Bwog asked for the weird things seen in textbooks. Here’s what we got.

No shit, Sherlock:

  • From a book on McCarthyism: “It’s hard to have a witch-hunt without witches”

The editors forgot to take it out of the final draft:

  • From a chapter on cyclic molecules: “‘Clearly the ring had an unwholesome power…’ —J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings.”
  • “Note: it would have been extremely awkward to evaluate the integral”

Trying too hard to include pictures:

Yes, that's a monkey looking in the mirror. Yes, it's to demonstrate our facial recognition system.

Yes, that’s a monkey looking in the mirror. Yes, it’s to demonstrate our facial recognition system.

Small percent error? Or just looking for an excuse to print that picture in a textbook?

Small percent error? Or just looking for an excuse to print that picture in a textbook?