One book only

Duck59

Duck59

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This is a bit "desert island" and thus not terribly original, but if you were to be deposited on said island for an unspecified period of time, with the allowance of a single book, which one would it be?

I was weighing up two possibilities on my final shortlist and decided on Ovid's Metamorphoses. It's just such an influential work; if you think of Canterbury Tales, Decameron, Paradise Lost, Romeo and Juliet and masses of other classic works, you see the influence of Ovid.

Aside from all that, it's simply a great read. It's got all the Greek myths that we should know about and can bear re-reading on many occasions. Like most of these things, it has its share of sex and violence as well, but it's not really a morality tale.

Incidentally, the other one I had considered was Don Quixote, but I'll save that for my second stranding.
 
@Duck59

Spanish Middle School students still read Don Quixote .. So, it was a pre-requisite for our Spanish Language Courses ..

If I was stranded on an island, I would select a family member´s book which was published in 2015 .. It is gastronomically related but not a recipe book ..

Another selection, would be an Italian Restaurateur & Chef´s book, which I totally adored and is not a recipe book, however, an indepth well researched authored work on the false cuisine believed to be Italian, however, is a far cry away ..
 
I'd opt for a factual or practical tome of some kind. 'Desert Island Survival Skills' might come in handy or SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea (Collins Gem). Otherwise it would be the most comprehensive English dictionary (not sure which that is, in one volume).
 
morning glory said:
I'd opt for a factual or practical tome of some kind. 'Desert Island Survival Skills' might come in handy or SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea (Collins Gem). Otherwise it would be the most comprehensive English dictionary (not sure which that is, in one volume).
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Anything NOT written by Bear Grylls would be fine
 
When the TV show Survivor fist began airing my Baby Brother said that a Cajun would know how to trap, catch, fish, dig, and forage enough food to feed the entire tribe with nothing more than some twine and a safety pin. Then a Cajun competitor would know how to make really weird ingredients taste good. First use sea water for seasoning. A friend of his was a competitor on one of the very early shows. He was the runner up. Without him the tribe would have starved.

I do know how to start a fire rubbing wood. I do not think I could do it now with the nerve damage in my right arm/hand and the beginnings of arthritis in both hands. I have done it in the past - when I was MUCH younger.

When we were children Dad taught us woods crafts. There are certain vines that provide fresh water. Water is the most critical issue in any survival scenario. Any animal - sea or land can be eaten if prepared properly - nasty glands removed.

Stranded is an interesting topic. I would be more concerned with survival than reading material.
 
The difficult question would be which non-factual book. Do I choose something I've read and loved or something I've read which I found challenging (so ought to give it another try) or do I choose a famous book which I feel I should have read but haven't? :scratchhead:
 
ElizabethB said:
I do know how to start a fire rubbing wood. I do not think I could do it now with the nerve damage in my right arm/hand and the beginnings of arthritis in both hands. I have done it in the past - when I was MUCH younger.
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Having also done this successfully I came to the conclusion that if (and this was based around our attempted chucking around the world) I was ever stupid enough to get myself into a position where my life depended on me rubbing two sticks together to survive, then I deserved what was coming to me. One of my most valuable items when or in the wild is ironically a short piece of inner tube. A strip 5cm long by 2.5cm wide even in a torrential downpour is more than enough with which to light a fire.

We had planned to use the camping area of an outward bounds school as an overnight so whilst in Denmark. They are free camping areas provided you do not arrive by motorised transport. However it was in use that night, but due to the weather (torrential rain) they were happy for us to use it anyway. After we had the tarp up to give us some shelter (I left the tent until after the fire for a reason) I set about making a fire whilst my husband prepped the evening meal. About 15-20 minutes later the leader of the outward bounds course came over with a can of lighter fluid to see if we needed help getting the fire going. He was most impressed when he realised that not only did we not need it but or evening meal was well on the way to being cooked and I was already putting up the tent. He was curious as to how we had the fire going so quickly because no one else had theirs going yet (including the adult leaders who were army). I just pulled out a piece of inner tube and smiled sweetly... Even wet it still burns and burns and burns. It's a fantastic firelighter... And when you're a cyclist you have plenty of them and absolutely no reason not to have a fire going in any weather!

The next morning we were offered the use of the facilities at the school itself including a bath rather than a shower! We declined because we were already packed, but we did use the kitchen to wash our pots in (we knew we had this option hence hadn't washed up).
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
As for a book, I'll have to think about it, but purely from a survival point of view I would want something I didn't mind seeing fire to or using for other purposes and a survival guide whilst useful doesn't meet my criteria.
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I've given it some thought and decided that it might be The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I would probably go for the unabridged version having read the abridged version several times now. Though I have to confess that the unabridged version of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a very close contender as well. The former reminds you of how lucky we are no matter how bad the situation. The latter is simple utterly fascinating and also reminds you of how utterly unimportant you really are. Both are fascinating reads for polar opposite reasons!
 
I was trying to think of which book took me an age to read. It's not War and Peace, despite that work being a byword for something very long. Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities took a while but I think that Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji is probably the winner on this front. Apart from being very long, you find yourself having to check the list of characters because they are referred to in different ways as time moves on. So somebody who was called "The Captain of Something or Other" might now be "The Captain of Something Else" or a woman who was known by her given name might become "The So-and-so Consort" later on.
 
Duck59 said:
part from being very long, you find yourself having to check the list of characters because they are referred to in different ways as time moves on.
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This would be disastrous for me - I have enough trouble remembering who the characters are in the first place.

Duck59 said:
It's not War and Peace, despite that work being a byword for something very long.
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I read this when I was in my teens (why?). I only coped because I had a bookmark which came with the book which listed all the characters and their relationship to each other.
 
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