“A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy.”
– James Madison
On Books, #11
It matters because the ability to read challenging books helps make one more independent-minded. It encourages a way of thinking that is not a product of the mass media. It gives one the ability to think for oneself and entertain contrary opinions, and the freedom from dependence on Hollywood for a view of the world.
The literary culture is the last bastion of the individualist. Our society, our culture, even our economy depend on preserving free-thinking dissidents. And there is nothing that works better to free a mind from cant and superstition than to engage with the ideas of the world’s greatest writers.
– Diane Ravitch
On Second Thought: Banning Harry Potter
Writing in the Religion section of a recent issue of the Boston Globe, Michael Paulson addresses the controversies surrounding J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of books, and avers “how the boy wizard won over religious critics – and the deeper meaning theologians now see in his tale”. It’s a theme not unfamiliar to those who have observed the censuring, censoring and banning of other books.
This year Banned Books Week will run from September 26th to October 3rd. (We’ll soon have more announcements about events and programs at the Haysville Community Library during Banned Books Week.)
Want to learn more about Banned and Challenged Books? Visit the website of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, or their Frequently Challenged Books page. For a listing of recently challenged or banned books, including those of the Harry Potter series, see Books Challenged & Banned in 2008-2009 and Books Challenged or Banned in 2007-2008.
On Books, #10
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
– Joseph Brodsky
On Books, #9
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
– Dame Rebecca West
On Books #7
“. . . William the Conqueror’s Doomsday Book, written on vellum in 1086 AD, has survived 900 years. However, the medium used for a digital version of the book, encoded in 1986, failed within 20 years.”
– Science Daily
“New Memory Material May Hold Data for One Billion Years”
May 26, 2009
On Books, #6
“The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.”
– Carl Sagan
On Books, #5
“A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
– John Milton
On Books, #2
“Books . . . contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.”
– John Milton
On Books #1
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.”
– Anna Quindlen
