God told me to buy this book
Years before I ever learned any German I craved a Duden Bildwörterbuch, that massively detailed picture dictionary for grownups.
So I was standing in Half Price Books with a 1958 edition in my hands wondering whether it was worth three bucks and two linear inches of shelf space. I opened it at random to this page:
Then I caught a glimpse of another customer out of the corner of my eye. I did a double-take and saw that he was dressed approximately like this:
I took it as an omen and bought the book.