You recall my complaint the other day about not being able to find anyone I could donate my books to? Here’s a man in Kansas City, Missouri who tried to donate his extensive collection of 20,000+ books and was unable to.
Tom Wayne amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero’s Books. His collection ranges from best sellers like Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October” and Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities,” to obscure titles like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But wanting to thin out his collection, he found he couldn’t even give away books to libraries or thrift shops, which said they were full. So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books protest what he sees as society’s diminishing support for the printed word.
“This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today,” Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.
I can understand his frustration. I even thought of such a thing the other day when I was writing my earlier post. However, with the way I feel about books, I could never burn one. Not even to make a point.
I truly hope someone rescues the rest of his collection before it is gone.
UPDATE: The article is gone, but I’ve found that Prospero’s Books has a webpage, so the link (click the image) heads to that page. Their front page articles goes more in-depth to the reasoning behind the book burning demonstration including a short interview with Wayne.
I still disagree with how he made his point, but it seems he’s getting it across to people. I still wouldn’t burn a book for such a reason. My frustration has put me onto the path of finding ways to share, to swap, or to release books to the wild.
Check out some of the following places:
SwapSimple – swap books, games and CDs.
Booksfree – Like Netflix, but with paperbacks. Paperbacks are also accepted as donations with the donator earning credits to use toward more rentals.
Bookins – another way to swap books. You only pay s&h when you receive a book.
Book Crossing – Release your books into the wild and track them.
Odd timing. I just today found a new place to donate excess books: an assisted living center in Nebraska. The elderly residents need something to pass the time and many of them — including my aunt — are voracious readers.
The bare idea of burning books make my eyes twitch nervously. It’s just wrong!
I’ll see if there is something like that here, Mr. Fab. The more I read this story, the more it bothers me.
This is a shame. We are fortunate here in Gainesville in that all throughout the year people donate books to the Friends of the Library sale that is held twice yearly. It is a huge event, in fact people camp out for it the night before so they can get in early. I am sure they would have taken everything this fellow had. Of course, he’s halfway across the country.