10-11-2011, 05:04 PM | #1 |
Are you gonna eat that?
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6 Reasons We're In Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History
"The next thing I'm going to say is going to make 80 percent of you want to punch me in the face, so let's get it out of the way: For the past year or so, part of my job has been to walk through library warehouses and destroy tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books.
Book burning is something people usually associate with the Third Reich (the fact that this is the second time this year I've been compared with Nazis on this website probably speaks more about me than I would care to admit sober), a symbol of intolerance and a hatred of intellectualism. But that's not why we're doing it. So, let me take this chance to make a few things clear ..." "Imagine holding a beautiful, dusty, illustrated volume of Shakespeare printed in the 1700s, a calligraphic message from its long-dead owner inscribed on the inside cover, and throwing it straight in the trash. I've been there, more than once. I could have kept it and maybe gotten a few hundred dollars for it on eBay, if my supervisor wasn't watching with specific orders to prevent me from doing that." Read more: 6 Reasons We're In Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19453...#ixzz1aVeXSMYb salty language warning. i'm sure this will angry up some blood. its bleeping disgusting. |
10-11-2011, 05:20 PM | #2 |
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I'm not sure, but I think this thread may have Godwin-ed itself before it even started. Is that legal?
I think they forgot the "tear the cover off the paperback and return it for a refund while disposing of the rest" scenario that retailers have been doing forever. Last edited by DiapDealer; 10-11-2011 at 05:23 PM. |
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10-11-2011, 05:36 PM | #3 |
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My loacal libraries simply put them on dedicated shelves and sell - .20p - £1 - with a "cancelled" stamp on 'em.
Nobody to pay , money for the libraries, great bargain books for the people who pay for the libraries, and content, in the first place. And scale is no excuse - put all those 1700's Shakespeares (oh, perlease) in boxes and sell them for $10/£5 etc.. Or give the lot to charity shops and let them sell them.... What a nonsense. No library needs to do this. Not April 1st is it ? |
10-11-2011, 05:45 PM | #4 |
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Just ship them to me. I'll do the categorizing and selling. Proceeds to a charity. Seriously. If this is going on, the library board is what needs burning, not the books.
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10-11-2011, 05:45 PM | #5 |
Aging Positronic Brain
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If you read the comments at the end, many people blame e-books for part of this.
I can't see any logic to destroying something that could be sold, especially if they are valuable antiques. I do almost my reading on my e-reader, but I also have a library of DTBs that I do not want to destroy or sell. Many of them are books my father gave me or older books I've collected over the years. Others are reference works. I think we do need to keep repositories of paper books, etc. Funding issues are a reality that need to be addressed though. |
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10-11-2011, 05:58 PM | #6 |
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I'm another who can't see any logic in destroying obviously valuable centuries old Shakespeare volume. Because it would take "too much time" for the staff to remove the library checkout card? huh???? Just how much time does it take for a well educated librarian to sort that list, pick out what are obviously the valuable books and send an employee out to retrieve them. If nothing else, put them in a large room and sell admission tickets to book collectors to go in and search through and find what they want. Somebody could then sit at the door with a book of collector price guide and negotiate the selling price as they leave. They'd make money from that. I volunteer every time our library has a used book "Friends Sale" and those EBAY and Amazon marketplace sellers show up at the crack of opening dying to go through what is there. It takes about 2 minutes to collect their money and stamp out the "Property of" marks as they walk out the door.
But the fact of the matter is .... where does the value of a book lie? Is it the paper, or the words? If a book is going to sit untouched and unseen in a warehouse for over a century, how valuable is that? I agree that destroying a collector book like that is morally reprehensible, but Shakespeare isn't going to disappear because of it. One of the reasons digitization of literature is so important is so that a book never has to die because of water or smoke damage, lack of storage space, it went out of print, or it simply has been lost in a box or in the stacks at the British Library. |
10-11-2011, 06:11 PM | #7 |
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Uh, I dunno.
I'm not going to condone book burning or mulching, but... ...we're looking at an article from, ahem, CRACKED? Last I heard, those folks made a living off satire, spoofs, and practical jokes. So, I would take any reports of trashed Shakespearean folios coming from that direction with a dose of salt. Like five or six pounds worth. Just me, mind you. |
10-11-2011, 06:20 PM | #8 |
Publishers are evil!
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I just don't believe they are burning Shakespeare books from the 1700s. I'm calling BS on that one.
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10-11-2011, 07:56 PM | #9 | |
Are you gonna eat that?
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Quote:
The 6 Most Horrifying Lies The Food Industry is Feeding You: "You know what's awesome? Newspaper. Or, to be precise, the lack thereof. The Internet and other electric media have all but eaten up classic print media, with the circulations of almost all papers on the wane. Say, do you ever wonder what they do with all that surplus wood pulp?" Read more: The 6 Most Horrifying Lies The Food Industry is Feeding You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19433...#ixzz1aWL2yApq there was an article yesterday that exposed the truth about america's "enemies"- 6 B.S. Myths You Probably Believe About America's 'Enemies' Read more: 6 B.S. Myths You Probably Believe About America's 'Enemies' | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19461...#ixzz1aWMXYi00 while it may be presented with humorous elements i've actually learned a ton from the site. i don't find articles like that on "legitimate" news sources. Last edited by xg4bx; 10-11-2011 at 08:01 PM. |
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10-11-2011, 08:02 PM | #10 |
Groupie
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Libraries do it all the time - it's called weeding. Not every book can stay on the shelf until the end of time, and the ones that don't get checked out get pitched. Don't get the vapors, though. Large library systems, and those at the state and university level try to keep the last copy of a tattered book that has circulated well, especially if it's out of print.
As far as the British Library and the Shakespeare book goes, I can believe it. It's the British Library; they probably get 18th century volumes of Shakespeare's works in the mail every day, and it's not like it was the First Folio or anything. |
10-11-2011, 10:10 PM | #11 |
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Satire can be educational, if read carefully.
My favorite CRACKED skit remains: Commander Spock, boldly tip-toeing "Where no man has gone before": The Enterprise's ladies' restroom. Last edited by fjtorres; 10-11-2011 at 10:16 PM. |
10-11-2011, 10:32 PM | #12 |
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Academic libraries do not exist to preserve artifacts.
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10-11-2011, 10:51 PM | #13 | |
Cynical Old Curmudgeon
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10-11-2011, 10:51 PM | #14 | |
Geographically Restricted
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10-12-2011, 01:36 AM | #15 |
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I find it hard to believe that any library or librarian would enter a book from the 1700's into the general collection nowadays.
And if they entered it a couple of centuries ago why get rid of it now. It is possible, but highly unlikely, even in the age of idiots. Helen |
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