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Random quote: My pass had disappeared. Not that I believed for a moment that this was an accident; in fact, I had suspected for some time now that the Cosmic Command, obviously no longer able to supervise every assignment on an individual basis when there were literally trillions of matters in its charge, had switched over to a random system. The assumption would be that every document, circulating endlessly from desk to desk, must eventually hit upon the right one. A time-consuming procedure, perhaps, but one that would never fail. The Universe itself operated on the same principle. And for an institution as everlasting as the Universe certainly our Building was such an institution the speed at which these meanderings and perturbations took place was of no consequence. - Stanislaw Lem (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub)
- (Added by: Engelbrecht)


Banned Books List
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Emil
Posted 2012-07-09 2:57 PM (#3672)
Subject: Banned Books List



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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia		I'm reading Norman Spinrad's The Iron Dream. It seems that the novel was banned in West Germany from 1981 to 1990 for its alleged promotion of Nazism. Perhaps it is another candidate for the Banned Books list?
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dustydigger
Posted 2012-07-10 2:08 AM (#3679 - in reply to #3672)
Subject: Re: Banned Books List



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Location: UK		Its amazing what has been banned,and for a variety of reasons.Apparently I have read 15 out of 34 of these books.
A few years ago my stepson and his wife and 3 kids aged 11,10 ,and 8 visited us,and I innocently asked if they enjoyed Harry Potter,which my other grandkids of similar age (and me too!) were reading.Well the reaction of my daughter in law was totally wild! You think I had advocated reading the vilest of the vile porn.My other grandkids just stood there gaping.Ah well,I have pictures in my head of these kids furtively procuring the series and sneaking around to read them behind their mother's back
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Administrator
Posted 2012-07-10 8:29 AM (#3687 - in reply to #3672)
Subject: RE: Banned Books List



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@Emil:  I've added The Iron Dream to the Banned Science Fiction & Fantasy Books list.  Thanks for pointing that one out.

@dd: Nothing makes a book more appealing to a child, or an adult for that matter, than sombody telling them they shouldn't read it.

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Emil
Posted 2012-07-10 9:54 AM (#3689 - in reply to #3679)
Subject: Re: Banned Books List



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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia
dustydigger - 2012-07-10 9:08 PM Well the reaction of my daughter in law was totally wild! You think I had advocated reading the vilest of the vile porn.


@Dusty I guess some people see something untoward in magic and wizards and all that jazz. I grew up with stories about a blundering witch who could only do one magic spell, that of making her horse appear, who often saves her bacon then. Actually quite comical and fun. And THAT was frowned upon by our then church/political establishment. If we have to start a list of the books our parents "banned' from our houses, we'll be in for quite a ride

Incidentally, The Iron Dream is a wonderful read. I can well appreciate the misunderstood nuances about Nazism. As a satire it is simply brilliant. I'm very happy to be reading it (a gift this weekend from my cousin).
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Scott Laz
Posted 2012-07-10 12:19 PM (#3694 - in reply to #3672)
Subject: Re: Banned Books List



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Location: Gunnison, Colorado		I hadn't really looked closely at this list before. What could be more ironic than banning Fahrenheit 451? Burning it, I suppose! It's religious fundamentalists that have gone after Harry Potter; I guess that's progress compared to the actual witch-burning days... This sort of thing has been going on for years, but it doesn't seem to have hurt sales much!

http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/book-burnings-potter-tech-media_cz...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1735623.stm
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Engelbrecht
Posted 2012-07-11 12:34 AM (#3709 - in reply to #3672)
Subject: RE: Banned Books List



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@Emil:  I loved The Iron Dream, such a brilliant satire!  I think I read somewhere that Spinrad wrote it as a poke in the eye to the writers and eager consumers of crude, macho, wish-fulfilling pulp sci-fi/fantasy.  The "poor" writing was deliberate, as was the use of a despicable protagonist who is nonetheless a perfect exemplar of the Joseph Campbell Hero.  Since you liked this one, you should try to get Spinrad's novella collection Other Americas.  It's hilarious.

@Scott:  Nice links - it's sort of like the Streisand Effect!  It sounds like the same sort of people who oppose the teaching of "higher order thinking skills" because it might challenge "student's fixed beliefs" and undermine "parental authority."

Another Nazi related genre book that's been banned is David Britton's Lord Horror (1990), published by Savoy Books.  In fact, it was the last book banned under England's Obscene Publications Act.  It features the eponymous Lord Horror (based upon William Joyce, English fascist and Lord Haw-Haw for Nazi Germany) as a psychotic philosopher in a surreal alternate universe.  Britton was imprisoned for it's authorship, and most of the copies of the book were destroyed (it has never been reprinted).  Not one to take things lying down, Britton responded by writing an in-your-face sequel, Mother********:  The Auschwitz of Oz (ironically, the forum censoring software prevents an accurate transcription of the title ) (1996).  Here's an interesting history of the book, and here's an excerpt (and here's a small piece that io9 did on it).  It's a disturbing but excellent book, and should be considered for the Banned Book list.

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