Lani's Blog

Three Books for Global Natural Disaster

Prompt: A global natural disaster has struck and trapped you inside one of the largest public libraries in the world. In order to survive you must burn as many books as you can to keep warm until rescue can come and get you. However, as these may be the last salvageable copies left in the world, you feel the need to save some of them.





What three books do you save from the fires and why?











The three books I would save for a global disaster





The Bible. It goes without saying. I am a Christian. I would want the Word of God to be able to connect with Him. But I want the Bible for other reasons as well. It’s great literature. There is poetry in Psalms and the Song of Solomon. For pure soap drama, it’s hard to beat King David and his stories. Infidelity in the story with Bathsheba and palace coup in the story with his son Absalom makes the Young and the Restless look tame. There is action and adventure in Judges and Kings. The fantastical makes an appearance in Jonah and Exodus.  The romance stories in the books of Ruth and Queen Esther are not typical, but they are beautiful. Self-help and common (or uncommon these days) sense are found in Proverbs. And of course the grace and love of God through Jesus Christ is found in the New Testament and beyond.





A Survival Guide of some kind. A global disaster could mean anything. I am an urbanite born and bred. Roughing it to me means, the Turtle Bay Hilton is out of chocolate covered mac nuts. I would need step by step instructions.





The last book is the hardest. As a sci-fi nut I would pick I Robot by Asimov for entertainment. But as someone who loves literature, the complete works of Jane Austen comes to mind. She understands human nature. She would represent us well, the good and the bad. And I could read her books everyday and learn something new.  As a poet, e.e. cummings? Emily Dickinson? Poe? Frost?





Enough! Time is running out! Choose!





I choose The Complete Works of W. Shakespeare


He understood human nature as well. And his work is the basis of many other great authors' works. Jane Austen’s most beloved novel Pride and Prejudice seems a type of “Much Ado about Nothing.” Darcy and Elizabeth in P&P seem like pale copies of Benedict and Beatrice. This is of course a simplification. (Please don’t beat me Austenites.)


Shakespeare based some of his plays on folk tales with universal themes. His poetry is also beautiful and timeless. It would take a lifetime to know. It would be something to enjoy during the downtime of survival.





That being said, I would burn all non-essentials first. Copy and fax machine paper, files would be the first to be burned. I would even consider some older furniture. Once the books are gone, knowledge is lost