This week (Sept. 27th to Oct 4th) is National Banned Book week in the US. This week is dedicated to celebrating freedom of speech by reminding people of what happens when books are banned. Societies and communities that refuse to let people read suffer from stagnation. Unless we are exposed to ideas from all sources we can never learn to think critically, to develop innovations, or to be exposed to a wide range of perspectives.

Living in a former Soviet country where banning literature that didn't meet state standards of ideology, and where authors were put on public trials, exiled to gulags, even executed, makes this freedom even more precious to me.

To see why freedom of speech is important, try this thought experiment. Think of a principle that you hold dear, a value that you believe is absolutely true and vital to people's lives. It could be a faith in God, or a faith in no God. It could be a political belief or a moral value like honesty, honor or justice.

Now imagine a society that rejected this value. Imagine furthermore that that society banned all books that promoted or discussed that value or even showed that value or belief in a positive light. The people of this society have never been exposed to this idea that you hold in your heart or mind so dearly. Perhaps they have even been taught to believe this value is evil and wrong through propaganda.

Now how would you have a dialogue with someone of that society? How would you try to convince them that your belief is right? How could you encourage them to reform themselves to embrace this idea that you know would improve their lives? Without books or free speech, the only way would be brute force. If the US banned Karl Marx and Lenin, the only way the USSR could convince Americans of the goodness of socialism would be through absolute propaganda and political or military force. So freedom to read means the possibility of reasonable dialogue and diplomacy.

So read a banned book today. Under the cut is a list of some books that have been banned and why. It's a great list to read because it also shows how silly book-banners can be. Also, note that almost every great classic was banned somewhere for some stupid reason.

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll. Banned in China (1931) for portraying animals and humans on the same level, "Animals should not use human language."
  
  
• The Bible. William Tyndale, who partially completed translating the Bible into English, was captured, strangled, and burned at the stake (1536) by opponents of the movement to translate the bible into the vernacular. Beginning around 1830, "family friendly" bibles, including Noah Webster's version (1833) began to appear which had excised passages considered to be indelicate
  
  
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl. Removed from a locked reference collection at the Boulder, Colo. Public Library (1988), where it had been placed because the librarian thought the book espoused a poor philosophy of life.
  
  
• Earth Science. American Book. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because it "teaches the theory of evolution exclusively. It completely avoids any mention of Creationism...The evolutionary propaganda also underminds {sic} the parental guidance and teaching the children are receiving at home and from the pulpits."
  
  
• The Satanic Verses. Salman Rushdie. Banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Malaysia, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa, and India due to its criticism of Islam. Burned in West Yorkshire, England (1989) and temporarily withdrawn from two bookstores on the advice of police. Five people died in riots against the book in Pakistan. Another man died a day later in Kashmir. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, stating, "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses, which is against Islam, the prophet, and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, have been sentenced to death." Challenged at the Wichita, Kans. Public Library (1989) because it is "blasphemous to the prophet Mohammed."
  
  
• Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Airmont; Bantam; Harper; Houghton; Macmillan; NAL. Challenged in the Waukegan, Ill. School District (1984) because the novel contains the word "nigger." Never mind that the novel is often credited with raising public antislavery sentiment which ultimately led to the emancipation of American slaves.
  
  
• The Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith. Banned in communist nations for its capitalist content. Now they probably regret that since the communist nations are all free-market economies!
  
  
• Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings. D.T. Suzuki. Doubleday. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because "this book details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose this as his religion."
  
  
• And my favorite from this year: The Higher Power of Lucky. Susan Patron. For using the word "scrotum". Here's the quote: “Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much. It sounded medical and secret, but also important.” Notice that the book doesn't define scrotum or describe a sexual scene or anything. It just mentions the word as a word, highlighting how kids pick up on words they don't know. But that was enough to get this award-winning children's book taken off the shelves by librarians all over the US!