Books Not Bombs, by Josh Stallings

 Q: Banning books - currently in the news again - is the most extreme way to influence others’ reading habits. On a more positive note: what books do you put in your guest bedroom? Buy as presents? Press into strangers’ hands in bookshops? Leave in little free libraries?

A: First off, in a time when political decisions are made based on ten second news blips and bumpersticker slogans to fear books and burn, um, ban them, is insanity. Books are dangerous because they make the reader think. They te...