- There have always been banned books, usually it is a mark of honor – here is something so vile that parents would rather their kiddos not read it. Or the church hates it, or some fundamentalist group wants to kill a belief dead in its tracks.
- If someone says “don’t read this book,” you should probably read it. I say: read everything. Stuff you love, stuff you hate, things you agree and disagree with. Autobiographies are boring, memoirs are essential.
- Lately, the book bans have gained some teeth. Entire states are removing entire blocks of catalogs in school libraries. Public libraries are under constant scrutiny. If all goes to plan, in some time we will only be permitted to read the bible (and that is a DRY read, woof).
- For one, support your local public library. Use all of their services in all of the ways. Then, set to work on building up a shadow library – any and all books you can get your hands on – get them, keep them, care for them, and catalog them for quick reference.
- Digital and ebooks are also critical as they can be easily cataloged and shared widely. Store all you can in drives that live offline. Collect flashdrives (USB-C is ideal) for handoff distribution. Until you know otherwise, only share books that are DRM flexible. PDF and ebook where you can – avoid Kindle format. Device-dependent files will be the death of us.
- Also, only plug in a USB drive if you know where it came from and what is on it. Really nasty stuff can make a home on your computer.
- Digital and ebooks are also critical as they can be easily cataloged and shared widely. Store all you can in drives that live offline. Collect flashdrives (USB-C is ideal) for handoff distribution. Until you know otherwise, only share books that are DRM flexible. PDF and ebook where you can – avoid Kindle format. Device-dependent files will be the death of us.
Last year I read Syria’s Secret Library, and then dug into the reporting behind the book (permalink), a project of love in a time when Darayya – just outside Damascus – was under siege.
“In many cases we get books from bomb or shell-damaged homes. The majority of these places are near the front line, so collecting them is very dangerous,” he says.
“We have to go through bombed-out buildings to hide ourselves from snipers. We have to be extremely careful because snipers sometimes follow us in their sights, anticipating the next step we’ll take.”
The library served as a refuge to all who knew about it. The stewards did everything they could to preserve the banks of knowledge left in a town where it was hard enough to get food and clean water. Could you imagine dying for the sake of library books?
Maybe we should?
Affiliate link above, library link here.