Since I began working at the #OccupyWallStreet library three weeks ago, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells and a specific scene in the 1960 film inspired by the book. *Spoiler here* In the film, George returns to the future with three books from his shelf to rebuild civilization. When those he’s left behind notice the books missing, they’re fascinated and ask: Which three books would you have taken?
So, which three books would you bring with you, if you were going to travel into the distant future in a time machine and try to rebuild society on earth. Post in the comments.
I assumed that George would take 1.) The Torah and the New Testament–the Bible; 2.) Oxford Dictionary and 3.) Mill’s On Liberty. These were available in Wells’s day. Would I include these three? The first two, absolutely. The Eloi and the Murlock were illiterate for starters. They were, essentially, in a state of nature. For a third book, I would hope that George would have slipped into the pile, John Locke’s Second Treatise and perhaps also Rosseau’s Social Contract.
1 – Euclids Elements for basic mathematics
2 – Complete works of W.Shakespeare for literature & art
3 – Any good comprehensive dictionary
Misery
Lennon Revealed
Bob Dylan’s Chronicles Volume One
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Second Treatise of Government, John Locke
On Liberty, John Stuart Mill
You’re in luck! We’ve got all three of your titles in our library–come on down, we can be your Time Machine!
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Das Kapital, Karl Marx
Thank you for The People’s Library, from a future librarian.
Chris Harman’s People’s History of the World – because despite Zinn’s brilliance, there is a much bigger world history out there.
Thucydides’ “The History of the Peloponnesian War”
Landau & Lifschitz “Quantum Mechanics”
Kant “A Critique of Pure Reason”
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Peter Pan by JM Barrie (for the kids)
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
- The Paul Street Boys by Molnar Ferenc
I would take with me these three books, because they teach compassion, which, in my opinion, is the most important component of human society.
(compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it)
1. “The Columbia encyclopedia” (Description: More than 50,000 alphabetically arranged articles on the humanities, social sciences, life and physical sciences, and geography)–contains basic information for rebooting society 2. “When technology fails : a manual for self-reliance, sustainability, and surviving the long emergency.” 3. The complete Monty Python’s flying circus (v.1 and 2 duct taped together = 1 book)–because you need to laugh some time.
Il Vangelo by Jesus,Capital by Marx,On the road by Kerouac