# The Write Choice **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670 "2017-02-24T21:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/1 "2017-02-24T21:33:58Z")
If you had to choose the lifework of any one author, fiction or non-fiction, to be the only available from now on which would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/2 "2017-02-24T21:41:42Z")
Off the top of my head, Asimov was (a) entertaining, and (b) crazy-prolific enough that civilization has a shot, if that’s the only nonfiction left. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/3 "2017-02-24T21:50:40Z")
Henry Miller? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/4 "2017-02-24T21:59:25Z")
Cormac McCarthy is my favorite author, but I’d probably shoot myself if I could only his books. Like **TOWP** , balancing entertainment, volume, and variety, I think I have it narrowed to Ray Bradbury or Jon Krakauer, depending on my fiction/nonfiction leaning at the time of decision. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/5 "2017-02-24T22:01:19Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Cormac McCarthy is my favorite author, but I’d probably shoot myself if I could only his books. > > Like **TOWP** , balancing entertainment, volume, and variety, I think I have it narrowed to Ray Bradbury or Jon Krakauer, depending on my fiction/nonfiction leaning at the time of decision. Remember, you are picking for all civilization, not just for your own entertainment/use. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/6 "2017-02-24T22:06:01Z")
I’d consider Will and Ariel Durant, but Isaac Asimov is a great choice. I’d also consider Buddha. Hmm… What about A. Nonymous? He or she is awfully prolific. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/7 "2017-02-24T22:14:33Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > What about A. Nonymous? He or she is awfully prolific. [Or this guy.](http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/citations-needed) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-write-choice/780670/8 "2017-02-24T22:25:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Remember, you are picking for all civilization, not just for your own entertainment/use. Oh, that’s not what I was thinking. So forget entertainment value. My first thought is educational, so someone like Mr. Britannica (that guy who wrote those encyclopedias). But education is doomed if we’re down to a single author, so I’d find a truly great author that speaks to the human condition. First choice would have been Mark Twain if he had been more prolific, but instead I’ll say Charles Dickens.