"Ten Most Harmful Books of the Modern Era"

[Meerkat]

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries | Human Events

Errr. . . .

I shall refrain from my opinion until others of greater kenning have weighed in.

 

[AgentPete]

“Moon People” by Dale M. Courtney
(read the reviews)

 

[echo.]

“Moon People” by Dale M. Courtney
(read the reviews)

Is it... is it a joke? A conspiracy? Has Amazon collapsed in on itself? I don't understand...

 

[KG Christopher]

It's a joke.

 

[James Marinero]

Where's 'The Female Eunuch'?

 

[AgentPete]

It's not a joke, inasmuch as the author was totally serious about his presumed abilities. The Ed Wood de nos jours...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh, my word. Did he not have one GOOD friend to wrestle it from his grasp?

 

[Brian Clegg]

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries | Human Events

Errr. . . .

I shall refrain from my opinion until others of greater kenning have weighed in.

Looking at the original list that was posted, the giveaway is that one of the runners-up as 'most harmful books' is one of Darwin's - this is a very US right wing list.

 

[KG Christopher]

Looking at the original list that was posted, the giveaway is that one of the runners-up as 'most harmful books' is one of Darwin's - this is a very US right-wing list.

To describe a book as 'harmful' missed the point. You may not agree with the book's contents, but it's not harmful in the same way as smoking a cigarette is. Some people find insights every day in a number of the books mentioned ? A book on 'how to make a bomb' is harmful, but a book on 'why revolutions start' is a social commentary.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Well, yes, what is the premise? Harm to culture or harm to literature. It does say, it's a conservative's list. Though Mein Kampf is on it.

 

[KG Christopher]

Actually, reading the website Human Events - Conservative News, Views & Books It is an extreme right-wing American Nialist put up. The list has absolutely no merit and neither does the website.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

One does not have to agree, to look at the list and consider the thinking, even if one boots it out again, pronto. Darwin is a hero of mine, as for so many others, but he himself, only claimed to have proposed a THEORY and he was himself, aware of a number of gaps and problems. Lethbridge;
an archaeologist, and Robert Ardrey are very interesting writers on that subject, and on Karl Marx too, and both were,and remain controversial, but neither was political in their motivation.

 

[AgentPete]

Looking at the original list that was posted, the giveaway is that one of the runners-up as 'most harmful books' is one of Darwin's - this is a very US right wing list.

Might have been a different Darwin, perhaps?

Nigel Darwin... easily confused...

 

[Meerkat]

Actually, reading the website Human Events - Conservative News, Views & Books It is an extreme right-wing American Nialist put up. The list has absolutely no merit and neither does the website.

I suspected it was far-right; I can't even remember how I found the list. But I noticed that Second Sex (one of my favorite books) was on it . . . and only one of those who voted was female . . . and it was Phylis Schlafly. She may be best known (in the US) for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment in the '70s.

I had the same thought, @KG Christopher; an idea on its own does not harm anyone. What one does with it may and often does cause mischief; but having the wherewithal to consider other viewpoints is not going to harm a reader. It simply serves to strengthen existing convictions -- exercises one's thinking abilities, I'd say. The same goes for a book that speaks to individuals who choose to do harm (and we must remember that reading a book will not divest one of free will -- one still chooses) -- it's not like an otherwise kind and gentle person is going to read a certain book and suddenly be transformed into a hateful piece of work.

Actually, one of Mr Meerkat's and my favorite pastimes is debating opposing ideas. I have an opinion about everything, so he always takes the opposing side. We can sit and discuss a subject for hours. He says he takes the opposing side (even if he agrees with my viewpoint) in order to see how well-thought out my position is. I find it very much fun and a useful way to articulate the rationale behind sometimes inchoate impulses.

Many of those books would serve the same purpose for that panel and anyone who follows their recommendations, if they weren't, I think, afraid of their feelings being challenged. Strikes me as more of a knee-jerk reaction based in insecurity about what they claim to believe in.

 

[Meerkat]

“Moon People” by Dale M. Courtney
(read the reviews)

I could tell just by reading the author's summary of the book that he is an engineer. The main occupation in the city I live in is engineering; I used to work as a technical writer for some of these, er, unusual folk, and it drove me *nuts* how they would Randomly capitalise Words for no Reason.

 

[Meerkat]

From one of the reviews: "a town in Florida where a man can take a woman to Red Lobster on their first date, and still take her to bed. "

Pertinent lyric is at 2.50. (This is the only "clean" version I could find, but you can fill in the blank.)

 

[Patricia D]

Looking at the original list that was posted, the giveaway is that one of the runners-up as 'most harmful books' is one of Darwin's - this is a very US right wing list.

It is right wing for sure - the survey was of conservatives and a link I somehow hit on the web site described a conspiracy against US financial leadership. As far as the list goes, "consider the source" is my response.

Oh - and I'd like to nominate Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

 

[Amber Zade]

The page won't completely load for me. I think my laptop was instinctively repelled by Anne(Ann?) Coulter's picture. I'd put every one of HER books on the list.

I don't see Mein Kampf as real popular reading and as a cruel twist of fate for Hitler, those most likely to be aligned with his belief system are the least likely to be able to read and process concepts and ideas.

Thanks... very entertaining.

 

[Amber Zade]

Oh - and I'd like to nominate Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Absolutely. I've never gotten over someone using a medium which relies on subjective experience to preach against the validity of the subjective experience. Bizarre.

 

[Amber Zade]

One does not have to agree, to look at the list and consider the thinking, even if one boots it out again, pronto. Darwin is a hero of mine, as for so many others, but he himself, only claimed to have proposed a THEORY and he was himself, aware of a number of gaps and problems. Lethbridge;
an archaeologist, and Robert Ardrey are very interesting writers on that subject, and on Karl Marx too, and both were,and remain controversial, but neither was political in their motivation.

No one reads Darwin. I'm about to make a comment about the book he wrote but I haven't read Darwin either.

However, I do remember being taught about natural selection and survival of the fittest. The two concepts have been twisted to promote competition and a certain ruthlessness when operating in the world. I learned from a documentary that the actual texts discusses cooperation much more than competition. Darwin observed nature and it seems there is a lot more cooperation in nature than lions taking down gazelles.

 

[Jay Aitch]

"HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Booksof the 19th and 20th Centuries." - The first line of the "article" says it all.

Rather worrying, from an evolutionary perspective for the human race really, but then the Establishment, both here and abroad, have always despised any rocking of the boat. May the His Monetary Salvation (HMS) Capitalist Heaven sail the Great Accountant Sea forever ...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Interesting programme last night about Charles Kingsley and The Water Babies. It references The Origin of Species, is directly concerned with evolution, progress and redemption, as well as the principle of the nurturing feminine deity, and he was a vicar, so kudos to him all round. It laid the foundation for a later act, improving conditions for chimney sweeps, but at the same time he refers in this great book to fibbing paddies, and commits other injudicious errors of outlook, not unusual in his time. With the best will in the world , no one can remove all preference or even know all their own blind spots, it seems. There is no tabula rasa and never was.

BBC 4 The Water Babies

 

[Richard Sutton]

Late to the meal, but I noticed noone nominated Atlas Shrugged. Lots of repercussions from Rand's work.