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February 29, 2008
Books : Desert Island Media (Books)
This is the continuation of my response to a suggestion for posts from Melissa. Essentially if I had to go a long period of time with access to only a small set of movies, books, TV, games, which would I choose? I previously gave my list of movies here.
Books turns out to be an easier list since I already have a set of books that I tend to re-read periodically, so they are natural choices. The only question is what order to put them in. I will however note that my choices here are definitely influenced by the idea that I would be re-reading them many times. There are books (particularly non-fiction books) that I recommend more highly for reading once; but for books to re-read, this is my list.
The obvious first choice is, of course, the Bible. It is in fact so obvious as to be uninteresting, so I’ll focus on what books I would pick after that (and assume I have on my desert island, or spaceship, or whatever, a Bible). Although if I had a choice of what translation to take, I think I’d currently pick the New English Bible – a British translation.
So after that, here’s what I would pick:
1. "Godel, Escher, Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid" by Hofstadter
As I mentioned in a recent review, this is one of my favorite books of all time, and one I re-read regularly.
2. "Snow Crash" by Stephenson
One of my favorite SciFi books of all time. I re-read this periodically, both for the ideas in the book and for the author’s excellent use of language.
3. "Courtship Rite" by Kingsbury
Another of my all-time favorite novels.
If I could take a few more (perhaps trading in my movie allotment), I would grab:
4. "Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language" by Hofstadter
Hofstadter’s other masterpiece.
5. Cryptonomicon by Stephenson
Another of Stephenson’s books
6-8. The Baroque Cycle by Stephenson
If I could take 8 books, the I would next add Stephenson’s entire Baroque Cycle. Otherwise I would pick:
6. or 9. "The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" by Stephenson
Another Stephenson book.
So yes, if I was able to grab 9 books, I would only have 3 authors represented.
Posted by Steven at February 29, 2008 05:00 AM
Comments
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond.
The Baseball Encyclopedia
Any historical atlas
Posted by: janbergs ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://sighsandmusings.stevenanne.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 29, 2008 08:44 AM
I still haven't picked up any of Stephenson's works. I can see I'm going to have to fix that! :)
Posted by: Melissa at February 29, 2008 02:10 PM
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" is a great book which would be high on my list of books that everyone should read; but I don't think it is one that bears much re-reading.
Posted by: Steven at March 1, 2008 02:27 AM
