I came across this meme while browsing my visitor stats and thought I should try it out. Much though I dislike Amazon, it does have some fun bells and whistles, including the listing of Statistically Improbable Phrases from any book where they have got adequate access to the text and interesting enough results. I’ve pulled out a few from books I have read so far this year; can you identify any of them?

1) salted meal, sacred salt, great laurel, father river

2) punishable assault, marrow wound, notice that the suit, full outlawry, fifth court, old beardless, nine neighbours, lesser outlawry, lawful notice, lawful request, property forfeit, quarter court, named witnesses, forfeited property, same bloodline, brain wound, greatest lawyers, internal wound – Njal’s Saga, identified by

3) grave handbook, word shaker, swampy eyes, standover man, dream carrier, duden dictionary, drop sheets

4) most different climates, temperate productions, arctic productions, transitional gradations, modified descendants, naturalised plants, consecutive formations, sessile cirripedes, aboriginal species, unknown progenitor, transitional grades, domesticated productions, larger genera, doubtful forms, modified offspring, transitional varieties, profitable variations, diversified habits, neuter insects, systematic affinity, fossiliferous formations, mere individual differences, mongrel offspring, occasional means – The Origin of Species, identified by

5) camouflage foil, cryo pod, fairy technology, bum flap, secondary door, helmet mike, jade ring, metal man, oxygen canisters, plasma screen

6) dying earth, caribou herd, ultimate intelligence, anti entropic fields, arrestor rods, hawking mat, tesla trees, motile isles, farcaster portals, cryogenic fugue, crew clones, mini gun, standard months, flame forests, containment field, universal card, standard centuries, local years – Hyperion, identified by (and almost by ).

7) signs with falsehood, punishment doth await, shameful chastisement, grievous chastisement, thou mayest warn, herein truly, observe prayer, thou thy trust, best knoweth, hath knowledge, hath guided, thy lord, whoso believeth, believing servants, clear tokens, hath subjected, obey the apostle, hath sealed, hath cursed

8) sensory motions, gusty air, atomic shapes, atomic compounds, sunlit world, component atoms

9) old lady with mittens, dressing gong, gingerbread men – Charmed Life, identified by

10) expected brain size, altruist genes, sigmoidal growth, giant deer, juvenile features, antler size, periodical cicadas, organic diversity, gall midges, descent with modification

11) white saloon car, gone bad inside, mystery blonde

12) divisional inquisitor, old broom, huge men – Witch Week, spotted by

13) ale house, lavash bread, cobblestone alleyway

14) green wind, third rail