Baron Ch. 2: TeknoFear and the Novel

This chapter discusses a couple nutjobs who feared the written word and computers so much that they either blew people up (Unabomber) or smashed a computer on stage. This was interesting because new technology is usually heralded by society as an advancement, not a detriment, and these people made the technology very negative.

I remember having to read books to earn points in elementary school. At the beginning of each year we took an exam on a computer in the library and it spat out our reading level, which was coded with colored stickers on the spine of books in the library. Each month, we were to read a certain number of books on our reading level and take comprehension tests on these same computers. Then we were awarded points for the number of questions we got right and these points could be traded in for toys and candy. This was one heck of a way to get the students to read and I began to think of reading as a kind of game and I read a lot, which continued throughout my high school years.

Because of this memory, I found the part about the book or novel as a written technology to be particularly enlightening because I read a lot of the 'banned' or otherwise criticized books as a kid. I read Harry Potter and I read The Catcher in the Rye and a few others that probably were considered thematic for my age group, probably because I tested on a reading level four years beyond my age. I gravitated towards things that challenged social norms (particularly sci-fi dystopian novels like the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld) and often included sexual content that might have been considered beyond my years.

I can somewhat sympathize with those who think of books as a 'danger' but I also know that reading such content didn't make me morally depraved or drive me to do crazy things; they just challenged me to think about the world in a different way. I can understand why Baron would consider banning books a form of TeknoFear after thinking through my own experiences.