On Summa Contra Mundum, Karl Schudt has an excellent piece about the internet and its contribution to the decline of the collective intellect. Boy is he right about the internet being intellectual anarchy. And he adds a good caveat about the books we may put into the hands of our children, also. The library is anarchy of a slower moving sort. But there is anarchy lurking there, nonetheless.

Every trip we make to the library includes a stop at the discard cart to do a little discount shopping. Last week I found some good children’s biographies plus a loser of such magnitude that I felt compelled to buy it just to put it out of circulation. (One plus - it hadn’t been circulating much anyway, that’s why it was a discard!) Who would want kids to read “Every Child a Wanted Child - The Story of Margaret Sanger” anyway? This was in the children’s department!?!

Just to make sure no one else would get the chance, I ponied up an extra quarter and brought that piece of evil twaddle home. Not content to just toss it , I tore it up. I read a bit while tearing. UGH. Don’t tell the ALA, but I have my own version of Burned Book week. And we have an ambitious gerbil to help if extra shredding is needed!