Comments on: Banned Books Chosen By Readers Of This Blog

By: Jan from fish forum

Jan from fish forum — Sat, 17 May 2008 11:16:05 +0000

About 7 years ago the book Mein Kampf was released in our book stores; after about 1-2 months it got banned. Government said that it’s a propaganda of fascism. OK, I was one of those happy ones who bought it before it was banned. I don’t like wars, I don’t like killing people, I don’t want to divide people into groups based upon their race. Instead, I’d like to understand the history and I’d like to know more and more details.

Some people just can’t stand it… I read it from first to last page, and I never returned to it. I understood some Hitler’s ideas and got better picture of 1910-1920’s (the book was released in 1925 I think).

I didn’t kill anybody, I don’t hate black, yellow or even Slavs (I am a Slav myself), I didn’t became evil. So what’s the purpose of banning books? Just because some people don’t understand the whole thing…

By: chica

chica — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:54:00 +0000

And I believe that some libraries tried to ban Enid Blyton too!

By: chica

chica — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:49:00 +0000

I’ve read Fahrenheit 451 and I really liked it. I thought it made a good argument of how extreme measures of censorship seem may prove counter-productive. I believe Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is also banned? I wish I had read your post before I wrote my latest post, would have loved to have linked to banned books!

By: genny

genny — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:05:00 +0000

Wow thats a book! I am not really a book reader but my hubby likes to read and he likes books.

By: awannabe

awannabe — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:50:00 +0000

I never knew A Light in The Attic was
banned so thanks for sharing this post. I love reading the book to my kids and hearing their laughter.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:39:00 +0000

Thanks, Ron. I was surprised and impressed at the number and quality of suggestions I received.

By: JoyZeeBoy

JoyZeeBoy — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:56:00 +0000

Oooooh, I love the new selections. I’m such an anarchist at heart!

Censorship, at it’s very heart, has more to do with books that simply make us feel “uncomfortable” with our own prejudices than it does with books that we find obscene.

By: techfun

techfun — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:25:00 +0000

I think he looked at it from a higher level than censorship of books. If you look at it from the TV as a replacement for reading, you see that a government can bypass any controversy over banning a book and just eliminate the market for books entirely by weaning people away from reading as a pastime.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:26:00 +0000

wow. I had no idea. I think this changes the way I feel about the book but not yet sure how. (I really had thought of it as the ultimate anti-censorship manifesto…)

By: Techfun

Techfun — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:08:00 +0000

I think I am going to reread Fahrenheit 451 again this week. It’s been years since I read it. There was some news in May when Bradbury spoke, explaining that Fahrenheit 451 was not meant to condemn censorship of books. Instead he meant it as a condemnation of television for tendency to be used as a substitute for reading. If you ever see the old movie version, note the references to the forest of TV antennas on the roofs of most homes shown on film.