European?

To the Editor:

In Suzy Hansen’s otherwise excellent review of Asne Seierstad’s “Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey Into the Syrian Jihad” (May 6), it was jarring to read that the sisters were having “their last meal in Europe” in Adana, Turkey. Anyone who has spent time in Adana, not far from the Syrian border, and perhaps enjoyed the unique blend of Middle Eastern meats, vegetables and spices that make up the delicious Adana kebab, could not for a moment think they were still in Europe.

THOMAS WEIL

WOODBRIDGE, CONN.

‘Fahrenheit 451’

To the Editor:

While censorship is typically perceived as coercion, in “Fahrenheit 451” Ray Bradbury warns, “It didn’t come from the Government down. … Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time.” As Ramin Bahrani notes in “Confessions of a Book Burner,” his essay on adapting Bradbury’s novel for HBO (May 13), it was the people who wanted books to be destroyed.

On college campuses across America, students are encouraging the same thing to happen, shutting down speakers with whom they disagree. Rather than engaging in dialogue and using controversy as an opportunity to debate, students are putting shock and provocation above truth and openness for the sake of psychological complacency. Consider me triggered, but maybe we should burn all the books in the library and build a giant safe space. We will be happier there.

JESSICA JAKOBY

ANN ARBOR, MICH.

The Right Stuff

To the Editor:

Walter Isaacson’s review of “The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos,” by Christian Davenport, and “Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race,” by Tim Fernholz (April 29), reminds me of a line attributed to Gus Grissom: “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.”