# What non-religious book would you place in hotels ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 8, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168 "2011-05-08T17:18:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/41 "2011-10-24T03:01:45Z")
> [@grama](#):
>
> Why does it have to be a book there in the first place…?
Well, most readers will have at least a couple of books with them, but a book is a necessity of life, for me.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/42 "2011-10-24T03:18:13Z")
_Grimm’s Fairy Tales_
And acid laced pages.
Nighty night!
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### Author:  [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/43 "2011-10-24T04:24:15Z")
> [@kopek](#):
>
> Starship Troopers
Well, it’s an excellent book, but it’s still a polemic for Heinlein’s political views wrapped up in the oh-so-approachable military SF genre.
Basically, it’s like a saner, more readable(but still quite unapproachable) peer to Atlas Shrugs.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/44 "2011-10-24T07:08:43Z")
The Kama Sutra.
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/45 "2011-10-24T07:24:47Z")
**The Demon-Haunted World,** for sure. Runner’s up:
[**Cosmos**](http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/B000055ZOB) and [**A Brief History of Time.**](http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Time-Stephen-Hawking/dp/0553380168/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319440844&sr=1-1)
Failing that,[**You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News.**](http://www.amazon.com/You-Might-Zombie-Other-News/dp/0452296390/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319441041&sr=1-1)
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/46 "2011-10-24T17:46:58Z")
_Le Petit Prince_, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Short read, good for all ages and a wonderful story, too.
Bonus: it’s available in 230 languages and dialects, so it’s useful for worldwide hotel chains!
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/47 "2011-10-24T18:18:32Z")
For serious reading: books about the American Revolution or the Civil War (Sanburg’s biography of Lincoln would be a good choice).
For light reading: The Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits. Each of 800-or-so chart toppers gets its own page of trivia and song history. A fun browsing book right before falling asleep.
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/48 "2011-10-24T18:18:55Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> The Kama Sutra.
I came in to suggest this. The naughty chapters, at least.
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### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/49 "2011-10-24T18:45:59Z")
_The Anarchist’s Cookbook._
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### Author:  [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/50 "2011-10-24T19:18:42Z")
[Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Fascism)
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### Author:  [@bartleby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bartleby)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/51 "2011-10-24T19:21:55Z")
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
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### Author:  [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/52 "2011-10-24T23:39:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Something from the _Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader_ series? People don’t go to hotels to be preached at, but they do go to the bathroom. And if they like whatever book you put there they’ll probably take it away with them so why not pick a book people won’t want to share with strangers anyway?
I concur here. I don’t think any heavy reading is a good idea at all. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve bored in a hotel room, and opened up the Gideon Bible, and read, “In the beginning God created the heaven andthe earhafjkalasdkfjaksdjafksdkf,” and put it back.
I think the local history idea is good too. I have read the emergency situation facts section of the local yellow pages on occasion. It’s interesting how they vary from place to place. (California’s yellow pages will say stuff about what to do in earthquakes, Florida’s about hurricanes, Minnesota’s about snow and cold, etc.) And there’s maps. I like maps. All this stuff helps me realize that I’m not in a nowhere place but an actual somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/53 "2011-10-24T23:44:56Z")
Does _The Necronomicon_ count as religious?
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/54 "2011-10-25T00:52:17Z")
[Abramowitz & Stegun](http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Mathematical-Functions-Formulas-Graphs/dp/0486612724/)
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/55 "2011-10-25T07:53:12Z")
Short stories, different ones in different rooms. Reading Cervantes’ _Exemplary Tales_ is less involved than reading his _Quijote_; being faced with 10-20 page stories is attractive, whereas two volumes 400-500 pages each is kind of scary and certainly not one night’s work. I’d also try to have books available in several languages.
One of my favorite hotels, which is family-owned, takes any books guests leave behind to the breakfast-room/TV-room. You can take any you want, leave any you’re done with, and there’s a wide selection of languages and subjects.
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### Author:  [@jem\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jem_1)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/56 "2011-10-25T12:50:04Z")
Living in a state that has several cities with epidemic levels of bed bug infestations has made me very paranoid about staying in hotels. :eek: Therefore:
The Bed Bug Book: The Complete Guide to Prevention and Extermination
by Ralph H. Maestre
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/57 "2011-10-25T12:53:16Z")
The Farmer’s Almanac
Whole Earth Catalog
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### Author:  [@deadindays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deadindays)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/58 "2011-10-25T12:55:27Z")
Hesse’s Siddhartha
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### Author:  [@Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romeo_and_Whatsherface)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/59 "2011-10-25T13:22:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> One of Cecil’s weighty tomes, the latest _World Almanac_, or Tolkien’s _The Hobbit_ (which would be an appealing tale for most travelers, I should think).
I can’t believe it took until post #36 for someone to suggest the \*Straight Dope \*books. I ask you, how can we continue to fight ignorance if we don’t get the Dope to the masses? And after we get an _SD_ into every hotel room, we can start sending out missionaries in white shirts and clip-on ties to knock on doors. 🙂
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-non-religious-book-would-you-place-in-hotels/581168/60 "2011-10-25T13:29:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> Does a hotel really want to encourage people to be doing chemistry or physics in their rooms?
People already do chemistry, physics, biology, anatomy and French class in motel rooms 😃
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