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Whether they've been banned or not, the ideas in these books have somehow or other been considered dangerous by somebody or other. This is not a "Best Of" list, this is just a list of books that somehow or another, contain dangerous ideas. This list may surprise you, the ideas contained in these books might not even seem dangerous now, but others are just as controversial then as they were today.
1

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4.21 avg rating — 5,824,061 ratings
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2

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3.98 avg rating — 2,169,152 ratings
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3

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4.03 avg rating — 4,860,316 ratings
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4

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3.80 avg rating — 4,034,971 ratings
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5

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4.01 avg rating — 125,204 ratings
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6

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4.45 avg rating — 331,298 ratings
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7

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3.97 avg rating — 3,021,127 ratings
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8

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4.16 avg rating — 28,577 ratings
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9

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3.94 avg rating — 2,595,886 ratings
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10

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3.99 avg rating — 908,552 ratings
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11

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4.03 avg rating — 1,553,978 ratings
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12

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4.04 avg rating — 1,652,163 ratings
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13

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3.71 avg rating — 73,973 ratings
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14

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3.18 avg rating — 44,679 ratings
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15

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4.31 avg rating — 56,904 ratings
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16

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3.88 avg rating — 440,283 ratings
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17

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4.35 avg rating — 1,545,637 ratings
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18

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4.06 avg rating — 390,833 ratings
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19

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4.23 avg rating — 25,846 ratings
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20

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3.69 avg rating — 413,281 ratings
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21

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4.36 avg rating — 10,355,454 ratings
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22

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3.92 avg rating — 331,728 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 121,718 ratings
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24

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4.37 avg rating — 484,818 ratings
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25

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4.09 avg rating — 275,959 ratings
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26

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4.42 avg rating — 120 ratings
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26

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4.32 avg rating — 232 ratings
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28

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4.29 avg rating — 49 ratings
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29

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3.61 avg rating — 3,607 ratings
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30

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4.36 avg rating — 158,279 ratings
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31

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3.87 avg rating — 39,216 ratings
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32

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3.79 avg rating — 158,822 ratings
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33

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3.88 avg rating — 1,038,929 ratings
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34

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4.01 avg rating — 304,756 ratings
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35

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4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings
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36

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3.66 avg rating — 34,021 ratings
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37

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3.96 avg rating — 1,794,734 ratings
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38

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3.92 avg rating — 11,202 ratings
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39

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3.98 avg rating — 72 ratings
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40

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3.98 avg rating — 72 ratings
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41

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4.31 avg rating — 451,122 ratings
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41

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4.17 avg rating — 256,627 ratings
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43

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4.16 avg rating — 2,587,357 ratings
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44

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4.37 avg rating — 4,374,065 ratings
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45

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3.74 avg rating — 7,525 ratings
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46

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3.82 avg rating — 364 ratings
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47

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3.83 avg rating — 5,239 ratings
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48

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4.09 avg rating — 32,176 ratings
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49

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4.31 avg rating — 177 ratings
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50

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3.75 avg rating — 16 ratings
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51

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4.19 avg rating — 16,294 ratings
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52

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3.76 avg rating — 50 ratings
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53

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3.56 avg rating — 6,281 ratings
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54

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3.95 avg rating — 261,728 ratings
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55

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3.89 avg rating — 26,904 ratings
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56

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4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings
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57

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4.13 avg rating — 38 ratings
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58

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3.71 avg rating — 14 ratings
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59

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4.32 avg rating — 34 ratings
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60

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3.65 avg rating — 2,366 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 13,346 ratings
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62

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4.09 avg rating — 4,250 ratings
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62

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3.68 avg rating — 38 ratings
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62

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3.12 avg rating — 2,957 ratings
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65

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3.98 avg rating — 72 ratings
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66

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3.98 avg rating — 2,515 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 5,224 ratings
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68

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4.59 avg rating — 731 ratings
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69

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3.98 avg rating — 100 ratings
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70

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4.11 avg rating — 9,603 ratings
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71

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3.89 avg rating — 342,745 ratings
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72

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4.05 avg rating — 2,952 ratings
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73

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3.88 avg rating — 32,288 ratings
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74

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3.32 avg rating — 62 ratings
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75

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10,265 ratings
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76

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4.16 avg rating — 1,174 ratings
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77

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4.13 avg rating — 3,911,585 ratings
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78

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3.84 avg rating — 717,409 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings
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80

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3.82 avg rating — 284,058 ratings
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81

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3.97 avg rating — 173 ratings
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82

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4.18 avg rating — 88 ratings
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83

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3.81 avg rating — 1,480 ratings
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84

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4.33 avg rating — 15 ratings
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85

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3.99 avg rating — 16,935 ratings
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86

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4.52 avg rating — 121 ratings
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87

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3.96 avg rating — 345,452 ratings
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88

by
4.13 avg rating — 124,151 ratings
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89

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4.13 avg rating — 7,836 ratings
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90

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4.05 avg rating — 9,456 ratings
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91

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3.86 avg rating — 731 ratings
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92

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4.23 avg rating — 1,798 ratings
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93

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4.02 avg rating — 2,885 ratings
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93

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4.02 avg rating — 471 ratings
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95

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3.59 avg rating — 18,605 ratings
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96

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3.35 avg rating — 5,964 ratings
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97

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4.20 avg rating — 251 ratings
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98

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3.81 avg rating — 1,026 ratings
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99

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3.47 avg rating — 2,966 ratings
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100

by
3.39 avg rating — 271 ratings
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163 books · 110 voters · list created August 15th, 2009 by Jacobmartin (votes) .
63 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jacobmartin 134 books
51 friends
Holly 9960 books
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ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ 4259 books
464 friends
Steven 4670 books
2489 friends
Tara 2402 books
192 friends
Jenn 661 books
0 friends
Tim 556 books
7 friends
Casimir 312 books
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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Jacobmartin (new)

Jacobmartin Ok, I've added seven of my favorite dangerous books, but there's so many more I haven't even mentioned! Please feel free to add more of your own!


message 2: by John (new)

John Burns No offence but this is a stupid idea for a list.

Exactly what is a dangerous idea? Surely any idea becomes dangerous when it's misapplied? An idea is only as dangerous as the idiots who get ahold of it.


message 3: by Jacobmartin (new)

Jacobmartin Killthepopular wrote: "No offence but this is a stupid idea for a list.

Exactly what is a dangerous idea? Surely any idea becomes dangerous when it's misapplied? An idea is only as dangerous as the idiots who get ahol..."


The idea came to me as there was a festival in Sydney called "The Festival of Dangerous Ideas" or something. The list here's not really meant to class ideas as so much completely dangerous, but a list of books that have been considered dangerous at some time or another. Whether or not they're dangerous now is not the issue, the issue is the history of ideas that may have been considered dangerous at some point.

If you can find any particularly good examples of literature that has both been called dangerous and has some literary implications for the world since, I suggest you add them to this list, which is far from complete. Remember, it's not about whether YOU think an idea is dangerous, it's about books that have been challenged as dangerous at some point in history.




message 4: by John (last edited Aug 16, 2009 02:25PM) (new)

John Burns Surely these parameters account for 99% of classic novels ever published?

Nearly every good book ever published for example has been banned in one american school or another because of the perceived affect it will have on the students...


message 5: by Greyweather (last edited Aug 16, 2009 07:04PM) (new)

Greyweather Killthepopular wrote: "Surely these parameters account for 99% of classic novels ever published?"

Not to mention:
Every religious text, book about religion, book about atheism, or philosophy book
Every science book
Every history book
Every book of political science or political theory
Every book on psychology or sociology
Every book about about race, gender, sexual orientation (or hell, sex of any kind)
And the list just goes on and on...


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