If you knew you were to be exiled...

[squarejohn]

Imagine a situation--such as exile in a remote and isolated location--in which you were allowed to take along a few personal possessions, but only three books of any kind, which three books would you choose?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Gee, sounds like Coventry by Robert A. Heinlein. Or it could be Tunnel in the Sky. Either would fit the scenario.

ETA: Here's my choices...

Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray - otherwise known as Gray's Anatomy
The Extreme Survival Almanac by Reid Kincaid
Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY by John LeCarre

SOUTH MOON UNDER by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

THE SEARCHERS by Alan LeMay

 

[lovecraft68]

Imagine a situation--such as exile in a remote and isolated location--in which you were allowed to take along a few personal possessions, but only three books of any kind, which three books would you choose?

I suppose a lot of people here are going to come up with some highbrow answers of religious texts or deep philosophical works to make themselves look brainy but I figure I'll be reading for enjoyment so:


William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.
A collected edition of Lovecraft.
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson.

 

[oggbashan]

1. The US Navy's Pacific Survival Guide published 1944
2. Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh
3. Sea Stories (an omnibus) by Rafael Sabatini

Og

 

[Bestroika]

The United States Army trained me well enough to survive most situations, so I'd leave the survival guides at home, this leaves me open for reading that entertains.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
25 Years of Vampire Erotica by various authors

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The United States Army trained me well enough to survive most situations, so I'd leave the survival guides at home, this leaves me open for reading that entertains.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
25 Years of Vampire Erotica by various authors

But the survival guides are entertaining. At least I think they are.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'll bring along one book-- a Kindle, fully loaded with 4gigabytes of text files-- that's a couple lifetimes reading.

(and a magical never-drain power source for it, of course)

Really, there aren't three books that would keep me content for the rest of my life. I like variety in my reading. I'm happy to have such available-- it's one of my biggest luxuries.

 

[Bestroika]

But the survival guides are entertaining. At least I think they are.

I didn't say they weren't amusing dear, just that I felt prepared enough to go the road without them.

 

[TE999]

That's a toughie...but I'll say The Bible, the Oxford Dictionary-Unabridged and the collected works of William Shakespeare.

 

[Safe_Bet]

That's a toughie...but I'll say The Bible, the Oxford Dictionary-Unabridged and the collected works of William Shakespeare.

Good choice on the bible. You can never have too much toilet paper...

 

[lovecraft68]

Good choice on the bible. You can never have too much toilet paper...

A woman after my own heart. I didn't go there though because then I would be down a book on the list and as far as dragging the Bible through shit, organized religion has done enough of that on it's own.

 

[TE999]

Good choice on the bible. You can never have too much toilet paper...

A woman after my own heart. I didn't go there though because then I would be down a book on the list and as far as dragging the Bible through shit, organized religion has done enough of that on it's own.

Y'all are disgraceful heathens.

Actually, my first choice would have been Edward Gibbon's 'Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire', but that's six volumes.

I've never read the Bible, but from what I can gather, it's an interesting collection of stories and early human history...and it's in one book. I'm not interested in its presumed divine origin.

 

[lovecraft68]

Y'all are disgraceful heathens.

Actually, my first choice would have been Edward Gibbon's 'Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire', but that's six volumes.

I've never read the Bible, but from what I can gather, it's an interesting collection of stories and early human history...and it's in one book. I'm not interested in its presumed divine origin.

I have actually read the bible and it's not bad as long as it's taken for what it is: Mythology. It's full of far fetched stories, tales, and prophesies just like any other myth cycle except it's a single deity not a pantheon. What bothers me isn't the bible itself but the people who thump it and try to force it down my throat as sooth. It is mythology at it's finest.
My example:
In Greek mythology sin was unleashed upon the world when Pandora opened a box she was not supposed to. Christians say "great story what a naive child like way to explain sin it's a myth."
Now Genesis: sin was unleashed when Adam ate an apple he was not supposed to, now I a supposed to believe this equally far fetched tale is truth?
Before anyone says it, I know the bible predates these stories (if you believe it's timeline) and that "Pandora" and the others are spun from it. so would that make it more real being the original set of bullshit stories?
As a work of fiction the Bible is a decent read as "the word of god?" Nope sorry not buying it.

 

[oggbashan]

The BBC's Desert Island Discs assumes that the castaways are given a Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

They are asked to choose the music and can take another book and one luxury item. Some have chosen large objects such as a grand piano.

The interest in this long-running programme is the interview with the castaway and WHY they have chosen the particular items of music.

Og

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

LOVEBOAT

Parts of your spiel are correct but you leave much out. Prior to 500BC most humans were schizophrenic. They hallucinated gods and demons, and these dieties contended for the allegience of humans. When we speak of souls we're really talking about allegience...obeying the diety's commands.

After 500BC the dieties went away cuz our brains changed.

 

[sr71plt]

I wouldn't go, unless I found out that there were three Graham Greenes I've never read.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I didn't say they weren't amusing dear, just that I felt prepared enough to go the road without them.

Ah, yes, I also feel prepared "be prepared" to go it without them, but I do enjoy a good laugh at what parts they got wrong. Even S.E.R.E. training didn't get everything right.

 

[lovecraft68]

LOVEBOAT

Parts of your spiel are correct but you leave much out. Prior to 500BC most humans were schizophrenic. They hallucinated gods and demons, and these dieties contended for the allegience of humans. When we speak of souls we're really talking about allegience...obeying the diety's commands.

After 500BC the dieties went away cuz our brains changed.

Wow you agreed with part of what I said. You must be going soft over there. I also get what your saying as well. Of course they were eating lots of berries and "shrooms to get those hallucinations. There were also of course those that created the stories to keep there people in line instill the "fear of god" in them. But all i am saying is that i think the Christian Bible to me doesn't hold any more water than any of the other myth cycles. Valhalla or heaven, Judgement day vs Ragnarok six of one half dozen of another.
I am sure the Greeks thought they were right as did the Egyptians and everyone else. Bottom line is no one knows and by the time we find out it's too late to tell anyone.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

LOVEBOAT

There are enough preserved 'documents' to date the change across several cultures around the Mediterranean and Middle East. The theory is: Modern consciousness arose about 500BC, and schizophrenia is a vestige of the old psychology (maybe fiction writing, too).

 

[mr. robinson]

Hmmm
The New York Times Cookbook
The Foxfire Book(s)
Norton's Anthology of American Literature

 

[raphy]

I don't mind deities. It's their fan clubs that annoy me, generally.

I'd be hard pressed to think of just 3 books, honestly. I like all of my library too much.