What three books would you put forward for inclusion in the ultimate library and why?

My proposals are:

The Bible - because like it or not the history of British society is rooted in the church which arguably had more control over society than any other body. I'm not sure you can understand society and the way it has developed without at least some understanding of the premises on which the church is based - plus it has some good stories and nice ideas!

Quantum Psychology - becuase its a manual for thinking and exploring - the user guide everyone should get with their brain!

The manifestos of the major political parties - OK its a bit of a cheat, but politics rules your life and it would be nice for people to actually put in a bit of thought for who they voted for rather than the sheep like 'I have always voted for X' or worse yet 'my family have always voted for X'!

Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

:thumbsup:

1) Dictionarys - Oxford Complete and translation dictionarys (French to English, English to French etc. etc.)
2) Thesaurus.
3) Encyclopedia Brittanica

I need 1) & 2) in order understand Phan. ;)
3) is just a generally useful reference book.

Every library needs a good reference section after all.

Nomme

1) How to read
2) Advanced reading Pro
3) Creating a universe - for dummies

War of the Worlds by HG Wells
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
HTML for Dummies

Collected Works of Shakespeare - every library should have one!

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov - just a great book.

The Feynman Lectures on Physics (cheat here - it's a three volume set!) A great physics lecture course from one of the masters of the field. Don't understand all of it but anything written by a bongo playing, strip club attending, safebreaking Nobel Prize Winner has to be worth having a go at!

Joe

The Hobbit, so much better than Lord of the Rings, and yes I do know they're inter-connected but still 'The Hobbit
Neville Shutes book 'On the Beach' which shows just how mad the human race could be with no winners at all
Third choice is more difficult there are so many, but possibly one of Robert Heinlein's or Arthur C Clarke, [Uummn can't decide]

Charles Darwin - Origin of Species

AA Book of the British Countryside

Isaac Newton - Principica(sp)

1. The Rat's by James Herbert
2. The Lair by James Herbert
3. The Domain By James Herbert

They should all be read by children approx 12 years of age so they can be scared Sh*****s just like i was! :hihi:

Originally posted by WALLBUILDER
The Hobbit, so much better than Lord of the Rings,
That must be why The Hobbit was chosen to be made into the best selling movies of all time then ;)

LOTR is a bit long winded though. Great if you're into it, but bad if you hate endless, pointless exposition.

anyway

1.How It Works (1&2 in a combined volume) - simple inclusion really, does exactly what it says on the cover

2.Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson. - the perfect antidote to pop psychology books from the anti-guru himself.

3.Psychedelics Encyclopaedia, by D M Turner - Encyclopaedic coverage of the field of psychedelics, essential reading for anyone who seeks to alter their perceptions in more unconventional ways.

Originally posted by Dirk Diggler
That must be why The Hobbit was chosen to be made into the best selling movies of all time then ;)

Obviously they realised the Hobbit was too good and no film could ever do it justice, where as LOTR needed to be made into a film so the thicko's could follow it, they tried the same thing with Dune as again the book was far to complicated for some people. Riverworld that was another one, a fascinating yarn but far to difficult for the average american to understand hence the film.

Originally posted by JoePritchard

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov - just a great book.

Joe

Joe - I'd have added that one but here's a few alternatives.

1 Solzenhistyn (spelt completely wrong!) - Cancer Ward..sounds depressing but is a really good read and says alot about human character and history

2 Germaine Greer - Whole Woman..got some great one liners for when we women fancy a bit of a rant!

3 John Hegley - Collected Poems...just to ensure this library had a bit of humour

Would like to add loads more but bit like films the list could just go on and on...

Originally posted by threecolours
Joe - I'd have added that one but here's a few alternatives.

1 Solzenhistyn (spelt completely wrong!) - Cancer Ward..sounds depressing but is a really good read and says alot about human character and history



I preferred 'First Circle', but Cancer Ward was pretty good. 'A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch' is good. Have you ever read Darkness at Noon? (Arthur Koestler). That's VERY good.

Joe

A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich's brother-in-law:

"Another crap day at the party office, I wonder what Ivan's up to nowadays.?"

------------------------------

Cancer Ward *is* depressing. But it is a very good book indeed - cancer levelling the hierarchies - interesting allegory. Shame Solzhenitsyn then went on to live his life in self imposed imprisonment in the USA.

And "A day in the life" is definitely preferred over "the Gulag Archipelago"; like "The Hobbit" to "The Fellowship of the Ring" in many ways. I have never looked at a potato the same way since.

Still never managed to finish either of them (TGA/TFOTR)

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich's brother-in-law:

"Another crap day at the party office, I wonder what Ivan's up to nowadays.?"

------------------------------

Cancer Ward *is* depressing. But it is a very good book indeed - cancer levelling the hierarchies - interesting allegory. Shame Solzhenitsyn then went on to live his life in self imposed imprisonment in the USA.

And "A day in the life" is definitely preferred over "the Gulag Archipelago"; like "The Hobbit" to "The Fellowship of the Ring" in many ways. I have never looked at a potato the same way since.

Still never managed to finish either of them (TGA/TFOTR)

Managed to finish The Gulag Archipelago but not TFOTR. There's a book out at the moment called 'Gulag' which is quite interesting about the history of the Gulag from a less personal perspective from 1917 to today.

The reason I liked First Circle was the technical background - for many years it wasn't realised in teh West that a lot of Soviet technology was designed and developed by people in these 'Special' camps - scientists and engineers that Stalin had jailed but still found work for, and German scientists and engineers kept for years after the end of WW2.

And as for the self-imposed exile - very ironic.

Joe

An almost impossible task to only pick three...... Still, here goes:

1. Another vote for "The Master and Margarita" -
perhaps the first really grown-up book I ever read. Dark, fantastical, thought-provoking, emotionally searing, touching, funny, sad, beautiful, bizarre, redeeming, uplifting, joyous - not an easy book, but once read, never forgotten.

2. OK I'll be boring and vote for "Lord of the Rings"

3. I'll have to cheat here and pick all the books that make up "The Chronicles of Narnia".
Unbeatable story-telling that can be read on many different levels.


StarSparkle

Originally posted by JoePritchard
I preferred 'First Circle', but Cancer Ward was pretty good. 'A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch' is good. Have you ever read Darkness at Noon? (Arthur Koestler). That's VERY good.

Joe

I think I've read most of Solzenhitsyn's (sp still no better!?) books and liked them all but none by Koestler so shall have to look out for that. Bit likes films and music...so much to go over but never have enough time...

My last suggestion (as I could go on about books for a long time..) if you like Bulgakov is The Russians Debutantes Handbook by Gary Shteyngart (looks wrong but sure tis right!)...probably an easier read than any of Bulgakov's but just as surreal and funny at times.

Originally posted by threecolours
I think I've read most of Solzenhitsyn's (sp still no better!?) books and liked them all but none by Koestler so shall have to look out for that. Bit likes films and music...so much to go over but never have enough time...

My last suggestion (as I could go on about books for a long time..) if you like Bulgakov is The Russians Debutantes Handbook by Gary Shteyngart (looks wrong but sure tis right!)...probably an easier read than any of Bulgakov's but just as surreal and funny at times.

Will keep an eye open for that!

Darkness at Noon is quite an interesting book - it's about an 'old Bolshevik' who is arrested in the late 1930s. Whilst in jail he remembers his previous imprisonments, and starts to come to terms with his past and tries to justify his own actions and the actions of the Soviet state.

Very interesting, indeed.

Joe

1. Bram Stokers Dracula
2. Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice.
3. Of Mice & Men - John Steinbeck
4. The whole of the Tintin collection!!