10 Most Harmful Books

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HagiaSophia

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Anyone here have any selections which didn’t make it to this top ten list?

“…HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Each panelist nominated a number of titles and then voted on a ballot including all books nominated. A title received a score of 10 points for being listed No. 1 by one of our panelists, 9 points for being listed No. 2, etc. Appropriately, The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, earned the highest aggregate score and the No. 1 listing…”

humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=7591
 
If you were to look at it in terms of Cathollicism, then the entire series of the Left behind Books 1 through 12.
A lot of innocent, ill-equipped Catholics have been ‘taken away’ to beleve it’s 'warped theology.

The of course The DaVinci Code ranks up there as well, for the same reasons as I wrote above.
 
Since the term “harmful” is not operationalized or explained for the survey, I find the list baffling, a bit amusing, and basically useless. Harmful for whom? With the exception perhaps of “Mein Kampf,” it’s not clear.

Or did I miss the key phrase? I have several of these books, and while many are disturbing, they are also extremely informative.
 
Any books by Teilhard de Chardin. His books were given to seminary students to read in the 1960’s and destroyed the seminarians’ Faith. His books are incredibly evil.
 
The Scoffield Reference Bible - It was a prime mover in the rise of popularity of Rature theology.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Just lifting it can throw out a back and God forbid you drop it on your toe.
 
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pnewton:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Just lifting it can throw out a back and God forbid you drop it on your toe.
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:rotfl: :rotfl:
 
This has been discussed before and I have actually heard this list discussed on Al Kresta. All the book on there are dangerous.

Marx and Nietzsche are especially dangerous since they are/were used by the Communists and Nazis respectively.

PF
 
I don’t think any book(s) is/are harmful. I’m always a little uncomfortale when I see this kind of list put out there. Some people think the Bible is harmful. I say, let everyone write whatever they want. How will you know what people are thinking unless they are free to make it known? I want to know what people are thinking; especially those that don’t agree with me and especially those who are downright hostile.
 
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WanderAimlessly:
This has been discussed before and I have actually heard this list discussed on Al Kresta. All the book on there are dangerous.

Marx and Nietzsche are especially dangerous since they are/were used by the Communists and Nazis respectively.

PF
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Marx and Nietzsche’s views and ideology are/were absolutely harmful and dangerous. However, what they wrote revealed in some way the popular thinking of the time (and still shapes the popular thought today.) It’s important for us as Catholics to be able to engage people in dialogue where they are at and respond to their convictions and questions. We discussed many of Nietzcshe’s viewpoints in my Christian morality class in college. By being able to walk through his argument, it really helped me see how misguided it was and how, even though it may not be read by popular society, the general attitude and ideals are very much ingrained in our world today. Reading his works for me was not dangerous; it helped my clarify the Catholic position in response to his argument’s and more fully engage my peers.
 
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goravens:
Marx and Nietzsche’s views and ideology are/were absolutely harmful and dangerous. However, what they wrote revealed in some way the popular thinking of the time (and still shapes the popular thought today.) It’s important for us as Catholics to be able to engage people in dialogue where they are at and respond to their convictions and questions. We discussed many of Nietzcshe’s viewpoints in my Christian morality class in college. By being able to walk through his argument, it really helped me see how misguided it was and how, even though it may not be read by popular society, the general attitude and ideals are very much ingrained in our world today. Reading his works for me was not dangerous; it helped my clarify the Catholic position in response to his argument’s and more fully engage my peers.
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I agree. I think its important to have an understanding of Nietzsche especially in today’s society. His books have been profoundly influental in modern thought.

And as someone else pointed out, all books can be considered “dangerous” depending on the spirit that reads them. Aren’t there wars going on in the world right now because of what people think they read in the bible, or in the Q’ran (did I spell that right?)?
 
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HitF12:
I agree. I think its important to have an understanding of Nietzsche especially in today’s society. His books have been profoundly influental in modern thought.

And as someone else pointed out, all books can be considered “dangerous” depending on the spirit that reads them. Aren’t there wars going on in the world right now because of what people think they read in the bible, or in the Q’ran (did I spell that right?)?
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The very, very, very little I’ve read of Nietzsche made me want to slit my wrists.
 
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JKirkLVNV:
The very, very, very little I’ve read of Nietzsche made me want to slit my wrists.
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Then you must have read his study on suicide. 😃
 
I notice the list does not contain any religious works (sacred texts?) that belong in traditions outside of Christianity.
 
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Edwin1961:
If you were to look at it in terms of Cathollicism, then the entire series of the Left behind Books 1 through 12.
A lot of innocent, ill-equipped Catholics have been ‘taken away’ to beleve it’s 'warped theology.

The of course The DaVinci Code ranks up there as well, for the same reasons as I wrote above.
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:amen:
 
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marvin:
I don’t think any book(s) is/are harmful. I’m always a little uncomfortale when I see this kind of list put out there. Some people think the Bible is harmful. I say, let everyone write whatever they want. How will you know what people are thinking unless they are free to make it known? I want to know what people are thinking; especially those that don’t agree with me and especially those who are downright hostile.
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I like this post!
 
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JKirkLVNV:
The very, very, very little I’ve read of Nietzsche made me want to slit my wrists.
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:bigyikes: i’m planning to read some of his works, just to be able to refute his arguments better. thanks for the warning!!!
 
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JKirkLVNV:
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is dangerous?
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Certainly to the estimated 700,000 to 2.7 million people who die from malaria each year. (Souce: cdc.gov/malaria/facts.htm) In the 1950s DDT was widely employed and massively successful in fighting malaria worldwide. Carson believe that DDT and other pesticides were dangerous to humans and to the environment. Her book and her movement led to the banning of DDT in the U.S. and widespread disuse. As a result Malaria is once again one of the top killers in the developing world.
DDT was soon widely deployed by public health officials, who banished malaria from the southern United States with its help. The World Health Organization credits DDT with saving 50 million to 100 million lives by preventing malaria. In 1943 Venezuela had 8,171,115 cases of malaria; by 1958, after the use of DDT, the number was down to 800. India, which had over 10 million cases of malaria in 1935, had 285,962 in 1969. In Italy the number of malaria cases dropped from 411,602 in 1945 to only 37 in 1968.
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Meanwhile, Carson’s disciples have managed to persuade many poor countries to stop using DDT against mosquitoes. The result has been an enormous increase in the number of people dying of malaria each year. Today malaria infects between 300 million and 500 million people annually, killing as many 2.7 million of them. Anti-DDT activists who tried to have the new U.N. treaty on persistent organic pollutants totally ban DDT have stepped back recently from their ideological campaign, conceding that poor countries should be able to use DDT to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
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Source: reason.com/rb/rb061202.shtml
 
Have we discussed this before? It seems familiar to me.

Anywho, I’ll add anything by **Sylvia Browne ** and **John Edward ** (you know, those nutcases who are always on TV purporting to communicate with the dead, preying on the grieving).

Their books popped into my head because I recently returned from visiting my sister, and she proudly showed me her library – one entire shelf was all of that crapola. Dangerous, dangerous stuff. Funny thing, I didn’t see a Bible in her library. And, yes, we were all brought up in Catholic schools (she still goes to Mass).

'thann
 
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)

Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)

both by Alfred Kinsey.
 
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