
Why is the Iranian government opening the world’s biggest bookstore? - benbreen
https://aeon.co/ideas/why-is-the-iranian-government-opening-the-world-s-biggest-bookstore
======
hamidr
Disclaimer: from Iran

The fun thing about printed books in Iran(well im not sure about other states
but at least about Tehran) is that you can almost find any censored book you
want if you try, maybe just not in the bookstores, perhaps street.

Also the censorship in Islamic TV is just stupidly ridiculous but it's not
that stupid comparing it to printed books.

Another fun thing about this topic is that I wouldnt have heard about this
biggest(?! come on :|) bookstore if it werent for the folk who submitted this
link.

------
nedsma
I wanted to avoid being negative, yet, I see this is a central store to
promote government approved and censored books that should emphasize or at
best not interfere with the governing ideology. Anything that could challenge
the ruling system will not find its place in this book store.

The list of banned books in Iran includes Dante's Inferno and Dan Brown's The
Da Vinci Code.

~~~
sriram_malhar
I approve of the ban on Dan Brown :)

Geoffrey Pullum (a well-known linguist) had this hilarious review on the
Language Log:

[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.h...](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html)

------
chejazi
...to fabricate the illusion of intellectual freedom.

~~~
rubix9
What is the west doing with its intellectual freedom? All I see is news of
shootings, bailouts, starting wars, and propping up the likes of Kim
Kardashian and Donald Trump.

~~~
omginternets
Is that really all you see?

That all exists, but if you're not seeing anything else, please consider
changing the channel. A few suggestions:

\- [https://www.gutenberg.org/](https://www.gutenberg.org/) \-
[http://www.sciencemag.org/](http://www.sciencemag.org/) \-
[http://one.npr.org/](http://one.npr.org/) \-
[https://www.ted.com/](https://www.ted.com/) \-
[https://www.plos.org/](https://www.plos.org/)

I mean absolutely no disrespect, but to imply that the West is somehow less
intellectually productive than Iran betrays ignorance, at best. Everywhere I
look, people are hard at work trying to do meaningful things. Some of it's
garbage, but Westerners are definitely doing _something_ with their
intellectual freedom, though you won't hear about it on reality TV (duh).

------
dschiptsov
In size, not in assortment?)

