10 Most Important Books

Discussion in 'Books' started by Meagain, Jan 20, 2005.

  1. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed and Confused Staff Member Super Moderator

    Here's the assignment:

    Develop a list the 10 most important books in the world.
    These are the 10 books you will be permitted to take with you to a far off place when the modern era falls.
    They will be used to rebuild.

    I'll start with what I have so far...

    1. Tao Te Ching...Lao Tsu - this will be used to rebuild religion and philosophy.
    2. Gray's Anatomy...I forget who - in case we have to operate.
    3. Machinery's Handbook...latest edition by whole bunches of people - pages and pages of gear formulas, practical physics, levers, etc.
    4. SAS Survival Handbook...I forget again- survival in any climate or land.

    That's all I have now....

    I'm looking for the best books on farming , crafts, health, general science, tools, and I don't know what else at the moment.
    No novels please. (I also banned the Bible as I believe it should be locked up for at least 1,000 years so that it can be read anew, without bias.)

    ....but you may make your own list.
     
  2. no novels?? ill make my own list when u finish burning all the books :p
     
  3. DAVIDTHEPHUNK

    DAVIDTHEPHUNK Member

    as much as i hate to say it, id have to say its
    1. the bible..king james version

    another big one: war and peace

    also, shakespeare?
     
  4. Megara

    Megara Banned

    what good are practical books on farming and other stuff if you cant rebuild a decent society? I'd personally go heavy on greek philosophy/literature/science...the rest will come in time.
     
  5. OSF

    OSF Señor ******

    Greek Philosophy = Plato, Plato = Greek Philosophy.

    One might suggest his complete works, to which I might then suggest ...

    The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper.
     
  6. Billy Brown

    Billy Brown Member

    if we're going to start all over, then forget about taoism. let's try no religion and then see what happens.
     
  7. Ash_Freakstreet

    Ash_Freakstreet Hmm.... GROOVY!

    1. The Bible
    2. The US Constitution
    3. "Pragmatism" by William James
    4. "Utilitarianism" by Mill
    5. "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith
    6. "Leviathan" by Hobbes
    7. Francis Bacon's New Organon
    8. "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" by Wittgenstein
    9. Newton's Principia
    10 Hegel's "Philosophy of Right"

    ...that's all we need.
     
  8. Billy Brown

    Billy Brown Member

    i have a text book entitled "world of ideas" which features the most important aspects of all ten of those selections, so if you take that book instead then you still have nine more selections. now we can take novels!!
     
  9. Ash_Freakstreet

    Ash_Freakstreet Hmm.... GROOVY!

    We are trying to rebuild the world... not trying to pass a philosophy class. So there is no substitute for primary texts. :p
     
  10. Billy Brown

    Billy Brown Member

    well if you take the books you've suggested then all you're doing is creating one big philosophy class. if we're given a chance to start over, i say we start from scratch. the last book i'd want to read would be smith's "the wealth of nations". i'd be writing my own philosophy text...but i guess i'm a leader, not a follower.
     
  11. Ash_Freakstreet

    Ash_Freakstreet Hmm.... GROOVY!

    yeah... but we have to build upon what has already been built... that is history. If we start from scratch then we are killing History.
     
  12. BlackGuardXIII

    BlackGuardXIII fera festiva

    1. The Choice Theory by William Glasser, M.D.​
    2. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman​
    3. Sturtevant’s Edible Plants of the World​
    4. Wilderness Medicine Paul S. Auerbach ​
    That is all for now, it is taking longer than I thought.........lol​
     
  13. Billy Brown

    Billy Brown Member

    considering the whole premise of this thread is assuming that the world has gone to shit, then why oh why would we want to repeat history?
     
  14. Ash_Freakstreet

    Ash_Freakstreet Hmm.... GROOVY!

    Exactly my point.

    we won't repeat history if we read it.... and we have to read history to correct it. We can take those books with us, as they represent our current thought. Then we can criticize it in the light of the catastrophy, and figure out its flaws, and then build a greater society...
     
  15. BlackGuardXIII

    BlackGuardXIII fera festiva

    Exactly...

    the last thing i would want is Greek/Roman guidelines on civilizations. Been there done that.
    And the list of tomes...........war and peace.....omg.......I'd kill myself.
     
  16. Soulless||Chaos

    Soulless||Chaos SelfInducedExistence

    Perhaps we restart with a solid base of all the most important aspects of science, and engineering and such, and completely rewrite philosophy and such from scratch? Why not? :D
     
  17. Billy Brown

    Billy Brown Member

    point taken, but lets just agree to disagree.
     
  18. Jabbawaya

    Jabbawaya Member

    The Tao Te Ching
     
  19. BlackGuardXIII

    BlackGuardXIII fera festiva

    I'd make philosophy a restricted subject, illegal to discuss in public, along with religion.
     
  20. OSF

    OSF Señor ******

    Philosophy? Illegal?!
     

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