# All books are to be burned except for one you choose. Make your choice. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757 "2008-10-20T16:45:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/61 "2008-10-21T03:56:30Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Well you better line up an industrial grade wood chipper, it can take a while to chop up my library. I would be very tempted to save one of the two volumes that make up the [Outline of History by H.G. Wells](http://www.amazon.com/Outline-History-Set-H-Wells/dp/040303082X). I just discovered the full 1920 version is available online as one book. Perhaps I could simply print and retain that one. Nice try there, but I’m saving a copy of [The Everlasting Man](http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/chesterton/everlasting/content.htm), Chesterton’s rebuttal to _The Outline of History_. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/62 "2008-10-21T04:05:31Z")
The Bible. Ok, I kid, I kid. The Odyssey or the Iliad. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/63 "2008-10-21T04:09:34Z")
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/64 "2008-10-21T04:17:32Z")
The _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_, sillies. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/65 "2008-10-21T05:27:55Z")
Since **Catch-22** is gone, the **Norton Anthology of Poetry** it is! ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/66 "2008-10-21T06:03:22Z")
If I’m feeling benevolent… Gray’s Anatomy. If not… the one with the nuclear launch codes. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/67 "2008-10-21T06:33:06Z")
T\*he God of Small Things \*by **Arundhati Roy** The most beautifully-written book I’ve read; one of only two times where I immediately re-read a novel upon finishing it. I don’t know how popular it is in Doperdom, either, so I gotta use my pick on it. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/68 "2008-10-21T11:41:46Z")
_A Treasury of Short Stories_, but I don’t know which volume… Or maybe _The Complete Kafka_. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/69 "2008-10-21T13:43:53Z")
Hmmm… if I just wanted to preserve thoughts, I’d get a copy of _Walden_ with “Civil Disobedience” included (assuming that counts as one volume). If I was just thinking about staying out of the God Emperor’s gula- I mean, well-deserved rehabilitation retreats of joy, then I’d of course jump on the chance to be the first to choose one of the collections of the Perfect Master (whose knowledge prefigures and illuminates our loving and benevolent God-Emperor). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/70 "2008-10-21T14:10:05Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Nice try there, but I’m saving a copy of [The Everlasting Man](http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/chesterton/everlasting/content.htm), Chesterton’s rebuttal to _The Outline of History_. I never heard of it. What is it rebutting? Was it playing up religion over history? The only thing I really know about Chesterton is that he was a Christian apologist that inspired Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/71 "2008-10-21T17:27:27Z")
> [@cainxinth](#): > > If I’m feeling benevolent… Gray’s Anatomy. > > If not… the one with the nuclear launch codes. Which is at your public library because…? [QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension] The Bible. Ok, I kid, I kid. The Odyssey or the Iliad. [/QUOTE] Sometimes I both love and hate this board. What’s wrong with the Bible? It needs to be preserved no less than the Iliad & Odyssey. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/72 "2008-10-21T17:28:29Z")
> [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](#): > > _A Treasury of Short Stories_, but I don’t know which volume… > > Or maybe _The Complete Kafka_. Of course, if Fabulous Creature has conquered the Earth, you’ll be LIVING the latter in, like, a week. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/73 "2008-10-21T18:11:50Z")
I’d grab War & Peace just to be a dick. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/74 "2008-10-21T18:14:33Z")
> [@Madd\_Maxx](#): > > I’d grab War & Peace just to be a dick. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to read that book? I think it’s slightly fewer than the number of tries I wasted on _Vanity Fair_, but it’s a close second. I finally ended up throwing _Vanity Fair_ across the room and vowed I’d never pick it up again. (And I’m an English major. Thank heavens I never got assigned that piece of dreck!) ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/75 "2008-10-21T18:54:54Z")
[this one](http://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-Cecil-Adams/dp/0345422910/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224615111&sr=8-2) ---
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/76 "2008-10-21T19:12:46Z")
I was going to say _War and Peace_, under the hope that if it really was the only book I had access to I might finally get around to reading it, but since Madd Maxx already took that I’ll go for Zola’s _Germinal_, translated into English. Not quite as useful in the region of anarchy or monkey clobbering, but I’ve never been quite so stirred up against a regime as I was after reading that book; might assist us in agitating the masses against our literarily prohibitive overlord. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/77 "2008-10-22T04:48:19Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Sometimes I both love and hate this board. What’s wrong with the Bible? It needs to be preserved no less than the Iliad & Odyssey. 1. Nothing wrong with it, but if I want to read it, its at **Baker’s**. 2. Where I grew up, “the Bible” would be the only acceptable answer to this, or most other, book related questions. 3. I remember enough of the parts I want to remember, (Ecclesiastes) and I can’t forget the parts I’d like to forget (Rock badger and ostrich - they seem like such odd foods to ban, and then to leave locusts on the menu; and don’t forget Genesis 34:24-29) 4. I feel like reading the Iliad or the Odyssey. Moby Dick would be a good choice, I haven’t read it in ages. Anna Karenina I don’t know if I’ll be able to read it again for years. My fabulous 1940’s copy of War and Peace was ruined - It had maps of Napoleon’s attack and retreat as the front flyleaf, and Hitler’s attack as the back flyleaf. He hadn’t yet retreated - they published that edition of War and Peace to buck up the brits about his inevitable doom. If I could find that again, I might preserve it. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/78 "2008-10-22T06:09:57Z")
Personally I might pick The Neverending Story or The Man Who Folded Himself, but to benefit mankind I think I’ll keep Godel Escher Bach an Eternal Golden Braid, or, you know, the print version of wikipedia 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/79 "2008-10-22T06:45:19Z")
Moby Dick ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757/80 "2008-10-22T12:45:22Z")
I will take _A Tale of Two Cities_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-books-are-to-be-burned-except-for-one-you-choose-make-your-choice/468757.md?page=5)