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How I Started Reading Banned Books at 13

By crooky | September 4, 2008

I came to a shocking realization today after reading a post entitled “25 Banned Books You Should Read Today” [READ]- the very first book I chose when I got my adult library card at age 13 is on this list of banned books. Talk about starting off on the right foot!

The book itself - Fallen Angels - isn’t going to win any literature prizes for its writing but the characters (from what I remember) are interesting and it’s about the Vietnam War - an interesting topic unto itself. The reason why it’s banned in several states?

“Vulgar language, sexual explicitness, or violent imagery that is gratuitously employed.” [READ]

Sure, the book has crude and vulgar language and if you didn’t know my family, you would probably blame the book for my swearing habit that I have today. I think the real reason this book is banned is because it puts controversial ideas in the heads of young people. Although it was written in 1988, it touches on themes that our youth today face when they look at what’s going on in Iraq and Afghanistan - humans acting inhuman towards one another while acting in the name of something greater than themselves.

There are other books out there that I have resonated with that I suggest people check out if they find mainstream literature a bit dull:

1. Ender’s Game

This is my favourite book of all time. I just lent my dogeared copy to the teenager that lives next door for a book report. It might be made into a major Hollywood film soon so best read it now so you can say you read the book before you saw the movie. Ender’s Game is required reading in many highschools around the world now and is treated like a psychology textbook at the Marine Corps University at Quantico.

The reason you should read it is because it describes how a military industrial economy can turn someone naive and innocent into a military machine using psychology and mild forms of torture. It’s hard to remember while you’re reading the book that the protagonist is a pre-pubescent boy - not an adult.

With that kind of a background, how can you not read the book now?

2. The Trial of Henry Kissinger

As we move into an era where people are calling for George W. Bush’s blood, it’s good to look back at a previous generations’ Dick Cheney - Henry Kissinger. Henry Kissinger will probably never sit in front of a war crimes tribunal in the Hague but that doesn’t stop the author of this book from presenting the prosecution’s evidence in what is a fictional trial of the man.

The descriptions of the mechanisms that kept the US mired in Vietnam in this book are eerily similar to what we’re now learning about why the US is currently occupying Iraq. It’s controversial but it’s worth a read.

3. The Code Book

This book is another non-fiction title but it’s fascinating and accesible to the layperson in its coverage of both modern and ancient cryptography. If you don’t understand how digital encryption works on your web browser, read this book. You’ll know enough to get through life.

It’s also filled with interesting stories about Bletchley Park and the German Enigma machines of World War II fame.

4. A Short History of Nearly Everything

This book is the only book in our house that is read all the time, over and over again. We have the hard-cover illustrated version but the cheap version is just as good. This book is a basic layperson’s guide to all science. It ranges from the history of radio carbon dating to the academic wars that have been fought over the right to name plants after genitalia or a bitter enemy.

If you’re not a scientist by trade, you need to have this book in your home. It’s a bit out of date these days but goes as far as delving into string theory and quantum physics - some of the very experiments that will be running at CERN LHC later this month - I think.

In any case, this book is as close as you’re going to get the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

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