Book Burning

[Cynthetiq]

Bookstore owner burns books in protest
CNN
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books.

His collection ranges from best sellers, such as Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," to obscure titles, like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But when he wanted to thin out the collection, he found he couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops; they said they were full.

So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books in protest of what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.

The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit for burning.

Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisions monthly bonfires until his supply -- estimated at 20,000 books -- is exhausted.

"After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we've slogged through, and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you away when you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "And it's a good excuse for fun."

Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more often get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than half of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982.

Kansas City has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recent years, and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said Will Leathem, a co-owner of Prospero's Books.

"There are segments of this city where you go to an estate sale and find five TVs and three books," Leathem said.

The idea of burning the books horrified Marcia Trayford, who paid $20 Sunday to carry away an armload of tomes on art, education and music.

"I've been trying to adopt as many books as I could," she said.

Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searching through the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minute bargains.

Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antique collection of children's literature, which he said he'd save for his 4-year-old son.

"I think, given the fact it is a protest of people not reading books, it's the best way to do it," Bechtel said. "(Wayne has) made the point that not reading a book is as good as burning it."

Costs more to store than it does to burn. Companies destory books and merchandise all the time if things go past the "sell off period" of licensed goods.

I'm not a fan of destroying things, but if people don't want them they don't want them.

Do you buy new books or buy used books? Do you give yours away when you are done?

I tend to not buy used books and I tend to not give mine away.

[Lady Sage]

I recycle a good many things. Books are no different.

I buy new books if I can not find them used. I adore going to flea markets, yard sales, thrift shops looking for awesome reads for only a buck or two. I have been known to sell books at my own yard sales over the years or more likely I give them to people that I know like that particular author or type of book.

When I give my best friend a book, it goes to her mother, then to her aunt in WV, then to her friend in KY. My books get a lot of miles. I have another friend that loves all the romance "smut" books my mom gives me that I wont read. She takes them by the box full! Any books I can not find a home for I take in bags to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. They have never refused me.

They also have stores these days that will buy your books back for partial price to be spent in their store. Most of them also take donations.

Libraries in these parts have sales at least twice a year to sell off their old stock of books- or books they have too many copies of. Depending on the library you can get books for $2 and under or, at my favorite library sale, you can get all you can stuff in a big paper bag for $5.

If all else fails theres always eBay or half-dot-com.

[ShaniFaye]

I very very seldom buy new books, I just dont see the point in paying that much when I can get a copy that hasnt even had the spine cracked for 50% if not more off. I think the Harry Potter books are the only ones I buy brand new.

The last time we hit the used store we spend about 80 bucks and came away with 33 books, that averages about 2.42 a book....and a lot of them are in hardback.

I dont buy books to get rid of them lol so I have MANY bookcases double stacked. I reread books many times

[Lady Sage]

I used to hoard books too until I moved twice in 2 years... now I just keep my favorites, the ones I know I will read over and over again.

Good to see I am not the only book-ho.

[Siege]

I only buy books that are on sale, if at all. I've recently started trading books with my neighbour, so taht should further reduce the amount of money I spend on books.

[Baraka_Guru]

I buy new books only if I can't find what I'm looking for used. Toronto is a great place to find used books, so I try to stay out of the chain as much as possible. Thankfully my tastes usually reach back before the mid-twentieth century, so I can get most things I want for under $10. I've found many treasures that were originally priced three times higher and are still in great condition.

I only buy a book if I know I want to keep it in my personal library. Otherwise, I use the public library, where I'm a pretty heavy user.

[squeeeb]

oh god, burning books to protest people not buying books is like fucking to promote chastity.....if it costs too much to store, give them away dammit. give them to me....

i buy used and new. i keep most, the ones i don't want i give to the library, give to people, or i partake in http://www.bookcrossing.com

i don't know who tom wayne is, but that fucktard should be shot for burning books...how many libraries, jails, foster homes, soldiers oversees, good will, st vincnet de paul stores, etc etc etc, could have used those books? someone should burn him....

[tenniels]

I buy quite a few books, I love to read. Haven't bought any used books though, but would in the future. I generally keep all my books, as I also like to re-read them at a later date. If I do want to get rid of books, I give them to friends or family, and if not I give them to a Goodwill or thrift store so someone else can read them. It's too bad all those books got burned, but they were his and I guess it was his choice to burn them. Would have been nice if he donated them to a school or library, but that would have not made the same impact in the media, but a bigger impact on others lives.

[Willravel]

Everyone already has enough books, so he assumes the world hates books, therefore we burn books to protest? Don't give idiots matches.

I have hundreds of books. I'd sooner cut off my left hand than burn them.

[hulk]

Originally Posted by willravel

Everyone already has enough books, so he assumes the world hates books, therefore we burn books to protest? Don't give idiots matches.

I have hundreds of books. I'd sooner cut off my left hand than burn them.

But you don't have 20,000 books and it doesn't cost you to store them. The man's method is crude and effective at getting his point across.

I would be alright if the millions that eat up everything J K Rowling spits out would expand their horizons a little.

[Charlatan]

A couple years ago I sold off almost all of my books. Last year before I moved, I gave away the rest.

It was hard to do but I am much happier without all the clutter and weight. I have a amassed a box of two of books since and those too will be shuffled off to books stores or friends.

[fresnelly]

I go to the Library and only buy when I know the book is going to be a keeper, sometimes after borrowing a copy first.

[Jinn]

Books are for ninnies.

My biggest problem is that they're so expensive. My DSL bill is about the same as one or two books a month, but I can easily download 100s of books using the connection.

[Destrox]

I love my book colleciton, I always buy new. I also always share them with friends and family.

I would have loved to had some of those books rahter being burnt!

[ShaniFaye]

Originally Posted by JinnKai

Books are for ninnies.

My biggest problem is that they're so expensive. My DSL bill is about the same as one or two books a month, but I can easily download 100s of books using the connection.

how on earth is a person supposed to read an electronic book in the bathtub

[Jinn]

Ahh you see...


Baths are for ninnies too.

I hate baths, so it's truly no loss to me.

And yes, I do take showers..

[wavesofeuphoria]

definitely seems like a waste ... i can maybe understand the "cost effectiveness" from his point of view ... but at least donating them to schools, retirement homes, libraries, jails, etc etc ... might have garnered him at least a tax write-off.

books are expensive and their value depreciates the moment you purchase them it seems ... i too try to shop used ... only get new in "have-to" cases.

book sharing, passing on, recycling is indeed the best ... would really like to see more of that ... for both economic and conservationist reasons

[roachboy]

there are several contexts that seem to be jammed together in the op article, really.

1. the symbolism of a book burning--or, a little story in which a book dealer tries to turn his desire to free up storage space into a piece of agitprop.

2. to what extent is this action like that which happens all the time at the publisher level in dealing with overstock--the extra copies of a book produced by a run of x copies that do not sell--damaged copies, prodution errors---or in what way is this action like getting pulped?
2a. what is the "natural life cycle" of a book?
2a.1: what happens to used books?
do they circulate in a system that enables them to enjoy a "natural" lifespan?

so is the book burning book murder?

2b: to what extent is a collapse in the used book market a canary in the mineshaft for the book trade in general? is the book trade going to go the way of the mainstream music industry?

2b.1: beneath this: to what extent is this guy's store in kansas a canary in the mineshaft insofar as the used book trade is concerned?

3. what is the present status of books--as medium of communication, as objects?

i figure maybe laying out a different set of questions could open up the discussion a bit more.

busy at the moment: i'll come back to this later.

[Charlatan]

As soon they make a comfortable, practical and affordable portable reader I will be all over it.

I need to be able to read on the bus. I need to be able to toss it into my bag and not have it be like a brick in weight or a piece of glass in fragility. It also need a good battery life. I don't want to be tethered to an outlet nor do I want to be halfway across the Pacific on an 18 hour flight only to run out of power.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

I can't understand this Wayne character. If nobody was willing to come and buy them, why didn't they appear on the sidewalk for free? The burning smacks of other things which a bookseller might understand to be offensive.

[roachboy]

personally, i like books. i dont necessarily feel that i have to buy a whole lot of them or keep them hanging around. but i like books. books that are particularly well-designed, books made with care and attention i might buy. but most books aren't made that way. particularly not academic books, which have somehow managed to fob off inattention to typography and layout as some kind of marker of intellectual authenticity. well, they aren't: they are markers of laziness. it's probably a reason why no=one reads them who doesn't have to for some reason. in the main, they look like shit.

i do not read them in the same way as i read online texts, e-texts. particularly longer things--if i cant find them in print and i find them online, i'll print them and read that way. i like paper. i like letters on paper. i like the quiet they seem to impart. i like the textures of paper.

i dont know the extent to which this is a function of habit or something about the medium itself.

i have done and do ALOT of research online. i accumulate largely factoids there. it seems to suit the modes of reading particular to the net, the accumulation of factoids.

i dont read philosophy--or even texts by authors i like--while sitting in front of a computer monitor. for me--and this is no doubt particular--i do not find myself thinking terribly clearly when i take in information off the computer. my thoughts are the size of a monitor. everything becomes little, superficial.
if i am reading fiction, the lighting provided for the monitor keeps flattening me against the letters. there is no space for projection, no space.

strangely, writing is another matter. i think i have just gotten used to it--except that if i am editing something of any size, i have to work off a print version to do it.


it doesnt really matter which media appeals to you, in the end. what matters more is what you do with what you take in. how you get to it is not even that interesting or important.

[Baraka_Guru]

roachboy, I like what you wrote. I think your experiences are shared by many others, including me. To each medium, its function. I don't think many other readers would prefer a monitor over a book for longer works, especially cover-to-cover reading such as novels. There are many people out there who fetishize the book. They like the look and feel of them.


And in defense of academic presses, a lack of production quality is often not due to laziness, but due to a lack of resources. Most academic presses can only hope to recoup a fraction of a book's costs through sales. It would be difficult to justify major improvements considering the book's subject matter and market. The smallest changes in a book project has an incredible impact on cost. I couldn't imagine what it was like before computers.

[jorgelito]

I thought he tried to give them away but no one wanted the books. So if that's the case, what's the big deal that he burned them?

[World's King]

Donate them to charity. A prison maybe...



On second thought... who gives a fuck. Burn 'em.

[ShaniFaye]

I was wondering myself if everyone read the full article, because it states twice he tried to give them away and nobody wanted them

[World's King]

I read it... My comment was just more funny that way.

[jorgelito]

Originally Posted by ShaniFaye

I was wondering myself if everyone read the full article, because it states twice he tried to give them away and nobody wanted them

I guess that makes two of us.

[Ananas]

Ray Bradbury is probably choking on the smoke.

I understand his dilemna, though. Maybe someone in his area can provide him with a list of organizations that will accept literary donations in future.

[rhaevyn]

According to paperbackswap.com, several groups contacted this guy, asking if they could take the books off his hands, and he said he would pick one of the groups to receive them.

[snowy]

I understand that the man is trying to make a dramatic point. I think it also marks a saddening trend in American culture. We no longer see books as necessary to our lives, as things we love, as material things that are precious to us, as things to carry with us and collect. The printed word has ceased to be a symbol of how much leisure time a person has, and we have deemed it disposable.

Personally, I find that trend fairly repugnant, and am quite proud to say I have a personal library numbered in the several hundreds. I have amassed my collection of the printed word through many means, typically though I have prowled used bookstores, book exchanges, and Friends of the Library sales.

Though I did grow up in a house with as many TVs as people, we still had more books than most people I know. In the end, it's about balance. You can still watch TV and be a reader. Some people find no reason to pursue reading as an interest or escape, which is unfortunate, and one of the reasons I want to teach English. We have to make readers of people when they're young, or else we'll never make readers of them at all.

People can appreciate the written word without being absolute bibliophiles. There are still many of us out there, though, that are collecting books by the hundreds. Eventually, I am going to need a room just for my books.