Bored with your Encyclopedia Britannica? Wikipedia leaving you unfulfilled? If you're looking for a reference resource that's a little more risque, check out The Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature: in two hefty volumes and 546 entries, it reaches past the Western erotic canon to include works from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and covers everyone from Pierre Albert-Birot to Dengcao Heshang Zhuan. (Neither of whom we've heard of before, but you can bet we'll be looking them up right away.), Granted, reading about an encyclopedia about erotica isn't quite as sexy as actually reading erotica ... but at least having this book on your shelf will give you some cred with all the sex nerds in your life, and who knows where that will lead? Besides, we have to justify that $375 price tag somehow.
· Erotic Qualifications (timesonline.co.uk)
· The Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature (amazon.com)