Let's run through the list!
quote:
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.1. The Communist Manifesto
Well, that's a no-brainer. Only the Bible has inspired more death and human suffering than the Communist Manifesto, but that's only by virtue of having a 1700+ year head start, give or take.
quote:
2. Mein Kampf
Again, duh. Although, the book itself was not widely read until after the Nazis rose to power, so that's probably why it came in second.
quote:
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao
Never read it myself, but I guess this one's up there by sheer volume. Over a billion copies printed!
Now, things get a little strange.
quote:
4. The Kinsey Report
5. Democracy and Education
Really? Is studying human sexuality and advocating secular humanism really that bad? Have they caused that many deaths over the years?
quote:
6. Das Kapital
No surprises here. Anything making the case for Marxism is probably harmful. What I find interesting is that The Kinsey Report and Democracy and Education are more harmful than this.
quote:
7. The Feminine Mystique
OK, now I think they're just fucking with us. Has feminism been really that bad? Has it inspired bloody revolutions or described an eventual genocide?
quote:
8. The Course of Positive Philosophy
How harmful can a book be if only philosophy majors read it? Honestly? And how popular a philsophy is this "positivism" nowadays? Is it really that harmful to make a case against God?
quote:
9. Beyond Good and Evil
Please. Nietzsche is, to 99% of the population, a source for a handy quote every once in a while, and little more. I think their justification is quite hilarious: "The Nazis loved Nietzsche." They also loved breathing! WE'RE ALL NAZIS! OMGALAFGIjflkjdffgsvlkbkrnonoofuck
quote:
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
Uh, OK. I've no idea about this one, so I'll take their word for it.
Well, that does it for the top ten. I'd say probably 4-5 were deserved. Now, on to the honorable mentions, two of which blow me away. Those are bolded for your convenience:
quote:
Honorable MentionThese books won votes from two or more judges:
The Population Bomb
by Paul Ehrlich
Score: 22What Is To Be Done
by V.I. Lenin
Score: 20Authoritarian Personality
by Theodor Adorno
Score: 19On Liberty
by John Stuart Mill
Score: 18Beyond Freedom and Dignity
by B.F. Skinner
Score: 18Reflections on Violence
by Georges Sorel
Score: 18The Promise of American Life
by Herbert Croly
Score: 17Origin of the Species
by Charles Darwin
Score: 17Madness and Civilization
by Michel Foucault
Score: 12Soviet Communism: A New Civilization
by Sidney and Beatrice Webb
Score: 12Coming of Age in Samoa
by Margaret Mead
Score: 11Unsafe at Any Speed
by Ralph Nader
Score: 11Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
Score: 10Prison Notebooks
by Antonio Gramsci
Score: 10Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson
Score: 9Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
Score: 9Introduction to Psychoanalysis
by Sigmund Freud
Score: 9The Greening of America
by Charles Reich
Score: 9The Limits to Growth
by Club of Rome
Score: 4Descent of Man
by Charles Darwin
Score: 2
That's right, folks. Books on evolution are among the most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries. Welp, I'm gonna smash my dick and balls in the door for about an hour. Give a shout if you need me.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
quote:
Has feminism been really that bad? Has it inspired bloody revolutions or described an eventual genocide?
Not yet!
quote:
How.... Naimah.... uughhhhhh:
My response to that questionaire would be that no books are harmful only the people that read them.
Books don't kill people. I kill people!
I really need to search around more often.
quote:
HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders 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.
the bold face selection clearly shows how it was biased toward a certain politcal agenda
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
Which would be why feminist books are on there.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
Some people are like Slinkys... Not really good for anything, But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Wasn't that a book about unsafe seatbelts?
quote:
DrPaintThinner thought about the meaning of life:
Unsafe at Any Speed
by Ralph Nader
Score: 11Wasn't that a book about unsafe seatbelts?
I didn't really understand that book being on the list either. Maybe because it resulted in more safety standards being put on the corporations? According to DeLay crowd conservatives, near any federal regulations imposed on business is bad.
I'd like to see an arguement why this book wasn't in fact very benificial, but instead one of the most harmful books of the last 200 years.
quote:
DrPaintThinner attempted to be funny by writing:
Unsafe at Any Speed
by Ralph Nader
Score: 11Wasn't that a book about unsafe seatbelts?
It may be because of the author. Ralph Nader's not very appreciated in most camps for his Green Party involvement and run in 2000, though it probably got the Republicans the win.
I think his book's inclusion was personal as opposed to any actual attack on the book itself.
quote:
I didn't think that even DrPaintThinner would get so drunk as to say:
Unsafe at Any Speed
by Ralph Nader
Score: 11Wasn't that a book about unsafe seatbelts?
"Unsafe at any speed" specifically relates to the Chevy Corvere. It was a car with the motor and the drive axle in the rear. 
Though the book may go beyond that.
As far as Nader's book, I've always found it odd that the Corvair was singled out. VW built Beetles for years using the same rear suspension design, not to mention Mercedes used it for their 300SL Gullwings.
