If you had to rebuild society, what three (3) books would you take?

Question

Long story short, I watched an early adaptation of "The Time Machine". George took 3 books with him, in the film, to the future to help rebuild society for the Eloi. This made me wonder, what three books would you take with you (if you could only take 3) to rebuild society? Why?

Me:
1) The Bible - Whether or not you believe in a god or not, the Bible is an excellent representation of the dawn of the reasoning of mankind.

2) The Norton Anthology of World Literature - Even though this is a textbook, it is a book which has some great stories that should be read and passed down from generation to generation.

3) Gone with the Wind - It's a good book, and a bit sexy in its own way.

Answer 1

The Bible

Shakespeare

A history book

Answer 2

I'm going to answer this question in my own way. I wouldn't bother to try and "rebuild society." That's a pretty egotistical notion. Societies have risen and fallen all through history. Right now in the USA we're watching societal collapse take place, and we have many millions (and millions) of "Eloi" all over the place -- they're not getting any smarter, and they're being thoroughly exploited by the

"Morlocks" (the corporations). And you cannot build, much less REbuild a society when there are so many Eloi (half-wits) running around loose. Showing them books isn't going to help because there are few today who ask questions, few who seriously wonder about Life, wonder why it is as it is. There are millions nowadays who can't spell, can't construct a complete sentence, and aren't even capable of intelligently expressing an complex idea. In this period we're living in, we have millions of highly-educated idiots in high positions who may be able to talk about their profession into infinity but they are not able to put it into perspective, to see where they "sit" in the overall scheme of things. In fact, it doesn't even occur to them to ponder such things. How would the Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Upanishads, the sutras, etc., help them? It would probably be much better to take cook books, carpentry books, and a few comic books. At least they could learn about food, how to put up buildings, and the comic books would keep what's left of their "minds" busy. But i wouldn't do this with the thought of "rebuilding" society. What would be the point? If i did it, I'd do it just to help some people out -- but not with any grandiose plans behind it ...

Answer 3

1.) The Bible



2.) Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" - mainly because I believe that when studied, it could prevent many wars and useless fightings.



3.) A book with song lyrics in it. Something out of the piano bench, or a hymnal, something that has words to sing, and Christmas songs are pretty.



Yeah, I know, civilizations come and go... but anything that could help even a few benefit would be worth the effort.

Answer 4

1. the Bible

2. a dictionary to pass down all of the words in our language

3. Pocket Ref by Thomas J. Glover, this books has information on everything from first aid to math formulas and has calenders out to 2048. this would help preserve known information and its a cheap book.

( if i had a number 4 it would be a book about farming ive heard of a book i think its called "the land" and it seemed really good)

Answer 5

Wikipedia.

Answer 6

I'd take HG Wells' "Time Machine" just to mess with them! Actually, I think the distant future won't need "rebuilding" or ancient literature. I think they'll probably have their own society and their own literature and I'd be interested in reading it. Human society is a hard thing to kill.

Answer 7

If I had to rebuild civilization, I'd have to be much more pragmatic. Our first priority would be food, so my first selection would have to be a book about sustainable farming and agriculture. Sorry, I don't know the names of specific titles, but "You Can Farm" by Joel Salatin comes up on Google, and it looks pretty good.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/you-can-farm-joel-f-salatin/1100097577?ean=9780963810922



Once we get the matter of food out the way, we can get to the actual rebuilding of civilization. You can't have a civilization without technology and infrastructure, for which you need math and science.



So, my second selection would be "God Created the Integers" by Stephen Hawking. It is a repository of mathematical concepts from recent times all the way back to Euclid, and it would save us a lot of time and trouble of having to rediscover the everything on our own.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/god-created-the-integers-stephen-hawking/1111303637?ean=9780762430048



My third selection would be "Feynman Lectures on Physics" by Richard Feynman. I wish it were a bit more up to date, but nevertheless it is a fairly comprehensive primer on physics - quite ideal for a civilization seeking to rebuild itself.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/feynman-lectures-on-physics-boxed-set-richard-phillips-feynman/1100923353?ean=9780465023820



If I could choose more than three books I would also add primers on Chemistry, Engineering, and Medicine. But again, I don't know specific titles.

Answer 8

Echart tolle books

David icke or Bill Cooper books

vegan diet books



The best book is whats inside you, nature will and life will teach you more than any book if you become more aware and observent of it.