# 3 books to rebuild civilization **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 6, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517 "2002-11-06T06:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/1 "2002-11-06T06:26:44Z")
Watched the 1960 version of The Time Machine together with Time Machine 2000. In the 1960 version, the hero goes back forward in time to help the future rebuild civilization after whupping the morlocks. His housekeeper and best friend notice that he’s taken three books with him. If you were going to rebuild civilization, which three books would you take? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/2 "2002-11-06T07:01:48Z")
1. Latest copy of the _Information Please_ Almanac. 2. A copy of _The Handy Science Answer Book_ 3. And for the last one…don’t know. Maybe the U.S. Army Wilderness Survival Manual? That should do it…I’ll leave the development of philosophy, art, theology, etc. To better people than I. To quote Chard, “I came here to build a bridge, that’s all.” ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kid\_Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/3 "2002-11-06T14:43:03Z")
How to Pick up Women would be useful if the planet needed repopulating. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, so that, hundreds of years in the future, our original creation _myth_ won’t contribute to millions of wasted hours in court battles, demonstrations, etc. The revised edition of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells with an epilogue about how the rebuilding of civilization went which I would check periodically to see if I’m making any mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/4 "2002-11-06T15:39:49Z")
1. Smith’s **The Wealth of Nations** (so they’d be able to discuss what to do), 2. Collected works of Wm Shakespeare (so they’d know who they were and who we were), 3. Wisden (so they’d know what to do in their spare time). ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/5 "2002-11-06T16:14:52Z")
1. The Columbia Encyclopedia 2. Complete works of Shakespeare 3. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/6 "2002-11-06T17:22:30Z")
1. The Bible (maybe a version with the original Hebrew/Greek on one side and an English (or whatever language is being spoken) translation on the other side) 2. Boy Scout Manual (does that have a title?) 3. Some sort of anthology of literature (can all the Norton Editions count as one book?) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-books-to-rebuild-civilization/135517/7 "2002-11-06T18:07:00Z")
The Farmer’s Almanac History of Western Philosophy The Fountainhead