Note: I’m a hospice worker/caregiver, which is, more than anything, an exercise in boredom control. Forgive me for the length, skip to the end for the tl;dr version.
Ok, [del]so you’re stranded on a desert island[/del]…naw, too clichéd. Lessee…
Ah. Here we go. Ok. Your Cessna has gone down in the Alaskan bush, early September, and you are the only survivor. Perhaps luckily, the plane crash-landed near a stream. Perhaps unluckily, the plane is now sitting under some dense treetop foliage, and the chances of the plane being spotted by rescuers is distressingly remote. Remembering the old “follow a stream to safety” adage you learned as a kid, you decide to hike out.
Now, you have on your person enough winter clothing that a hike in the woods isn’t a big deal. In the plane is a duffel bag with your serious cold-weather gear, as well as a rather complete survival kit shoehorned into a backpack. You take both, and begin your journey.
Dusk. You are cold, your feet in blisters. You begin to wonder when a good time to stop is. You need enough time to set up the small tent that is nestled in the survival kit and have a few crackers. While pondering this as you walk along the creekbank, you turn a tight bend in the stream and suddenly you come upon a cabin. You are ecstatic, and make a beeline for the front door.
When you approach the cabin, you notice moss and leaves on the deck in front of the door. Obviously, nobody lives here. Perhaps it’s a seasonal trapper’s cabin, perhaps it’s simply abandoned… either way, your hope of quick rescue is now shattered. However, your imminent problem - namely, shelter for the night - has been solved. Very good.
The cabin is small, perhaps 15 feet to a side. Inside is a small bed with a large stack of wool blankets balanced on top, a rusty oil-drum woodstove in the center of the room, and a counter nailed together from old planks running down one wall. Certainly seems cozy enough for the night. You tuck yourself under the blankets and quickly go to sleep.
During the night it begins to snow. You don’t know when it started, because when you wake up there is a thick blanket of the white stuff on the ground. Obviously, it had been snowing for quite some time, and heavily. Hmm… this will definitely slow down your travel. Better look for some snowshoes.
You begin to explore the cabin and the surrounding area. Since it was nearly dark when you arrived the previous night, you didn’t get a chance to look around. The first thing you notice as you walk around the back of the cabin is a huge rotting lean-to filled with cut firewood. You do a quick calculation and decide there must be at least ten cords of wood, ready for the stove. Next to the woodpile is a small cache built on stilts. Your curiosity piqued, you climb the ladder, open the door, and are greeted by an amazing sight: shelved and boxes of food, sundries, and other miscellaneous supplies. Easily enough to last a person through a winter. There’s cans of beef stew, Hormel chili, Spam, Campbell’s soup of all kinds… you see cans of fruit cocktail, oranges, peaches and pears. There are sealed bags of beans, rice, flour, cornmeal, sugar and coffee. In the corner is stacked tools: A couple of axes, some shovels, bow saws. Satisfied, you close the door and return the cabin.
The daylight coming through the windows allows you a much better look at the furnishings. Hanging on the wall above a shelf is 30.06, and on the shelf are several dozen boxes of cartridges. There is also a flare gun and a large canvas satchel of flares. Hanging next to the shelf are a pair of snowshoes, which you missed earlier in the morning. On the wall above the counter are several pots and pans. There is silverware and knives in a box, and a couple of plates and a coffee mug sitting on the counter. There are two oil lamps and a large bucket of kerosene under the counter, along with a couple boxes of wax-tipped matches. Continuing your search, you find a small steamer trunk under the counter. You pull it out, dust it off and open it. The first thing you see is a checkers board and a couple decks of playing cards. Moving those aside, you see a treasure trove: easily a year’s supply of Laphroaig and Marlboro Reds. There is also a dozen or so spiral college notebooks, and small box of fresh pencils… also two very useful books: the U.S Army’s FM 21-11 and FM 21-76, a first-aid manual and a survivial manual, respectively.
On the spot, you make a decision. Rather than risking life and limb trekking through the bush, you decide to hole up in the cabin over the winter, and try for civilization again after the snow melts in spring. It’s September, there is already snow on the ground, and you would be taking a big risk to continue on foot. The cabin offers everything you need to stay safe and warm: shelter, heat, food, protection.
While thinking about this, your eye strays toward a dark corner of the cabin near the head of the bed. Nestled in the corner is a shelf attached the cabin wall. You aren’t sure why you haven’t noticed it yet, so you go and investigate. On the shelf are ten books. To your immense surprise and delight, they happen to be the exact same ten books you would have chosen had you had to choose ten books to keep you company though the winter stuck in a 225 square foot room!
So.
What ten books would choose to keep you entertained through the winter? Keep in mind these ten books will have to keep you company for somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 months. 9 months with absolutely nothing else to do but read those ten books. No magazines, no newspapers, no electronic devices of any kind. You might play checkers against yourself or a game of solitaire, but these ten books are your main source of entertainment through a very long winter. Choose wisely…
