Books

Why do folk get upset with me when I say 'lets put that book on the fire?" I think the book would be good source of fuel and unfortunately we do have so many copies of books around which nobody reads. Shouldn't we be more versatile with books?

Probably:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning

Are you saying jude_28 is "emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime which is seeking to censor or silence an aspect of a nation's culture"?

Seems a bit harsh to me.

Horrifying.

And in a more pragmatic sense: The resources that have gone into the making of the book, given that its purpose will be obliterated by burning, make them profoundly NOT a good source of fuel, while raw fuel like wood exists.

The mention of 'books' and 'burning' together would definitely push that kind of button with some people.

As recycling methods go, 'books' + 'pulping' just makes me think of Alan Partridge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK3k1S2w_cw

What do WANers plan to read this year? I just conquered a long one that took me ages, so feel like I'm free to go anywhere, but I do have a healthy to-read pile by the bed:

Madaddam - Margaret Atwood
We - Zamyatin
Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore biog

(Yeah OK, I'm still a wee bit stuck in SF.)

I set myself a plan of reading 30 books in 2013, and hopelessly failed. So this year I'm going for the more realistic target of... oh, I said 30 again.

Right now I'm reading "The Deep Hot Biosphere" by Thomas Gold. Next up is "The Road To Reality" by Roger Penrose.

Opinions vary on whether these books count as science fiction or not.

(They're both borrowed, so I certainly won't be burning them!)

I've used books as a doorstop and table for my laptop to watch films in the past too:)

How to destroy a book with style: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-book-surgeon-15-pieces

Or alternatively (for Bigmal): http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/4041872282/in/photolist-7aaDP9...

With the ones on flickr, is there a 'tl; dr' one as well.

I read a bit about The Deep Hot Biosphere, which sounds very intriguing, but 'there's loads more fossil fuel than we thought' sounds like a message that could be used fairly irresponsibly I reckon. Does he relate any of this to climate, etc?

I'm kicking off with some non-fiction, Bob Stanley's "Yeah Yeah Yeah" - it's a bit of a tome but good so far.

I've got into reading Connie Willis time travel novels at the moment. They are often a bit silly, but they are extremely easy to read. I'm reading one about world war 2 at the moment. Before that I read one about The Black Death.

a message that could be used fairly irresponsibly

Yes, I agree - and I find it very interesting that the tone of the public panic has shifted somewhat over the past ten years or so, from OH MY GOD NOT ENOUGH OIL to OH MY GOD TOO MUCH CARBON.

Does he relate any of this to climate, etc?

I hope he will. If his hypothesis is true then the public debate about climate change is scientifically founded on a load of old cobblers, and needs to be fundamentally rethought.

In fact I think I'll read another chapter or two of it now.

Aargh no don't burn books! Pass them on to someone that might appreciate them, or a charity shop! They're not fuel. *Shudder*! Just because no one where you lives reads them, it doesn't mean that no one will read them anywhere!

*palpitations*

I hate getting rid of books which means that I have boxes full of them in the loft which I will probably never see again!!

I often think that it would be far more efficient if no one bought any books, just borrowed them from a library. Unless it's something you refer to all the time, you generally just read a book, then it sits on a shelf for years on end. It would be far more sustainable to just have a few copies in the library which are read by everyone in turn.

I can't really talk though, I love buying books. I've got shelves and shelves full of them at home.

I do a run to the charity shop every month or so. All the available shelving is full so it's been one-in-one-out for the last few years. I always intend to post books to mates but I'm not organised enough.

There are book sharing services online though, which basically do what you're suggesting SR.

I'm fairly good at getting rid of DVD's and other junk that I don't use any more. Not so books, it always seems sad to get rid of them. This means I've always got stacks of the things. One day I want to have a library with one of those ladders on wheels that allows me to access to the high shelves, like a real gentleman should have.

If I'm not going to re-read the book it has to go. If I really loved it, I'll put it in a pile to give to a friend who hasn't read it, otherwise it's the charity shop. Dunno if Ive brainwashed myself, but it always feels pretty good not to hang onto them.

You should definitely use your local library. You can also borrow DVDs, video games, CDs and e-books from most library services.

You can't read library books in the bath though. Except those ones from the kids section made of plastic.

Pop up book.

On holiday last week I gave away a couple of books to other guests and felt pretty virtuous. Mind you, the Sean Egan book about the Rolling Stones was pretty poor...

However, my kids have now reached ages where I can offer them books from what I laughingly call my library. Really pleased to have held on to them, even though they are taking over the place. The books, that is, not the kids.

The most efficient way to ensure you never see a book again is to lend it to someone.

Have you been giving the kids revision advice, Jude? http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Bonfire-of-school-books-in-Papwor...

"The cause of the fire is believed to be deliberate."

Not necessarily. A big pile of schoolbooks might have been dropped by a passing 15-year-old magpie that had been intending to use them to improve his/her chances of doing well in his/her GCSEs next summer; then a meteorite could have landed on them and caused them to catch fire.