# Name that book **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527 "2011-02-25T00:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zombiemommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@zombiemommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombiemommy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/1 "2011-02-25T00:48:05Z")
Can someone help me find a book? I can’t remember the title, only the plot, and that is sketchy at best. The plot was about a group of individuals who were in some kind of experiment where their environment was a series of staircases. As I recall, the staircases were endless and that was portrayed on the front cover of the paperback. I also remember them having to get their food from dispensers, perhaps after doing favorably on a test (although my memory may have filled that part in). My mother bought the book sometime in the 1960s or 70s, maybe even early 80s. She is deceased, so I can’t ask her. Thanks for any help! ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/2 "2011-02-25T00:49:55Z")
House of Stairs by Sleator. ---
**Author:** ![zombiemommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@zombiemommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombiemommy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/3 "2011-02-25T01:54:56Z")
I read the description from amazon and that does sound like the one I am thinking of but the date is wrong I think (1991) I could have sworn I read it a decade earlier. Would there be another similiar book? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/4 "2011-02-25T02:23:59Z")
[This one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stairs_(William_Sleator_novel))? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/5 "2011-02-25T04:01:05Z")
Note that the book was first published in 1974. Apparently you’re getting the date of 1991 from the edition that you’re looking at, which was published in that year. ---
**Author:** ![zombiemommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@zombiemommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombiemommy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/6 "2011-02-25T17:05:07Z")
Thanks everyone. If it was first published in 1974, that would fit. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/7 "2011-02-25T19:20:02Z")
I went downstairs and grabbed it and read it on my lunch break (there are perks to this librarian thing.) Kept my attention, but whew the 70’s of it! ---
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/8 "2011-02-25T19:24:31Z")
That took 1 minute. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-book/572527/9 "2011-02-26T07:23:49Z")
Is that the one where, in order to get food, they finally wind up having to do a really elaborate dance comprised of their individual activities the last time the dispenser fed them? I’ve been looking for that book for years! Cool!