A Good Old Fashoned Bookburning

[Number 2 Pencil]

I read Sphere by Michael Crichton years ago, and when I finished it, my first thought was, "I genuinly HATE this book. This was so bad I would burn it." That one idea has brought up in me- a true lover of ideas and words- a strange hobby. I classify bad books by whether or not I should burn them. Many books have been redeemed by one stray idea or two, and I am proud to say that my 'books that deserve burning' list is very, very short.

I loves to read, and I love knowledge in all its forms - even in forms that I disagree with. Bookburning to me is a kind of blasphemy that really should be restricted to the most vile of books, and, of course I would argue that even those really bad books merit existence if only for the study of really bad ideas.

But I have this fantasy. I would hold a BBQ and invite all my friends over for a good old fashioned bookburning. They would bring textbooks they hated, really bad novels, a Chick tract or two- any book full of vile and unredeemable content. The one requirement was that each bookburning needed to be justified in some extremely meaningful (and/or possibly personal) way. Of course, I don't mean burn every copy of the book, some should be preserved somewhere for those that know what they are getting into, but really if the book is bad enough, no one should want to ever bother wasting their time reading it.

So, ladies and gents, gather round the fire. Feel its warmth and see its flicker. Toss in what you like

I'll start...

Sphere by Michael Crichton - bad plot, anti-science, really bad ending, personal loathing for a really poor novel

Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard - gateway book to a crazy cult, book is full of made up psudeo-psychology

The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce -blathering racism and all-around pointlessness