Scholar of the Strange and Mysterious
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Professor Hex
Scholar of the Strange and Mysterious
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting





Archives

Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Flame on! 
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

It's not often the Professor gets a ringside seat to a media firestorm but that's exactly what happened this weekend when my friends at Prospero's Books in Kansas City decided to have a book burning to draw attention to declining literacy in the United States. The event was covered by the local news and then picked up by the AP. I spent most of Memorial Day behind the counter at the store with noted troublemaker Jason Ryberg fielding calls from all over the country (and more than a few from overseas) as people rang with their concerns, blessings and outrage.

Many people understood the point the bookstore was trying to make - many others decidedly did not. Burning books promotes a visceral response in people, more so than any other method of disposal. We pointed out to upset callers (and more than a few angry bloggers) that libraries and bookstores fill dumpsters full of books every month with nary a peep from the public, but somehow books rotting in a landfill doesn't get under people's skins like throwing a book on a barbeque. That really pisses people off. Of course, anyone who has ever worked in a used bookstore immediately understood what was happening. It is hard to explain to someone who has never done it the sheer physical exertion involved with just moving 20,000 books, let alone storing, sorting, and pricing them. "Just give them away!" people cried. Well, they tried that. Libraries didn't want them. Charities turned them down and, oddly, so did prisons. You'd think a reading prison populace would be a safer prison populace but there seem to be a variety of barriers involved with getting books to prisoners. The book burning did open up some other avenues, such as getting books to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and a service that seems to specialize in getting books into prisons despite the red tape. The guys at the book store are looking into these options.

The burning has recieved quite a bit of notice from blogs literary and otherwise. Here is a thread at Metafilter and here is the Slashdot equivalent. A Google Blog Search for "Prospero's Books" will also give you an idea of the tenor of the debate. Oh, and here is the Prospero's Books MySpace page if you're into that sort of thing, complete with thoughtful blog entries and replies, as well as video of the event.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:43 PM

Comments:
test

regards. floss
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 9:08 PM
 
Post a Comment

Select Language:

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]

newsboy


Home
Prof. Hex on Facebook
Haunted Hex
Mail the Professor
1947project
About Paranormal
Acumedico
Adventure House
AlterNet
Alternative Science
Americablog
American Monsters
Andrew Gough's Arcadia
The Anomalist
Archaeology Magazine
Beast of Gevaudan
Beyond the Limits of Reason
BFRO
Bigfoot Sightings
Biofort
Bizarre Labs
Blogsquatcher
Boingboing
Borderland Science
Brad Blog
Cabinet of Wonders
Catch of the Day
Cellar Walls
Center for and Informed America
Centre for Fortean Zoology
Charles Fort Institute
Confessions of an Occult Mastermind
Cosmic Hex
Covert History
Crimeblog
Crime Library
Cryptomundo
Cryptozoologist
Cryptozoology.com
Cryptozoo-oscity
Cult News
Curious Expeditions
Daily Galaxy
Daily Grail
Daily Mirror
Darkride & Funhouse Enthusiasts
Damn Interesting
Disinformation
Doctor Fong's House of Mysteries
Dzi Beads
Ephemera
Erowid
Esoteric Archives
Esoteric Book Review
FARK
Feral House
Footprints at the River's Edge
Forgetomori
Forgotten New York
Formosa Neijia
Fortean Bureau
Fortean Times
Fortean Zoology
From The Shadows
Ghost Theory
Golden Bough
Google News
Gralien Report
Greenwoods Village
Hades Publications
Heart of Albion Press
Heavy Stuff
High Weirdness Project
Historic Sites and Shipwrecks
Hollywood Lost and Found
Howard Hallis
Huff Crime Blog
Illuminati Conspiracy Archive
Indrid Cold
Inexplicata
io9
ISGP
John August
John Cooley
Johnsville News
Karl Shuker
Kiki's Cauldron
Legends and Lore of Illinois
Llewellyn Journal
Lucky Mojo
Mac Tonnies
Mack White
Mad Cow News
Maajak World
Make: Blog
Marvel: A Biography of Jack Parsons
Megalithic Portal
MetaFilter
Michael Prescott
Militant Platypus
Miss Matters
MSN
Mmothra
Modern Mechanix
Monsterblog
Monster USA
Museum of Hoaxes
Mutate
NEARA
Neatorama
New Criminologist
New England Anomaly
New Scientist
New York City Walk
New York History Blog
Nick Redfern
No Smoking in the Skull Cave
Obakemono Project
Occult of Personality
Occult Science TV
OhGizmo
Okie Treasure Hunter
Oregon L.O.W.F.I
Oswald's Mother
Our Strange World
Our Valued Customers
Overheard in New York
Paleo-Future
Parafactor
Paranomalist
Paranormal Pastor
Parascientifica
Phantoms and Monsters
Pop Occulture
Poppet Projects
Posthuman Blues
Professor Pan
Pulp Rack
Qi Journal
Raw Story
Retro-Gram
Retro Thing
Ricky Jay
Rigorous Intuition
Sacred Text Archives
Sartorialist
Satellite Discoveries
Secret Sun
Sexy Witch
Shadowraiths
Smiley Face Killers
Sniggle.net
Spelunking thee Ideosphere
Sploid
Strange Ark
Strange Maine
Strange Maps
Strange Nation
Strange New Products
Strange State
Supernatural News
Swapatorium
Synchromysticism Forum
Tailrank
Tales to Astonish
Technoccult
Tesla Society
ThothWeb
Thrilling Wonder
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Tony's Kansas City
Trailers From Hell
TreasureNet
Truth Seekers
Underwater Times
Unexplained-Mysteries
Unsung Joe
Vanishing New York
Viewzone Magazine
Vintage Kansas City
Warren Ellis
Weird Asia News
Weird Wisconsin
WeirdWriter
Weird Universe
Wetass Chronicles
Wiki Cryptid List
Wisebread
Wit of the Staircase
Witchvox
Writer's Links
Yahoo
Yuka Tamura
Zodiac Killer
Privacy Policy