If you're stuck on a desert island and can have only one book, what book would it be?

[MrScorpio]

Me, I'd find a book called "How to Survive on a Desert Island"

http://www.amazon.com/Books-Needed-Survive-Deserted-Island/lm/I994ORM74G6S

I have no idea why the Bible would be number one. Unless of course, it's all fundies.

[DarkTirade]

1. I think that's in case you run into any of them heathens on that island.

You can use the bible to convert them.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear MrScorpio!

Mine would be "How to Get the Fuck off the Desert Island"!

Because I could NOT decide on just one book!

:P

[Rhythm]

3. "Good Omens" or "The Hitchhiker's Guide"

Because even though i've read them 20 times, they still cracks me up in spots...

And if i'm marooned on a desert island, i'm gonna have to keep my sense f humor intact in order to survive.

[AngryAmish]

46. I would get an actual copy of "The Hitchhikers Guide"

It is a very large book. Reading about the galaxy would be interesting.

[SeattleGirl]

4. The dictionary

As Hawkeye Pierce once said, "It has all the books already in it." :)

[EastTennesseeDem]

7. Ha! Never heard that one before.

:P

[flvegan]

5. Les Stroud's "Deserted Island Survival For Dummies"

[hfojvt]

6. Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival Guide

I sorta think the idea behind the question is that your survival is already taken care of and you have nothing else to do but read. No TV, no sports, no conversation. So you can finally read that huge book that you have been told you really ought to read, like the Bible, or War and Peace or the Lord of the Rings books.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. A knew a science fiction writer who ask his readers

what 10 books they would take to another star-system. One day he came into our office with an early Sony CD-ROM book reader and proclaimed that the question of which books to take was irrelevant - we could take all of them.

I told him that I would still take one paper book - the CD-ROM reader repair manual.

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. Good point. I'd take more than one paper book because that CD-ROM is sure to permanently fail

eventually.

[jobycom]

9. "How to Build Everything from Nothing," by Professor Roy Hinkley

What that dude could do with coconuts and wires...

[Ikonoklast]

18. Yeah, he could build a radio out of coconuts, the genius

but he couldn't figure out a way to patch a couple of holes in the side of a boat on an island with a half million trees on it.

[jobycom]

19. He could have patched the holes any time he wanted.

But then he wouldn't have a shot at Ginger.

[Ikonoklast]

20. Ahem. The Professor would *never* have a shot at Ginger.

You could tell Ginger would only go for the 'Bad Boy' type of guy.

So, unless The Professor could have made a 650 Triumph and a leather jacket out of bananas and some palm trees, he was S.O.L. as far as seeing Ginger in her skivvies.

[jobycom]

21. Yeah, but HE didn't know that.

He figured if he just hung around saving her bacon every week, eventually she'd soften.

[iamjoy]

36. Oh, Please!

The Professor liked Mary Ann, Skipper liked Ginger.

[Richardo]

24. :D

:D:thumbsup:

[OmahaBlueDog]

31. He could build everything, except....

A BOAT!

Seriously, chuck the book. Get me a buncha batteries, a DVD player, and a copy of "Cast Away."

OK ...an ice skate and "Dentistry for Dummies" might also be helpful

[barb162]

10. The Bible is considered one of the great books of all time

and many people read it who aren't fundamentalists. There's lots of wisdom in bibles, thousands of years worth.
Personally, thougb I couldn't have just one book. You read one book and then what? Reread it 80 times?

[ZombieHorde]

16. "There's lots of wisdom in bibles"

Such as...?

[barb162]

25. Such as this:

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

[Kat45]

40. But the Bible contains many books, and it's so long

that it would take a very long time to read the whole thing through. Plus, repeated readings are helpful to get an understanding of much of what is said. It can also bring inspiration. The Psalms are songs, and one could make up melodies for them and sing them.

[petronius]

11. "How to Build Out of Nothing But Sand and Sail It To Civilization"

I think it's in the "...for Dummies" series. :)

[crim son]

12. Oh, MrScorpio! You're going to figure that out anyway.

You need something uplifing, something deeply human. Me, I'd take anything by Thackeray. Or Dickens, of course.

[Jamastiene]

13. I would want a book that would teach me how to

build a working typewriter and make paper. With that, I could write my own books and make that one book limit go away.

Sometimes, I re-read some of my old writing and can't remember writing it. While on the island, I would eventually forget what I wrote and reading it would be like reading a new book. :)

[pokerfan]

14. Just one?

[fizzgig]

15. other than 'how to save your sorry ass from a desert island'?

i would say the great book of amber: the amber chronicles. fanfuckingtastic series and i never get tired of it.

[TrogL]

17. Ulysses

Maybe if I read it enough times it will start to make sense.

[jobycom]

22. Maybe that's the reason behind the Bible, too. nt

[Orsino]

23. The Acme catalog.

I'd order me up a ship. Or a rocket. A ship with rockets.

[kentauros]

26. A never-ending blank one

and a never-ending pencil (with a never-ending eraser) :D

[Jamastiene]

29. Great minds think alike.

Your idea is even better than mine. Mine would require lots of trial and error and possibly some Wile E. Coyote moments before I could start writing.

Your idea rocks! :thumbsup:

[kentauros]

34. Thanks!

:D

Although, if we could get things shipped there, I would suggest the following site (and printed catalog, if only for the humorous writing)

American Science & Surplus

[Aristus]

27. Easy!: The Riverside Shakespeare.

I guess for me the question would be: "Which collected works of Shakespeare would you take to a desert island?

I'd have to choose from

The Yale Shakespeare
The Riverside Shakespeare
The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare
The Library Shakespeare

Decisions, decisions...

[fishnfla]

41. Riverside for me too

[DeepBlueC]

28. The Complete Sherlock Holmes

I like a well-told story & this is a good lot of pages.

[Xipe Totec]

30. Lucifer's Hammer n/t

[MichiganVote]

32. One of those 900 page novels...

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Swede]

35. Here on Gilligan's Island by the Professor.

Prolly has some neat things you can do with coconut shells.

http://www.amazon.com/Gilligans-Professors-Everything-Including-Complete/dp/0060969938

[ogneopasno]

37. A dictionary.

[RagAss]

38. The Tenth Man - by Wei Wu Wei

http://www.weiwuwei.8k.com/tmcontents.html

[XemaSab]

42. I'd pick a field guide to birds or fish

:shrug:

[Eurobabe]

43. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Because after reading that, you would have no need for "things" or society -- so that island would be home. :hi:

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. The BBC has asked this of celebrities for 67 years

Along with their 8 favourite pieces of music, and a 'luxury' (ie of no practical use - and I assume they'd disallow a book that was too practical too), on Desert Island Discs - the world's longest running music programme.

A list of the last 7 years' books and luxuries is on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs:_castaways%27_choices

They automatically get the Bible, or equivalent holy book (I can't remember if any atheist has got a substitute - I think I've heard one of two just say they wouldn't bother with it); and the Complete Works of Shakespeare (because too many British people would request it, I guess - they recently gave a German the Goethe equivalent).

[MissMillie]

45. My pet goat

I hear it's a real page turner.