Poll: Would you ever burn a book?

[Chase Yojimbo]

Yes and no. There are to many variables to state exactly how I would deal with burning or not burning a book. Would I burn a 'certain' book out of necessity? If I lived back in 1942, I doubt very much anyone would mind if I burned 'Mein Kampf', however now that I live in 2011, the supposed 'Age of Reason', I would never burn a book, no matter how horrid it is. However, if it came to my life or anothers in a harsh cold environment, I would sacrifice a book for warmth, because that warmth is both symbolic of knowledge and life, and in the end it still serves its purpose.

 

[teebeeohh]

i did burn books once
me and a couple of friends burned several copies of "mein Kampf" while on holiday (since the damn thing is illegal to own in Germany). Poetic justice and all that.

 

[Wereduck]

I have burned a couple of books, usually ones I really hated. You can slate pretty much any Dickensian work into this category (I appreciate the realism of stories but my god he just had no idea how to shut the hell up already), as well as The Scarlet Letter, but there was one book I read of my own volition that I hated so much that I basically purged it from my memory. I vaguely remember what it was about, but I can't recall the title. It was slow, dull, boring, ineffective, lethargic, and about as predictable as playing Pac Man. Which is bad for a horror book.
So yes, I read all the way through it because I swore to myself I would, then promptly took it outside, soaked it in petrol, wrapped it in Chinese firecrackers and lit the whole damn thing off at once.

+1 to this.
Burning a book because it offends you is, of course, a revolting display of arrogant, ignorant intolerance. Burning a book because it stole many painful hours of your life and you want revenge is perfectly acceptable. It's your property; as long as it's not an animal or a sentient machine you can treat it however you like (whether one could treat a sentient machine as property is a whole other argument).

The only reason I haven't burned the most horrid books I've read is because I wanted to preserve them as a warning to future generations.

EDIT: ...and for the record, Dickens doesn't bother me.

 

[lord.jeff]

I would but not for reasons of hating the book, everything that is created has a right to exist even if I hate it, but if I had to choose between a Nial Gaiman book and an Ayn Rand book to burn for warmth, I'd choose to burn the Ayn Rand book.

 

[Sejs Cube]

Depending on the circumstances, sure.

A book is just a thing. It's not like it's somehow sacred just because it's words on a page.

 

[Kenko]

No. Why burn perfectly good toiletpaper?

 

[EternalFacepalm]

I burned my schoolbooks plenty of times, and it was a blast. I don't see what's wrong with it, really.
Hell, I can burn some religious books too, yet why would it matter? They're constantly printed, and it's just ink on paper, so who the hell cares?!

 

[C95J]

Yeah, if I needed to. It's not like there aren't thousands of other copies of the same book anyway. And they aren't anything special anyway, just words on paper.

 

[Ghengis John]

If it was cold, I had nothing else to burn and I didn't particularly prize the book then sorry book, let's be practical. You're inanimate.

I'd never burn a book with malice. But I might see my way to burning one if practicality demanded it.

 

[RatRace123]

If I was really bored enough to want to do such an act, sure. Especially if I think the book sucks.
Like if I had a copy of Walden, I'd burn the crap outta that book.
Screw you Walden! I almost failed english class 'cause of you.

 

[Reaper195]

t would depend on reasons, what book, etc...but probably, yes.

 

[SpaceSpork]

I once burned Twilight with my friends for a laugh.

 

[The Thinker]

"Ever" is one of those words which I, as a (hopefully) mostly rational person, am alerted by. Anyhow, yes, I can think of situations in which I would burn a book, even if they are far-fetched.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I believe that the bible has constricted people's creative and intellectual ideas for a long time. I believe revenge is justified in this case.

 

[Maladict]

To quote from Going Postal:

"Are you the type to burn a book, Lipwig?"
"No..."
"Why?"
"Because you just don't do that sort of thing."
"Correct. Books must be treated with respect, we feel that in our bones."

I realise that burning one book won't change anything, but it's symbolic of things I really don't like. So I would never do it except in life-saving situations.

 

[rutger5000]

Depends, I don't give jack shit about racist or stupid opinions. So if a book contains only those then yeah. Also if there thousands of the book in question, then sure why not? Otherwise no. Knowledge and deep thoughts are something sacret to me.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

Yes I would. I have great passion for literature, if I feel a writer is f*cking with me I will be tempted.

Just cause it's bad? Go ahead, but it's better just to use it as cat litter. You don't want to make a fuzz when the book's not even worth mentioning. Like Twilight. I wouldn't even know what it is if you people wouldn't mention it all the time!

 

[CrazyMedic]

I don't know, would you ever break a ruler?

[sub][sub]I don't get it....[/sub][/sub]

it is the idea of destorying knowledge not the act of just destorying a random object like Fahrenheit 451.

OT: no, no matter what knowledge is sarcred.

 

[DementedSheep]

Yes...Is there something wrong with burning a book? It?s just paper, burning a book is hardly some great tragedy. Its not like they are even hard to produce now.
If you mean burning all books no or all copies of a particular book probably not.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

If the book was trying to kill me, yes, yes I would burn it.