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In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan the villain is marooned for fifteen years on what becomes a barren planet with these as his only books:
![[Image: khan5.jpg]](http://johnkennethmuir.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/khan5.jpg)
If you were marooned for such a length of time and could have at most ten books with you, what would they be and why?
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe
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all science fiction,would have to read them over and over again,never mind
Bruce Sterling
Neal Stephenson
Iain.m.Banks
William Gibson
- the partially blind semi bald eagle
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a good survival technique book.
lord of the rings (trilogy)
a good craft book (that teaches how make rope, rattan furniture, hammocks and shit like that.)
and 7 terry pratchett books.
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Lord of the Rings
Game of Thrones
-- that's 8 books already, and all because I've read them more than once and enjoyed them every time.
Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy -- the actual one that's mentioned in the books by Douglas Adams, I don't own a copy yet but I'm sure there's one out there in the universe somewhere...
And Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.
It could be worse
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Fifteen years is a long time, so I would go for Quantity. When I was 16, I read all 3 of the Lord of the rings books, plus the "Hobbit" non-stop. Although I love fantasy, I would burn through ten books in two weeks then have nothing to occupy me for the rest of the time. I want something that has thin pages, small writing and is very, very thick! Ergo:
The unabridged OED
The complete and unabridged works of William Shakespeare
The complete works of William Blake
The epic poems of Homer
The Nag Hammadi Library
The Rig Veda
The Story of Civilization: Durant
Theogony
Idyls of the King
The last book of the Eye of the World series.
I went with the Theogony because I don't know if there is a complete works of Hesiod or not. If there is, I'll take that. Like Kirk in the Wrath of Khan, I cheat 
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Notice on the right side, under the hand it reads "S. S. Botany Bay". Nice.
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
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dale,you gonna sit on a cloud an play harp?
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1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
2. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
3. The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson
4. The Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy
5. The Collected Poems of John Keats
6. Collected Poems by Philip Larkin
7. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
8. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
9. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote
10. Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
I'd bring the tenth as a reminder that I should be reading the other nine.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe
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so i live and you all die 
my revised list;
1 lord of the rings.
2 how to build a boat from banana leaves
3 love making with mister hand
4 how to signal ships on the horizon.
5 teach yourself Swahili
6 the art of glass making
7 the advantage of suicide
8 cooking man friday
9 a million jokes in hebrew
an act of mercy
hey Leanne, i'm watching the game of thrones 2. thinking about getting the books
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dale,you gonna sit on a cloud an play harp?
I think you mean a lyre, a harp is huge, not to mention very hard to play. It's like playing a piano with your fingers.
So no, I'll play banjo!
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
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banjo is played in hell
- the partially blind semi bald eagle
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anywhere I go is hell!
but actually, that's accordion!
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
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accordion to who?
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Jack London - The Sea Wolf
Timothy Zahn - Deep Force Rising
Sun Tzu - The Art of War
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Complete Sherlock Holmes
George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire (series) - wait! I can't go to a desert island without reading the next book!!!
Louis L'amour - The Walking Drum and the Sackett series
More computer books than I can list
Anarchist Cookbook
and I can't remember who it is by but Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
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Watchmen- Alan Moore
Anna Karenina- tolstoy
La Buotique del mistero- Buzzati
Marcovaldo- Italo Calvino
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper E. Lee
Moby Dick- Melville
Collected Poems- Zbigniew Herbert
The Trouble with Poetry- Billy Collins
Caucasia- Danzy Senna
Arabian Nights
Written only for you to consider.
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(05-16-2012, 06:16 AM)Philatone Wrote: Anna Karenina- tolstoy
...
Arabian Nights
Yes, of course. What was I thinking? :p
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fuckin viz
- the partially blind semi bald eagle
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i have to agree that VIZ it's something special.
the art of war would come in handy as firewood 
after reading it i realized you can say the same thing in a lot of different ways
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