My Bookshelf, Myself - NYT
January 22, 2016 11:44 AM   Subscribe

Leaders in different fields share the 10 books they’d take with them if they were marooned on a desert island. For his bookshop installation, One Grand, the editor Aaron Hicklin asked people to name the 10 books they’d take with them if they were marooned on a desert island. posted by pjsky (37 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
Coconut cookbook
How to build a raft
posted by GuyZero at 11:50 AM on January 22, 2016 [19 favorites]


also, one volley ball perhaps? to read to...?
posted by supermedusa at 11:58 AM on January 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


The dictionary because... aw forget it.
posted by Splunge at 12:06 PM on January 22, 2016


How to survive on a desert island.
posted by notreally at 12:08 PM on January 22, 2016


This would take me forever.

1. Walden, certainly.
2. The Odyssey
3. something (probably Lafayette) by Sarah Vowell
4. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
5. Basic Yiddish
6. Honey bee biology and beekeeping (I am endlessly fascinated by bee behavior)

The last 4 - who knows? Long, poetic, meaningful.

(Also, really, Michael Pollen? You'd bring Camille Paglia? That would make me want to tie rocks to my ankles and take a long walk, but who am I to judge?)
posted by Sophie1 at 12:28 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Castaways
posted by blue_beetle at 12:29 PM on January 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


Sand: The Complete History of Dunes, Castles and Wiches
posted by DowBits at 12:30 PM on January 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


Does it matter what anybody else wants on their particular island? I imagine there could be overlap, but we'll all lobby for our personal favorites. AmIrite?
posted by BlueHorse at 12:39 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


The Build Your Own Origami Lifeboat Pop-Up Book with traditional oar bookmark.
posted by forgetful snow at 12:48 PM on January 22, 2016 [10 favorites]


I'd hope that The Professor from Gilligan's Island had written a tell-all about how he made pretty much damn near everything that the castaways used out of whatever the hell they had on The Minnow and whatever was on that island.

THAT'S the book I'm taking.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 1:01 PM on January 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


If it's a desert island I'd take some big books that provide a lot of shade.
posted by beau jackson at 1:29 PM on January 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Huh...I just searched amazon and there doesn't seem to be a real-for-adults-non-satirical guide to surviving on a desert island. I will write such a book. I will get Tom Hanks to write the preface. I will have it printed in waterproof, floating form, and I will sell it on cruise ships and cruise ship docks, as well as to travel agencies who can resell or gift it to cruise-booking clients. Also fishers' marinas.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 1:32 PM on January 22, 2016 [10 favorites]


I'd hope that The Professor from Gilligan's Island had written a tell-all
Here on Gilligan's Isle
posted by soelo at 1:43 PM on January 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


My list would include How to Avoid Huge Ships. So that I could act all ironic like to the volleyball.
posted by Kabanos at 1:54 PM on January 22, 2016


10 copies of that huge, buoyant Life of Mohammed book.
posted by klangklangston at 2:23 PM on January 22, 2016


U.S. Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76

> I'd hope that The Professor from Gilligan's Island had written a tell-all about how he made pretty much damn near everything that the castaways used out of whatever the hell they had on The Minnow and whatever was on that island.

Chapter 104: Ready Your Island for the Harlem Globetrotters
posted by Sunburnt at 3:12 PM on January 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


I posted this because I thought it might inspire MeFites to share a few of your most treasured books. Which is how I discover some really great reads, but you guys just aren't into it. Guess that's how it goes sometimes..... Well, here are mine anyway: (in no particular order)
1. The Art Spirit by Robert Henri
2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Nalund
4. Myths To Live By by Joseph Campbell
5. Life Is a Miracle by Wendell Berry
6. Riverside Shakespeare
7. The Neapoliton Novels by Elena Ferrante
8. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
9. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
10. Promethea by Alan Moore
posted by pjsky at 3:40 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


As I read this thread, I realized: Never, ever once have I considered my desert island anything should be about any kind of relief, escape, or survival.

So yeah, I guess today I learned that I'm pretty much the guy in that episode of The Twilight Zone.
posted by circular at 3:43 PM on January 22, 2016


Gilligan died this month too.

Complete works of TS Eliot
Complete works of Shakespeare(large print edition)
Morse Code Handbook (go through all kinds of effort to have some asslord smoke puff back, "Are U hawt?"
Baelzeebub's Tales to His Grandson (large print)
Gravity's Rainbow
Yazidi Black Book (English translation)
Guide to Tropical Fish
The Art of Dreaming
A Guide to Rope and Twine Making
A Guide to Astronomy

Yup.
posted by Oyéah at 4:19 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


I honestly do take these kind of things too literally (ha!) in that "desert island X" and "favorite X" seem like two different things. There are books/movies/games etc. that I loved that I wouldn’t want to experience repeatedly and exclusively. So I always wonder, which one are you asking?

I would argue that in the case of music "desert island" choice would be more likely to be the same as favorite.

No, I’m not over thinking it.
posted by bongo_x at 4:26 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Without looking at my bookshelf:

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Grapefruit by Yoko Ono
3. Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block

(okay, okay, you packed it in with the first one but now you've wasted two slots on books you could read in an hour, yes I know you could read those two every hour for the rest of your life, but get it together)

4. Saturday Night at the Pahala Theater by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

(NO)

5. Can I pick one that I haven't finished yet? I feel like it goes against the spirit of the exercise, which is to choose books that are meaningful to you and central to your life, but I would be sad if I were shipped off to that desert island and never got to finish the Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector.
6. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
7. Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui (I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO QUESTIONS THIS)
8. Okay, I started looking at my Goodreads shelf and I just can't choose. Don't make me choose. UGH. Okay fine Emma by Jane Austen.
9. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. NO. A Tale for the Time Being. NO. NO. Umm... The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts. Final answer.
10. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (this is an "I can't keep thinking about this so I'll just pick something really, really good that's lengthy and has reread value" answer)

That was difficult.
posted by sunset in snow country at 4:28 PM on January 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Really though, isn't it deserted island?
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:32 PM on January 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


That was difficult.
I know! Right? damn. I want to amend mine.

Ok, dump Dante, add EE Cummings Complete Poems.
NO, keep Dante, dump Ahab's Wife, add EE and TS Eliot Complete Poems.
posted by pjsky at 4:33 PM on January 22, 2016


It's not really surprising that the people I like the most, Carrie Brownstein and Sarah Waters, also have the lists I like the most. But if I were marooned on a desert island, I would prefer to be with Sarah Waters because she could write more books for me to read. Of course, this might end with Sarah pushing me off a waterfall and telling the rescuers that I had been eaten by a shark.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:35 PM on January 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


There's no way to do this without immediately cheating. As with Desert Island Discs: I'd always take Wagner's Ring Cycle because it would be looooooong. With books, Proust (fine, call it three volumes), "Don Quixote". "Ulysses", E.O. Wilson's "The Ants". Dante, sure. John Canaday's "Mainstream of Modern Art". Bolano's "2666". There are a lot of long good books out there.
posted by acrasis at 4:42 PM on January 22, 2016


Huh.

  • The Three Musketeers.

  • The Decameron.

  • Good Omens.

  • The Count of Monte Cristo.

  • The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (is that fair?).

  • A Season of Mists (if I can't do the whole Sandman series).

  • The Divine Comedy.

  • The Thin Man.

  • The Art of War.

  • The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.


  • Meh.
    posted by Chuffy at 5:45 PM on January 22, 2016


    What I can't understand is why such a place is called a desert island. Is the island essentially a desert? If so, you'll maybe have time to read a couple novels before dehydration takes its toll, no?

    Now a dessert island, that's a whole 'nother story.
    posted by mr. digits at 7:15 PM on January 22, 2016


    I would almost not want any books if I was only allowed one -- I would rather learn to accept my new, post-literate life than read a beloved book until it became tired.

    But if I had to pick one, it would obviously have to be one I could spend a lot of time on, and keep discovering new things.

    The complete works of Shakespeare, maybe -- or Herodotus. Or maybe something completely different: a lengthy, detailed reference grammar of a language that I could spend my time learning. Imagine the fun of greeting my rescuers in Hittite.

    (I'm equally puzzled by the "favorite book" interpretation of this kind of question, because I've never had a favorite book! Many loved books, but one of the things that makes books amazing is their variety. I could never love a book in isolation as much as I love it in the context of other books.)
    posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:19 PM on January 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


    I want my 3-volume set of The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh to count as one pick.
    posted by ersatzkat at 7:40 PM on January 22, 2016


    The complete works of Shakespeare, maybe

    "Maybe"? Working on the assumption this may be the rest of one's life, it would have to be definitely. Other re-readable thickies also, I'm thinking Gibbon, a seriously huge poetry anthology. (I do like the idea of a reference grammar of a language heretofore not known, though that's a bit risky. What if at the end of the day you turned out not to like War and Peace in Russian?)
    posted by BWA at 7:47 PM on January 22, 2016


    • SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
    • Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
    • US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76
    • When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes
    • The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
    • Survival Cookbook by Anne Johnson Knutson
    posted by bz at 8:59 PM on January 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


    I know one book I would want (it's a few volumes): Wikipedia. There are others, but that would keep me busy.
    posted by el io at 9:12 PM on January 22, 2016



    I posted this because I thought it might inspire MeFites to share a few of your most treasured books. Which is how I discover some really great reads, but you guys just aren't into it. 


    Hey I'm into it! I just didn't realize you wanted me to answer a question you didn't ask.
    posted by beau jackson at 10:14 PM on January 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


    As of this moment, and in no particular order:

    Long Day’s Journey into War, by Stanley Weintraub
    Contact, by Carl Sagan
    Chuck Amuck, by Chuck Jones
    The Final Reflection, by John M. Ford
    Peter the Great: His Life and World, by Robert K. Massey
    The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, general editor
    Aztec, by Gary Jennings
    Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker, by Thomas Kunkel
    Mark Twain: A Life, by Ron Powers
    Collected Works of William Shakespeare (on the theory that I might finally read said works through).
    posted by bryon at 12:23 AM on January 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


    Six practical manuals on living in the wilderness (those U.S. Army bushcraft books and the Survival Cookbook, How to Build a Boat, and whatever) . One on pottery-from-total-scratch — clay containers and clay shingles seem like they'd improve day-to-day life greatly. Euclid's Elements. The collected works of Plato. And some sort of manual on navigating by the stars using primitive materials (does this exist?)

    I would ditch one or two survival handbooks in exchange for a sextant, if that's on the table.

    I'd still die, of course. I'm a creature of civilization. I probably wouldn't even get off the island. But Plato, Euclid, and amateur astronomy would keep me busy while I starved to death.
    posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:39 AM on January 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


    ... the [1 book] they’d take with them...

    A Macbook, with hundreds (thousands?) of epub files (and a solar charger).
    posted by LeLiLo at 10:35 AM on January 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


    Larousse Gastronomique.
    posted by clavdivs at 12:32 PM on January 23, 2016


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