QUESTION: You're stuck on a desert island in the middle of the ocean. Which 5 books do you bring?

[JTG of the PRB]

Let's say that, for some reason, you're flying your library across the ocean. One of the engines explodes, and you only have enough time to slip on your parachute and grab a handful of your many, many books before parachuting down to a small island below you. What 5 books do you take with you?

Personally, I'd have to go with these five...

1. The Lord of the Rings (it IS technically one book, after all)

2. The Hobbit (I really like Tolkien's work)

3. All Quiet on the Western Front (one of my favorite books of all-time)

4. World War Z (another of my favorites)

5. Ender's Game (probably my favorite sci-fi book I've ever read)

What about you, fellow Loungers? What five books are you taking with you to your little island paradise far, far, far away from civilization? And remember, unless you actually OWN "Boat Building for Dummies" or "How to Make an Airplane Out of Coconuts and Palm Fronds: A Field Manual", those ones don't count. :P

[RandomThoughts]

1. Books have become irrelevant to me.

The print in them changes from day to day. Literally.

At least for me, although I think it is the concept don't go to the store.


AC/DC - Thunderstruck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoeeq-BH4w

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Lord of the Rings, Dune, The Bible, Collected Works of Shakespeare, and Harry Potter 7

Though I have a Kindle, which all of those (except Potter) are on, as well as a lot of others, so technically I could get away with taking about 100 books with me...

:P

[JTG of the PRB]

3. Actually, there was an electrical power surge and it shorted out your Kindle.

Sorry. :P

[Glassunion]

6. I'm with you on most...

Sweet picks.

[Chan790]

4. My 5:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

I'm working from the presumption that I have no idea when I'm being rescued. That's about 3500p. of fiction there.

[Glassunion]

5. Hmmmm.

1. Bible (NIV student edition)
2. LOTR (I'm with you on that one)
3. Wheel of Time (whole damn set, including the 2 that have to be released)
4. 1984
5. Shakespeare's complete works. (yes you can get it in one huge volume)

[sarge43]

7. Mine

The Riverside Shakespeare

The New Oxford Book of English Verse

Eyewitness to America

Harlan Ellison's Watching

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

[carlyhippy]

8. well, lets see

Wonderful Tonight-Patti Boyd Harrison

Heroes and Villains-Gaines

Wouldn't It Be Nice-(it is supposed to be an autobio of Brian Wilson, probably written by Dr. Eugene Landy)

I'm with the band-Pamela Desbarre

The Worst Case Scenario handbook :)

[XemaSab]

9. Let's see...

Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Pelican Blood, No Night Is Too Long, Sabbathday River, Lord of the Flies, The Stand, and possibly Poisonwood Bible would be near the top of the list.

Oh, and the Bible and Shakespeare would also be good choices.

[Dr Morbius]

10. In no particular order.

Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes. I have read parts of it but would love to get all the way through.

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran. I suspect that if I am spending years all alone, something to help me hold on to my precious sanity would be wonderful. The Prophet, a small book, contains more wisdom per page than any other volume I could name, save perhaps...

The Collected Works of Marcus Aurelius. Perhaps the smartest and most logical of all of Rome's emperors, Aurelius defines a philosophy elegant in simplicity and yet sophisticated enough to be challenging. This volume along with The Prophet should be enough to keep me from going totally insane.

The Anatomy of Melancholy, Democritus Jr (Robert Burton). This enormous work actually advocates embracing madness, in a way, for the world is indeed mad. It was written in the 13th century by a British cleric and it was his life's work; he added to it or modified it again and again for nearly forty years. He chose the name "Democritus Jr" as an homage to the original Greek philosopher; hats off to him for that. I've read the introduction only, in the ONE time I've been able to lay my hands on it, for it is rather rare. In my defense, it was about 300 pages long and over seven centuries removed from my own time, so it really did take three weeks to read the intro.

Atlas of the World, Oxford Press (or really, any really giant atlas). First of all, every atlas contains many statistics, and statistics can provide mathematical gymnastics, important to a hermit. Also, such a huge amount of statistics would enable me to try to memorize some, for example memorizing all the cities in Uruguay. This, too, will exercise my mind. And I gotta think having a map can't hurt me none, because if I am alone on a deserted island, it sure as anything wasn't my choice, and I'd want to get off.

I hope someone reads this since I spent so much time thinking about it! :D

[JTG of the PRB]

13. I hadn't thought about the Atlas idea, but that's a good choice!

And the works of Marcus Aurelius sounds interesting too... I may have to check that out sometime! :hi:

[Dr Morbius]

15. I wish I could have worked in a picture book.

Images are terribly important. Imagine an unchanging sky, unchanging beach, unchanging everything. I am sure I'd long for pictures of anything. I considered Life Magazine's various volumes, especially from the WWII era, but then happened across the idea of the atlas, which was better I think.

Thanks! :hi:

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. The Anatomy of Melancholy can be found for free dowload

( I always download in pdf)
at
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=The%20Anatomy%20of%20Melancholy%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

Also some of the other books you mentioned available there.

In search box, put in title, then scroll search options to the "text" option.

[Dr Morbius]

32. I did not know that.

Thank you.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. Tons of books avaiable for free download on the web.

I googled "free ebooks" which provided all sorts of sites.
Saving a fortune, I am.
Esp, books before 1920.

[struggle4progress]

11. (1) "How to become ten times smarter through fasting"

(2) "Build a powerful signal beacon from dead fish and sand"
(3) "Adventurer's guide to ocean navigation on primitive rafts"
(4) "The incredible promise of pheromones: why gorgeous women will swim thousands of miles of open sea to save you"
(5) "Don't worry! Be happy!"

[JTG of the PRB]

14. I'm skeptical about at least 3 of those books...

I mean, I've definitely seen "Build a Powerful Signal Beacon from Dead Fish and Sand" on shelves before, and it makes sense someone would write a "Don't Worry! Be Happy!" book...

Those other three, though, I don't know... :P

[struggle4progress]

21. Several of them could be out of print

I may have to postpone getting stranded on a desert island until I scour the used book shops

[hyphenate]

12. A dictionary, thesaurus

and 3 very large, empty notebooks with pencils or pens to write with. I would look at the island "adventure" as a clean slate, and find as much to write about as I could, however long I was there.

[pokerfan]

16. Practical Boat Building for Amateurs

Wilderness Medicine by Auerbach

USMC Survival Manual (FM 21-76)

SAS Survival Handbook

Oxford Book of Food Plants by Vaughan & Geissler

[Dr Morbius]

17. "Oxford Book of Food Plants" - smart move. Kudos. (nt)

[pokerfan]

18. Ashley Book of Knots

would be another good one though the most practical knots would likely be covered in the survival manuals.

[MrScorpio]

26. WIN!

[InternalDialogue]

19. Love this question

1. Infinite Jest

2. Don Quixote

3. The Bible

4. Lord of the Rings

5. Ulysses (mainly because I might actually finish it if I were on an island)

[Book Lover]

20. Oh, let's see

The final edition of Leaves of Grass

Dhalgren (maybe I'd *finally* get around to reading it!)

Doorways in the Sand

Street of Crocodiles

and the Cosmic Tarot (the cards have been called by others a book without binding, and so says I)

[Kali]

22. because I have been reading it lately:

#1 - (human) merck manual any edition really, as the true amusement is in the hypochondria it generates, not current treatments (although it might actually prove useful)

#2 dictionary - lots of good reading

#3 some sort of homesteading/wilderness living volume - I have a few but I bet there is a better one I will have to buy before the next transocean flight :P

#4 joy of cooking or how to cook everything

#5 maybe some kind of porn?

I think these would be more useful/entertaining than rereading most fiction.

[MajorChode]

24. I'm surprised it took 22 posts before someone mentioned fuck books

And #5 on the list at that.

I think the standards for the Lounge are getting to high for me.

[Zavulon]

23. A book on building boats, a survival guide, any silver-colored book I can use to signal

passing aircraft (I guess I'd go with the Guinness Book of World Recoeds), the largest multi-volume encyclopedia I can find (it's still one book, right?) and for entertainment I'd go with the thickest joke book I could find.

[petronius]

25. Since we're being flexible, I'm going to declare all of Iain Banks' Culture novels

to be one book, the entire Cadfael series to be one book, Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series to be one book, and the 26 volumes of 'The Year's Best Science Fiction' to be one book. Added to those four books, I'll grab the US Army Survival Manual.

And, since I'll have been reading The Forever War on the plane, that one will be in my pocket and will come along by happenstance...

:)

[SoxFan]

27. OK

US Army Field Manual 21-76
New American Bible
Single volume set of The Lord of the Rings
A decent American literature anthology
This:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

28. My Pet Goat - five copies

With my short attention span, I keep forgetting where I left the book, so five copies will help.

Hey, this answer doesn't reveal my true identity, does it? I think terrists are looking for me, with nucular WMDs.

:hide:

[hobbit709]

29. I do own the Army Survival Manual FM21-76

Very handy.
My other books would probably be
Stranger In A Strange Land
The Collected Works Of Mark Twain
Das Kapital-either for insomnia or for laughter
Either The Descent Of Man or Origin Of Species.

[chemenger]

30. How to build any modern convenience out of coconuts and palm fronds

by Professor Roy Hinkley.

My copy is even autographed by the Professor himself.

[Lucian]

33. My one Amazon Kindle that can hold 1,500 books.

But only if there's electricity to charge my Kindle back up. :D

Otherwise, I'd take...

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. A Game of Thrones
3. A Clash of Kings
4. A Storm of Swords
5. A Feast for Crows

6. A Dance with Dragons - added because I want to say...I hope this book gets done soon! Getting antsy!

Edit to add: I'd love to bring a World Atlas with me too, just so I can learn everything about every country. Good idea! :thumbsup:

[bif]

34. Winnie the Pooh...

Catcher in the Rye, the OED, The Joy of Cooking, Time and Again.

[LynneSin]

36. My 5 books:

1. The Cider House Rules by John Irving (btw the movie sucked)
2. Something trashy by Judith Krantz like Mistrel's Daughter or Scruples. Brain needs a bit of candy
3. Bible - yes the bible, yes that bible. One day I want to read this thing from start to finish and what better time then on a deserted island where I have nothing else better to do than to read books.
4. US Army Survival Field Manual Guide Book - let's face it I'd like to survive on that island too.
5. Some really thick book about Ronald Reagan - just because all those pages would make good fodder for starting a fire.

[seabeyond]

37. i was thinking really big fat books jammed with info like atlas. but i LOVE the idea of survival

and how to build a canoe books. smart thinking, lol.

[Bennyboy]

38. The Four Agreements....Bill Graham, My life Inside..

Rock and Out, Trout Fishing In America, The Electric Kool Aid Acid test, Can't Find My Way Home, the story of drugs in America.

The Four Agreements: best kind of self help book i ever read. really helps me a lot.

Bill Graham, My life Inside.. One of the greatest American stories. The escape from the Holocaust. The fights, the love affairs the famous people, the power... I love this book.

Trout Fishing In America. I love it, Whimsy. Some great writing here. Not about trout fishing but about Trout Fishing In America.


Can't Find My Way Home, the story of drugs in America. From harlem with Bird to Cobain, this book covers the intertwined story of drugs, music and opular culture. Jerry, Iggy, Capote, Lou Reed, Coltrane, etc..

The Electric Kool Aid Acid test. Love it. I know a few of those people personally and I love the story. Simpler times then. Freak freely..

[Old Troop]

39. "How to Build a Raft"; "Catching and Preparing Seabirds"; "Finding

Fresh Water for Dummies"; "Field Expedient Signaling"; and "Emily Post's Guide to Good Manners" (for variety).

[LiberalEsto]

40. My 5

Lord of the Rings
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
Sense and Sensibility
Emma

(The last 4 were written by Jane Austen)

[Tobin S.]

41. Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, Voluptuous, and Score.

[Curmudgeoness]

42. I just want five blank books, would love the time to try writing one of my own.

[Lindsey]

43. The Prophet, The Four Agreements, A New Earth, Ask and

it is Given (sounds like a Christian book but it's not at all), a MAN'S Search for Meaning. Those are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.

[greendog]

44. That was my thought. Blank sketchbooks.

[slay]

45. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for that opposite of a desert island feel, and 4 I haven't read

Maybe a Stephen King, a Clive Barker, a collected edition of some comic like The Invisibles, and something by Carl Sagan. :)

(i actually do own the army survival guide, so i might substitute that for carl sagan since i don't know what i did with his book.. doh)