Book banninghas been around in some form or another for more than 2000 years . Over the last century or so , everything fromThe Catcher in the RyetoWhere ’s Waldo?has ended up on ado - not - read list . But while the reasons for prohibiting sure title of respect areridiculous enough to seem funny , authority ’ ongoing substance abuse of limit access to reading cloth is no laugh topic .
To help combat the practice , asNPR report , Margaret Atwoodand Penguin Random House recently auctioned off a fireproof variation of Atwood ’s dystopian classicThe Handmaid ’s Tale , which has itself been banned on many occasions . ThoughSotheby’svalued “ The Unburnable Book ” between $ 50,000 and $ 100,000 , it go for a walloping $ 130,000 . The proceeds will be donated to PEN America to “ help drive greater attention , protagonism , and engagement against censorship , ” according to a PRHpress liberation .
“ The grim stride of Word of God banning and educational jest club is especially alarming because the censor ’ chief targets have been literary works about racial discrimination , gender , and sexual predilection , often write by authors of colour and LGBTQ+ writer , as well as classroom lessons about social inequality , history , and sexuality , ” the jam release explained .
The pages of The Unburnable Book are Cinefoil : sparse sheets of aluminum that movie maker wrap around hot visible light on set . They can withstand temperature up to 1220 ° F . Other materials , including nickel wire , weave stainless steel , and extra heat - resistant ink , stay stable well above 2000 ° fluorine . Atwood essay out the flammability of the item herself , with a minuscule help from a flamethrower .
“ I never thought I ’d be trying to burn up one of my own books … and failing , ” she sound out in a instruction . “ Let ’s trust we do n’t reach the stage of sweeping book burnings , as inFahrenheit 451 . But if we do , rent ’s hope some books will rise unburnable . ”
[ h / tNPR ]
