I normally travel with a banker box of books in my checked baggage. Without fail every single trip in the US the boxes are opened by TSA and some books end up damaged due to poor repacking. Strangely, when I fly in Europe I have never noticed security having this fetish and have never had books damaged. So what is this issue with TSA?

They're jealous of people who can read - and think.

Must....resist....snarky.....comment....trying.... to..

because they've never seen one before
because they believe people who can read, since they are "different" must be terrorists
because the pen is mightier than the sword, and they want to ensure you don't intend to destroy the aircraft with all of those products of the pen.

Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

If I had to take a serious guess, I'd say all of that paper stacked up presents an obstacle that enough of the x-ray photons can't penetrate. While I cba to estimate the HVL calculations, I'm guessing they can't see "through" the books and as such they open up the baggage for a visual inspection of them.

This actually seems legitimate to me for checked baggage. That does not, however, excuse treating them poorly during repackaging.

Back in school, you couldn't get a future TSA agent to open a book.


Now that they are stuck in a dead-end job rubbing genitals all day, the opportunity to open a book instead of touching butcracks and packages is probably a welcome turn of events.

Ignorance is Power

A banker's box of books?!? You should really consider a Kindle 8 ounces!

I brought back a pile of books from Asia a couple years ago - used books that I was having difficulty finding in the US. I've heard that books can look suspicious on an x-ray. I was checking a bag and didn't want to encourage TSA to open it - every time they open my bag, it seems to be an opportunity for something to disappear, be added or be damaged.

I ended up buy a very cheap knock-off messenger bag, stuffing it with just the books and a towel, and not even locking it. I was quite confident that neither TSA nor the baggage handlers were going to have any interest in appropriating any of my books.

Years ago (Pre TSA) they used to paw through carry on books page by page. What were they doing? "Looking for something illegal."

Books kinda sort block X-rays, but not fully. They look like plastic explosive. One of my college roommates was studying for two AP tests when selecting colleges, and he flew with college-level physics and chemistry textbooks. They caused mild alarm until the bag was unzipped. (Yes, this was before Nine! Eleven!)

Several years ago before the release of the Kindle, my mother was reprimanded by a TSO for carrying too many books. When she asked what she could do to pack her carry-on better to avoid secondary searches, the TSO told her, "Don't read."

"What do you call someone who never cracked a book in school?"

"A TSO."

About three years ago I was leaving MSP when I was 'randomly' selected, I remember after every item in my messenger bag was spread out on the table, the TSO picked up my travel journal (the kind found at Border & Barnes & Noble, a 4.5" x6" notebook) thumbed through it and started reading it.
For a good 5 minutes.
Not just skimming the pages- READING word for word, page after page.

That still irks me to this day.

For the record, my travel journal does not have sketches of municipal plans, schematics or any red flag words such as WMD, Bomb, Gun, Allah, etc.

I note the date, city and good restaurants, eateries, hotels, shops, and museums I liked and/or would like to check out as well as notes on the weather, architecture, and cool or weird historical factoids and references to my digital camera for any photos I may have taken.

And at that, you're giving them the benefit of the doubt.

A TSO will appear to defend this practice in 3...2...1...

I came back from my first visit to Turkey a couple years ago. Bought several books - I was fascinated by the country, wanted to know more. One book that was recommended was about Ataturk and the role he played in creating the modern Turkey as a secular state, against great odds. Unfortunately, the book is called 'Crescent and Star'. I was halfway through the book when a domestic itinerary came up. I thought long and hard (lot of reports back then about TSOs examing reading material, T-shirt logos, etc). I left the book at home to finish after my trip.

American, land of the free. Except at the checkpoint.

I was singing in a chorale concert near Bainbridge WA not to long after 9/11 and I had scores in my checked bag. I didn't want to carry them on board, the suckers were heavy. I had them interspersed between my clothes and wouldn't you know it, the bag got opened and I got a love note. I hope they enjoyed paging through the Faure Requiem and some Schubert Lieder.

I am not convinced on the Kindle yet. I have it on my macbook, but i like the feel and weight of a book.