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I don't understand people...
Thismakes me both sad and angry. Especially the part about libraries nottaking books… that struck me as odd. I guess I shouldn’t be too hard onhim… I had to throw out some ancient technical books this past weekend,for the obvious reasons.
But I do hope he didn’t burn any collectible Babylon 5 novels, or SFanthologies from the 60s and 70s. And if he didn’t try to sell themonline, I have to wonder why he thought getting rid of them locally washis only option.
Missouri man burns books as act of protest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in awarehouse 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 “TheHunt for Red October” and Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities,” toobscure titles, like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-AmericanConference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But when he wanted to thin outthe collection, he found he couldn’t even give away books to librariesor 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 toldspectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.
The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City FireDepartment put it out because Wayne didn’t have a permit for burning.
Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisionsmonthly bonfires until his supply — estimated at 20,000 books — isexhausted.
“After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we’ve sloggedthrough, and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you awaywhen 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 peoplemore often get their information from television or the Internet. Hepointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, thatfound that less than half of adult respondents reported reading forpleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982.
Kansas City has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recentyears, and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said WillLeathem, 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 andmusic.
“I’ve been trying to adopt as many books as I could,” she said.
Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searchingthrough the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minutebargains.
Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antiquecollection of children’s literature, which he said he’d save for his4-year-old son.
“I think, given the fact it is a protest of people not readingbooks, it’s the best way to do it,” Bechtel said. “(Wayne has) made thepoint that not reading a book is as good as burning it.”
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I wonder what was burned, if antique collections were waiting to be sent to the flames.
I'm not surprised by the libraries, though. They have a finite amount of space and even less in the way of funding. HOWEVER, every year the city library here puts on a huge book sale. People come from all over for it. The bookstores here are packed and busy. The used bookstore in the city had to move to a bigger building and there is always someone there, buying away.
It makes me wonder about the owner in this instance. I'm pretty sure I can't see the people in KC being any different from out here!