, high surface temperature (Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain - guessed by mujib)
7. yes suh, post office corner (Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird - guessed by Ted Bunn's wife Ashley)
8. alef null, thought balloon, astral body (Rudy Rucker, White Light - guessed by factitiouslj)
9. mercury drum, singularity sphere, control booth
10. green bullet, brass pole

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

4 probably isn't Yobgorgle, Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario, but it should be.

[mskala.livejournal.com]

Stupid Livejournal logged me out again. Anyway, #4 - Yobgorgle, Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario. Probably not actually correct, but it could be.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Nope.

[factitiouslj.livejournal.com]

#8 sounds like White Light.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Correct!

Some of these are hard

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

For #6 you might be able to guess the author but not the specific book. If you haven't already guessed #9, you probably haven't read the book.

Amazon only gave two phrases for the ones where I only listed two. For the case of #4 this is sort of baffling, especially since the phrases are from the same brief and not terribly significant episode in the book. As with tomscud's choice Small Gods, I left out Lem's The Futurological Congress because the only phrase given was "futurological congress".

Re: Some of these are hard

[mujib.livejournal.com]

#6 is Carl Sagan. The book is either Cosmos or Broca's Brain.

Re: Some of these are hard

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

It's Broca's Brain. I'll accept that.

[jwgh]

#2 isn't Cyberiad, is it?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Nope, the SIPs for Cyberiad were so frickin' obvious there was no point in listing them.

[skapusniak.livejournal.com]

Alas, I haven't a clue about any of these.

...But I do think 'Green Bullet, Brass Pole' and 'Pig Suit, Pig Mask' are great titles for that difficult sophomore album.

#7

[(Anonymous)]

is "To Kill A Mockingbird."

My wife Ashley got it, not me. I was sure it was going to be "A Confederacy of Dunces."

-Ted Bunn

#5 = Ulysses

[(Anonymous)]

Does borderline cargo cult science require a complete set of Wang tiles?

--Crgre

Re: #5 = Ulysses

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Got it!