DEATH GAME BY CHERYL SWANSON BURNING? TELL ME IT AIN'T SO!

Because news disappears in an eyeblink these days, I'm excerpting a story some of you may have missed below.

Wayne of Prospero's Books in Kansas City burned thousands of his books on Memorial Day weekend, as a protest against what he perceived as a lack of interest in reading.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books. The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit for burning.Wayne said next time he will get a permit.

He said he plans monthly bonfires until his supply — estimated at 20,000 books — is exhausted. "After slogging through the tens of thousands of books and to have people turn you away when you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he said.

Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more often get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than half of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982.

The whole country has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recent years, and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said Will Leathem, a co-owner of Prospero's Books.

Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searching through the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minute bargains.
Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antique collection of children's literature, which he said he'd save for his 4-year-old son.

The point of the whole thing. Waye said that not reading a book is as good as burning it. Hmmmm.