if one book only, which one?

[donq]

If you have a chance to save only one book and one book only from your bookshelf, (says, it’s kind of the situation in the movie The Book of Eli, 2010) which one would it be? And why?

Hmm….let’s say that a (very) religious book is not counted here, ok?

To be fair, as for me, it should be one of I Ching. But I would love to read it just for my pleasure, under the pine shade, for the rest of my life.



Reading the I Ching in the Pine Shade by Liu Sung-nien (1190-1224)

[cyberangel]

oh this is quite a tough question and I will have to think about it and get back to you. Thanks for asking it anyway. It will be interesting to see what books people would save.

[donq]

I've just posted this on another thread but want to add something here.

If anyone want to read this (English) book online for free (I'm not sure if it's the whole book or not) try to google it with these words: "Jim Hughes A Calendar Of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy." It's a Jim Hughes's blog (blogspot.com). I don't know that man. But I think he did a great thing to share this great book. 

Sorry that it's against our rule to post a link here.

 
“A Calendar of Wisdom” by Tolstoy:

This was Leo Tolstoy’s last major work. With it, he fulfilled a dream he had nourished for almost fifteen years, that of “collecting the wisdom of the centuries in one book” meant for a general audience. Tolstoy put a huge amount of effort into its creation, preparing three revised editions between 1904 and 1910. It was his own favorite everyday reading, a book he would turn to regularly for the rest of his life.

He wrote in his diary on March 15, 1884: “I have to create a circle of reading for myself: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, The New Testament. This is also necessary for all people.”

“I know that it gives one great inner force, calmness, and happiness to communicate with such great thinkers as Socrates, Epictetus, Arnold, Parker…They tell us about what is most important for humanity, about the meaning of life and about virtue…I would like to create a book…in which I could tell a person about his life, and about the Good Way of Life.”

The process of collecting these thoughts took over fifteen years!

Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “I felt that I have been elevated to great spiritual and moral heights by communication with the best and wisest people whose books I read and whose thoughts I selected for my Circle of Reading.”
From its first publication, the book was always present on Tolstoy’s desk; it became his favorite book during the last five years of his life.
On May 16, 1908, he wrote to a man named Gusev: “I cannot understand how some people can live without communicating with the wisest people who ever lived on Earth?...I feel very happy every day, because I read this book.”

[sparklekaz]

This is a hard choice for me too.

I have a few favourites, for different reasons; And don't you think that certain books were just perfect for where we were at, and what we were ready for, when we read them? Some books are teaching, others are inspirational and motivational, and then there are the ones that really speak to us on a soul level, and awaken different spiritual truths within.

When I think of which book I could take with me to a desert Island, I'm trying to envision which one would be the most helpful and would sustain me on all levels. A book that contains all those elements is quite rare isn't it.

Still thinking

[donq]

Hi Kaz,

Your post made me smile.

I cannot help but think of some paragraph I read in a novel:

“I am fishing. No fish takes my bait...
"Worse that that, I've found they are looking up at me from underwater and laughing.”