The following story appeared on Yahoo. --ECW
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Mo. man burns books as act of protest
By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 28, 7:19 AM ET
Tom Wayne has 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, such as 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 when he wanted to thin out the collection, he
found he
couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops; they said
they
were full.
So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books in protest of 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.
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.
Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisions monthly
bonfires until his supply - estimated at 20,000 books - is exhausted.
"After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we've slogged
through, and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you away
when
you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he
said.
"And it's a good excuse for fun."
Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more
often
get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a
2002
study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than
half
of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57
percent in 1982.
Kansas City has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recent
years,
and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said Will
Leathem,
a
co-owner of Prospero's Books.
"There are segments of this city where you go to an estate sale and find
five TVs and three books," Leathem said.
The idea of burning the books horrified Marcia Trayford, who paid $20
Sunday
to carry away an armload of tomes on art, education and music.
"I've been trying to adopt as many books as I could," she said.
Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searching
through
the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minute bargains.
Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antique
collection
of children's literature, which he said he'd save for his 4-year-old
son.
"I think, given the fact it is a protest of people not reading books,
it's
the best way to do it," Bechtel said. "(Wayne has) made the point
that not
reading a book is as good as burning it."
Copyright (c) 2007 The Associated Press.