By M&C News May 29, 2007
Tom Wayne has collected thousands of books in a warehouse throughout the 10-year span of running his used book store- Prospero's Books. ...he found that libraries didn’t want them, and nor did thrift stores. All said they were full. So Wayne began burning his books in protest of what he sees as “society's diminishing support for the printed word.”
I understand why he feels the way he does. Reading is fast becoming a lost past time. The internet and television is monopolizing the time of the average brain. It is indeed a sad state of affairs. But burning unwanted books? Pleeeeze! Why not offer them for free to the public? Put up ads and signs in poor schools and libraries. I know I would be there! I'm sure he burned some antique books along with some great classics. Just because the charities did not want the books, surely there are those individual readers who would jump at the chance to enrich their library. According to the article, there was a turn out of people who paid to rescue some of the books. That in and of itself should have stopped him. For someone who seemingly loves books, it seems an odd way to protest the diminishing literary mind. I find it a ghastly way to make a scene for books.
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