The titles of some of our most beloved books have a story of their own to tell. Take Joseph Heller’s classic Catch-22. The phrase has come to mean an impossible bind. In the book, which is about flying bombing runs over Europe during the Second World War, the impossible bind is this: if a pilot is crazy he can be grounded, but he can only be grounded if he asks to be grounded, but if he asks to be grounded, he’s showing a concern for his own safety so, therefore, he’s sane. So he can't get out whether he’s crazy or not. That’s the Catch-22. But, as author and book title expert Gary Dexter explains, it almost wasn't.

GARY DEXTER: As Heller was writing it, he thought of it all the time as Catch-18. Right at the point of publication, Leon Uris, the blockbuster novelist, wrote a book called Mila 18, and it was felt that Heller should be the one to blink and change his title, since he was the first-time novelist. So he and his publishers, they went through a long process of numerical agonizing, where they went through a whole [BOB LAUGHS] series of different integers; 11 was considered, 14 was considered. Finally they got to 22, and this seems now to reflect the themes of the book in a way that Catch-18, Catch 14 could never have done, because in the book everything is doubled. The hero, Yossarian, he bombs for our –

[OVERTALK] -

BOB GARFIELD: And the number of missions he has to fly continues to escalate.

GARY DEXTER: Exactly, yeah.

BOB GARFIELD: It also has a kind of cadence advantage. I mean, Catch-22 rolls off the tongue and a lot better, it seems to me, than Catch-18 would. But maybe that’s just because we've become accustomed to Catch-22.

GARY DEXTER: It’s very difficult to know, isn't it? Joseph Heller was apparently absolutely distraught that he had to change this number. It took him two weeks to find another one.

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] I guess just adding four [LAUGHS] wouldn't have done the trick.

GARY DEXTER: No, no.

BOB GARFIELD: Now, there are some famous titles that live forever in our hearts and minds that you believe could have been titled better, like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

GARY DEXTER: The book was originally entitled Alice’s Adventures Underground. This was the first copy of the book that Lewis Carroll hand wrote and hand illustrated himself. He thought that people reading it might be confused; they might think the book was something to do with mining. So he wrote to a friend and asked for some title suggestions. His friend came up with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I feel that Alice’s Adventures Underground is easily a better title, because “Wonderland” seems, in comparison, a very saccharine title, I think, and it’s not a saccharine book.

BOB GARFIELD: There’s another famous book which you also believe is mistitled, as a matter of fact, and that is Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s futuristic science fiction classic.

GARY DEXTER: Well, of course, Fahrenheit 451 is supposedly the temperature at which paper spontaneously catches fire and burns. And the novel is about a society in which reading is illegal and in which firemen are paid to impound books and burn them. Bradbury knew he wanted to use this temperature. Now, this doesn't quite explain the title, because if Bradbury had got it from contemporary sources, he would have been reading something similar to something that I consulted, which is called The Handbook of Physical Testing of Paper. It says, “The ignition temperature of paper is about 450 degrees C, but it is somewhat dependent on the paper quality.” But this is Celsius, so could Bradbury have mistook C for F, because if you translate that into Fahrenheit terms, it turns out to about 843 degrees. So perhaps the book should been Fahrenheit 843, the temperature at which certain kinds of book paper catch fire and burn, you know, possibly not as catchy.

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] No, it really doesn't trip off the tongue, does it?

GARY DEXTER: [LAUGHING] No.

BOB GARFIELD: So, okay, you are, I suppose, one of the world’s experts on book titles. It just so happens, my friend, that Brooke Gladstone, my co-host, is on leave right now writing her book, which she has tentatively titled The Influencing Machine. And I am, even as we speak, releasing my latest book, titled The Chaos Scenario. What do you think?

GARY DEXTER: Wow, that’s very interesting. Well, in your book title you've got two opposed nouns, and this is a strategy that you see in Robert Ludlum’s books, isn't it?

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHING] That’s exactly -

GARY DEXTER: Bourne Identity, The Bancroft Strategy. This has worked very well for Robert. [LAUGHS]

BOB GARFIELD: My whole strategy is to bank on consumer confusion.

GARY DEXTER: [LAUGHS] Yeah.

BOB GARFIELD: I want people to think they're buying a thriller, instead of a disquisition on the future of media.

GARY DEXTER: Right. Let's hope they're pleasantly surprised.

[LAUGHTER]

BOB GARFIELD: Now, what about a piece of graphic nonfiction titled The Influencing Machine, how does that grab you?

GARY DEXTER: Yeah, graphic nonfiction. Is this actually in pictures?

BOB GARFIELD: Yes, it certainly is.

GARY DEXTER: Yeah, The Influencing Machine. Yeah, I like it very much. It has a slight sort of '60s feel to it. It’s like those titles which were warning about dire consequences of population explosions and things like that.

BOB GARFIELD: Any numbers that you think we should throw in there? Influencing Machine 322, what do you think?

GARY DEXTER: Yeah, yeah, sort of Room 101 or something like that. Yeah, that could do well.

BOB GARFIELD: You’re being polite, but you don't seem like you’re rushing to get to the bookstore.

GARY DEXTER: I would definitely buy that book. I'm going to put my order in now. As soon as I get off the radio I'm going to go [BOB LAUGHS], go and put it in.

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] Well, bless your heart. That’s one. Gary, thank you so much.

GARY DEXTER: Okay, my pleasure.

BOB GARFIELD: Gary Dexter is the author of Why Not Catch-21?: The Stories Behind the Titles, and his new novel, The Oxford Despoiler.

[CLIP FROM SEINFELD]:

ELAINE: One wonders if War and Peace would have been as highly acclaimed as it was had it been published under its original title, War, What is it Good For?

[LAUGHTER] Yeah, Mr. Lippman, it was his mistress who insisted that he call it War and Peace.

[HORNS HONKING IN BACKGROUND]

MR. LIPPMAN: Elaine. Elaine.

ELAINE: War – What is it Good For? [SINGS] Absolutely nothing!

[LAUGHTER] Say it again! [LAUGHS]

[END CLIP]

BOB GARFIELD: That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Jamie York, Mike Vuolo, Mark Phillips, Nazanin Rafsanjani, Michael Bernstein and P.J. Vogt, with more help from Sarah Fidelibus and Kasia Gladki, and edited this week by our most senior producer, Katya Rogers. We had technical direction from Jennifer Munson and more engineering help from Zach Marsh. John Keefe is our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. This is On the Media from WNYC. Brooke Gladstone will be stopping in next week. I’m Bob Garfield.