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Bookstore Owner Burns Books

Posted by kdawson on from the you'll-never-see-this-book-alive-again dept.

Several readers sent us links to an AP story about a pair of Kansas City booksellers who staged a book bonfire, claiming to protest declining literacy. The story doesn't convey a sure sense of the booksellers' motives for what could, in fact, be a PR stunt or a subtle act of extortion against book lovers — it does mention that people were buying books out of the piles awaiting immolation. The bookstore's own site tries to sound sincere, but it offers visitors a chance to save books from the flames for $1 each plus postage.

22 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. won't RTFA by digitalderbs · · Score: 5, Funny

    I couldn't be bothered to read TFA... what's this about?

    1. Re:won't RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Disposal issues with legacy media platforms.

    2. Re:won't RTFA by setirw · · Score: 5, Funny

      lol i dunno sumting abot pore liturcy in the us lol!!1

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    3. Re:won't RTFA by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Firefighters are underemployed as there are fewer books to burn these days.

  2. Wonder what books they burned... by setirw · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd guess Fahrenheit 451.

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    1. Re:Wonder what books they burned... by SEMW · · Score: 2, Funny

      No self-respecting nerd/geek should miss this reference to the classic http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Ray-Bradbury/ dp/0345342968/ Maybe, but this is the 21st Century; no "self-respecting nerd/geek" would refer to "Fahrenheit 451"! -- Now, "Celsius 233", maybe.

      Or, better still, "Kelvin 506".

      "T_Planck 3.57*10^-30"?

      ;-)
      --
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  3. Did he buy his carbon offsets? by Ngarrang · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did he buy his carbon offsets for the burning of these books?

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    Bearded Dragon
  4. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    i just got done righting a book you insensitive moran

  5. Note the paragraph halfway thru the story... by tcopeland · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that is:

    > The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the
    > Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne
    > didn't have a permit for burning.

    So, Bob's your uncle.

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    The Army reading list
  6. Neither original, nor even persuasive. by ScentCone · · Score: 2, Funny

    This little spectacle isn't even CLOSE to the "send money or I'll kill and eat this cute bunny" web site. Books? Pah! Warm and fuzzy -> Hassenpfeffer: true drama.

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    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  7. Sounds cool. by rampant+mac · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...who staged a book bonfire, claiming to protest declining literacy.

    Yeah, that helps. I'm going to shoot some people and scream at the top of my lungs about gun safety.

    Es brennt!

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    I like big butts and I cannot lie.
  8. Fuel for the fire? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...but it offers visitors a chance to save books from the flames for $1 each plus postage...

    How much to donate books? I can get my hands on few by Ann Coulter :-)

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  9. Re:Books are re-usable commodities. by samwichse · · Score: 5, Funny

    Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code

    Now there is a book I'd like to read!

    Sam
  10. Re:So what? by phalse+phace · · Score: 2, Funny

    "i just got done righting a book you insensitive moran"

    Really? What was wrong with it?

  11. Re:So what? by heinousjay · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, that was the joke. Also moran, to further grind it into the dirt. It's dead. Happy now?

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  12. Re:So what? by Bugs42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    i just got done righting a book you insensitive moran My last name is Moran, you insensitive clod!
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  13. Question 27 by Sage+Gaspar · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is the best title for the preceding post?
    a. Re:won't RTFA
    b. Wooden Food
    c. Fighting Fires with Books
    d. Fahrenheit 824291
    e. The Cowboy Neal Code

  14. Re:I heard of a French wine boycott a few years ag by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Funny

    and thereafter the sewer had a nutty, currant and chocolate bouquet while still expressing a good turdy nose.

  15. Re:So what? by Arancaytar · · Score: 4, Funny

    My last name is Clod, you insensitive... agh, forget it.

  16. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What a waste of electrons.

  17. Re:So what? by dwayneabailey · · Score: 1, Funny

    Snakes on a Plane was most certainly NOT interminably dull.

  18. Re:So what? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dickens has some interesting turns of phrase, which I guess make him a good writer to some people, but his books, like many "classics" are extremely difficult to wade through without a cattle prod (like grades) forcing you to do it.

    Funny. I just finished David Copperfield, having never before read Dickens, and found it incredibly entertaining, well paced read. Great characters, wonderful use of the english language, an interesting and involved plot... in fact, I rank it as one of the best books I've ever read.

    Maybe I just got lucky?