John Michell is revered amongst Forteans for his writings on strangeness and esotericism. I'm also a sucker for anything on eccentrics as I plan to become increasingly eccentric as I age and I like to pick up tips from the experts. So "Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions" seemed to be right down my alley.

So it was a shame that the book just do much for me. Certainly, there were plenty of eccentrics to pick from but most I had already met in other publications and there was nothing that made me stop, go back and reread a sentence and think "My, that action was odd" (or words to that effect).

There are certainly reasons to read this though; anyone who believed that Jesus was born in Glastonbury is worth reading about, and while I'm unsure that I would ever vote for a candidate campaigning on issue that trepanning should be government funded, I'm happier knowing such candidates exist.

And if only my own obituary could match that of Mr Henry Lee Warner, "(his mind) was tinctured by peculiarities that separated him from a comparison with almost any other human being." ( )

Oddball people but largely ones who made no difference at all. Banvard's Folly is much more interesting as it often deals with unusual people but they are ones who had marked impacts on their times. They were important but have been forgotten whereas these people were never acknowledged in their own lifetimes much less after their deaths. ( )

Hollow earthers, flat earthers, bibliomaniacs, self-trepanners, and druids. Something for everyone. Adorable. ( )

"Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions" covers everything: Flat and Hollow Earths, British Israelites, Welsh Druidical Revivalists, conspiracy theorists, self-trepanners, bibliomaniacs, eugenicists, anti-Shakespearians, ufologists, and all the rest - and does so with sympathy and humanity. ( )