Comments on: What Books Would You Ban?

By: christine

christine — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:00:51 +0000

Stewart Home, Jack Ketchum and other total crap. I am more movie banner than book banner, though.

By: christine

christine — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:00:51 +0000

Stewart Home, Jack Ketchum and other total crap. I am more movie banner than book banner, though.

By: Tara Davis

Tara Davis — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:22:21 +0000

From the public library?

Ban 'em all.

If people want to read books, they can buy them themselves.

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:25:18 +0000

I think everyone is missing the most obvious crap to ban: worthless politcal tracts written by people like Hannity, Coulter, Moore, O'Reilly, etc. How could anyone propose banning Rand, the Koran, Nietzsche, Cervantes, Keynes, or Dostoevsky before this garbage?

By: Anonymous Today

Anonymous Today — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:06:04 +0000

The Bible, Torah, Koran, and every other book that people use to teach children that there is, as George Carlin put it:

“an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!”

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:15:22 +0000

Anything by Al Gore.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:38:28 +0000

I would ban books that are largely inoffensive and very popular. I would do this to spur resistance to the idea of banning books. However, that probably violates your supposition that I favor book-banning.

But then, I think the “lame” resistance to counterfactuals is not lame at all. It's usually the counterfactuals that are lame. If you find it annoying that some people don't respond according to your preferences, then find a different technique.

By: NicoleTedesco

NicoleTedesco — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:33:25 +0000

If I had to ban books, I would make up a few authors and titles of books I would WANT written then simply say they were banned. Good Grief, what a conspiracy! People would look everywhere and not find those titles anywhere–how effective was I at banning those books! I would imagine that real authors would write similar books just to cash in on the resulting clamor.

Golly, this sounds like a great business plan…

By: NicoleTedesco

NicoleTedesco — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:31:32 +0000

[delete me]

By: Jason Armstrong

Jason Armstrong — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:20:07 +0000

“The Future of the Internet – And How To Stop It” by Jonathon Zittrain.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:33:35 +0000

Where to start, where to start? Ayn Rand, Ann Coulter, Michael Moore, Dinesh D'Souza, Lenin, most self-help books, Sophie's World, anything pop-Buddhist, anything of the Tom Clancy/John Grisham/Sydney Sheldon genre and much much more!

This has revealed an authoritarian streak in me.

By: Greg S.

Greg S. — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:38:12 +0000

“People's History of the United States” by Howard Zinn

Of course I haven't read it, but I find those that have extremely annoying.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:25:00 +0000

I can't believe no one has mentioned Keynes' General Theory book. I'd ban that one. Also, I would be on board with banning any book advocating socialism, or any other form of collectivism.

By: Snorri Godhi

Snorri Godhi — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:55:35 +0000

What about the Iliad? Lots of gratuitous violence, and the idea that our destiny is in the hands of the gods undermines personal responsibility.

By: greenish

greenish — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:15:46 +0000

No! Censors frequently don't read or see what they ban – get in character!