DescentBB

I saw the movie "The Time Machine" (original version) where this time traveler went to the future and saw that it had regressed back a million years. They had nothing but the animal skins on there backs, but otherwise intellegent. So, at the end of the movie, the time traveler came back to the present, went to his library, grabbed 3 books, and went back to the future to save humankind.

Well? what 3 books would YOU have taken. (3 separate books only, no "set" of books) and why you chose them, and why some posters books are wrong.


Bettina

Einsteins: Relativity
Newtons: Principia
Dr.Suess: Little Bug that went Cachoo

One more thing......you can choose a TYPE of book rather than a specific book. In the movie, he picked what was available in his library.

So Gooberman could have said "A book dealing with relativity" etc. I don't need a specific title.

And my three would be....

Natural Medicine.
Websters Dictionary.
Introduction to Ethics.

Bettina

Kafka
Bukowski
Rilke

Three books of matches

tom brown's field guide to wilderness survival

Haha ok seriously I would take
Gray's Anatomy (stop cutting people open plzkthx)
Newton's Principia (/agree goob, this covers the most important stuff)
a detailed analysis of mechanical engines

A book on natural foods and herbal medicines.
Some sort of book with puzzels....maybe new york times crossword puzzels

A book of Robert Frost poetry

A blank diary that I might write of my journey.

i can't read too good but i'd have to say the top 3 of this weeks oprah book club.

Hmm.

I remember that movie, and although it wasn't perfectly my cup of tea, it was a lot more thoughtful than most modern sci-fi-ish films.

I'm not perfectly sure what books I would have taken, but they would have been science-based. Probably to do with classical physics and basic mechanical and structural engineering, as that really underpins the development of civilisations...

Let's play Kobayashi Maru here and change the rules.

I'd throw all my computer disks into a box, which would include a complete copy of Encyclopedia Britannica, then take that along with two books: a dictionary (anything BUT Webster's, sorry Bet, not a fan of Mirriam Webster) and "How to build your own PC if you had to assemble it from scratch".


- Sirian

Not sure if these would count:

#1 - My Bible. Its' principles never change even though people's opinions change about it constantly.

#2 - Websters Dictionary. To lookup meanings of words.

#3 - Computer Books. Like the technical stuff like how computer languages work.

Will Robinson wrote:Three books of matches

Will's got it.

A book of basic agriculture. (Itâ??s nice to have something to eat! )
A book of basic medical knowledge. (Itâ??s nice to be able to live as long as possible!)
The Anarchists Cookbook. (Remember they have to fight the more advanced Molocks!)

Sirian wrote:Let's play Kobayashi Maru here and change the rules.

I'd throw all my computer disks into a box, which would include a complete copy of Encyclopedia Britannica, then take that along with two books: a dictionary (anything BUT Webster's, sorry Bet, not a fan of Mirriam Webster) and "How to build your own PC if you had to assemble it from scratch".


- Sirian

Umm.....they have no electricity or running water.

A book of magic tricks, to impress the natives with my divine prowess.
A book of herbal medicine, to become their distinguished witch doctor.
A dictionary-thesaurus to wow them with my rhetoric, to become their glorious world leader.

i would bring a machine gun and a lot of ammo and enslave them all?

did i win?

1.How Things work Vol.1
2.Brief Encyclopedia of language.
3.Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy

1. The complete Lord of the Rings trilogy
2. A Bible
3. The Chronicles of Narnia

The two fictional sets above represent my favorite stories of all time, and I'm very well-read. Both also contain very deep messages. As for the Bible, I consider that to be a necessity. Maybe not the most technical of choices, but I figure that humanity can re-learn any technical knowledge; spiritual and mental fullness are much harder to learn, however.

(Consider the following sets above to be in one volume)

Bettina wrote:Umm.....they have no electricity or running water.

That's right, but the dictionary explains what these things are. I have basic knowledge of plumbing and electrical systems. I could write additional books to cover those topics. (I'm a writer.) All I would have to do is to persuade the people of the truth: I've brought a huge store of information with me, but in order to store so much in so little space, use of high technology was required. To unlock the data, we will have to build a device capable of reading and outputting that data. Now some of you get busy copying (by hand) the dictionary, so that more than one copy will exist, and the rest of you need to help me gather the raw materials that we will need to build the tools and other items necessary to create the input-output devices.

That's why I said that I would have to change the rules of the scenario. I reject the "three books" concept as the best plan, even under "throwing together something quick" because there isn't time to do more. The character you cited chose three books from his own library. My library is a bit different.

Bet, I know that you missed the days of punch card I/O, but that's not all that long ago. Have you ever been to the Museum of American History? Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC? If not, it might be worth the trip some day. The computer section alone... Binary theory is not all THAT complex. All we would need to do to be able to read the disks is to be able to pull off the raw bits correctly. I could write an ASCII reference sheet, so that the cryptic zeroes and ones could be translated into more meaningful data. If we have a large enough cooperative effort, my plan might work.

See, the premise overlooks one important thing: the person. The books aren't the only resource there. The person also matters. Books are not the only way to record data. I'd first have to teach people how to read, then to read the dictionary, and that might take years, but in that position, I would try to reach for as much as I thought possible, even if I had to take some risks to do that.

If the folks can be taught to read the dictionary, then the same premise supposes they could be taught to read computer disks as well, given the right tools. Coming up with the tools would be challenging, but not impossible.


- Sirian

While Sirian is trying to educate them I'll be making them think I'm a god with my "magic fire" and as soon as I locate some sulfer, saltpeter and charcol I'll create gunpowder and then I'll be the Ruler of the World...MuuHaHaHAHaHa!!!

KNEEL BEFORE THE FIRE GOD!!!
Bring me your tithes and vigins or suffer my wrath!!!
Oh yea, burn Sirians books, it is blasphemy...everything you peasants need to know I will teach you...now off with you to the mines to dig up some more of my magic powder...
You there with the strong back, come here, you will be my Blacksmith we will be creating steel today...

PS: wait until I create alcoholic beverages

If 3 books for pleasure:

Lord of the rings
On the road
Kama Sutra

If 3 books for improving and teaching:

Farming stuff
Science stuff
Kama Sutra

3 books i wouldn't take:

The Bible. (including part 1 and the sequel)
The Dictionary. (lets make spelling easier...get the friggin "gh"'s out of words)
David beckham's autobiography.

Sirian wrote: they could be taught to read computer disks as well, given the right tools. Coming up with the tools would be challenging, but not impossible.
- Sirian

I like what you said, but I don't think you could build the components neccessary to construct a computer to read those disks in your lifetime, let alone a monitor. If you saw the movie, they didn't have more than the clothes on there backs. Fire was a big thing to them.....But anyway, that was not what you were allowed to take. You only could carry three books to help them. I would think a book of "natural" medicine to help keep them alive would be my first choice, then a dictionary to make them think and spawn ideas, but the third book I picked, I may want to change but don't know what yet. I want to use this as a class project.
And as far as Will Robinson the third book may be how to construct weapons.
Bettina

Building a computer from nothing is unfortunately pretty hard work.

To run a computer, you'll need a computer, obviously, and all its constituent parts. You will also need a source of electricity.

If you're knowledgeable enough, you might know how both of these things work. However, you still have to build the computer, the lines and the generator.

For this you need the right materials, and the means to shape them. Most of this will be metals.

So you need mines, just like that, for certain natural resources... and you have to hope you can find them. You'll need to convert the ore into actual metal; initially this would be a manual process, which for most things except perhaps aluminium can be done; if you had a lot more time you could build smelting facilities though.

Shaping metals... well, you can cast it, or you can simply beat it into shape. You won't get terribly good casts initially, though, and again you'd have to invest in more machinery to get it.

Obviously you'd need metals like copper and iron, chiefly, to get this stuff to work.

From that, you would also have enough to build a simple AC or DC generator, with the requisite knowledge.

If you needed aluminium, you'd again have to build facilities, and graphite electrodes, and so on, to do it. Though with electricity this becomes easier. Would probably also want running water by this stage.

Eventually, after you've got half the Industrial Revolution done, you would be able to make metal components. With enough work, you could put something together... although if you want fancy things like VLSI processors and magnetic/optical storage, you'll be looking at yet more facilities.

At any rate, by the time you have a SIMPLE COMPUTER running, you'll have an entire city built, and the knowledge stored on those disks will be much less necessary...

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Catch-22
Mein Kamph

I'd take three blank books, then do the time travel stuff and write down things and publish those books when and if I get back.

I'll be rich. Screw the ethics in time travel.

How would knowing that kind of future profit you?

Even if you succeeded in building a computer, Sirian, you would then need to create an exact copy of Windows for the software to run on.. this is where Will's alcoholic beverages come in.

I'm still not sure about the other two, but for sure I would take Frederic Bastiat - The Law.

Clayman wrote:I'm still not sure about the other two, but for sure I would take Frederic Bastiat - The Law.

I would have thought lawyers would be the last thing anyone wanted on the new world. Common sense would be enough.

Bettina

what

what

Vertigo 99 wrote:what

Why are you stuttering?

D-D-DOUBLE POST!

bet51987 wrote:

Clayman wrote:I'm still not sure about the other two, but for sure I would take Frederic Bastiat - The Law.

I would have thought lawyers would be the last thing anyone wanted on the new world. Common sense would be enough.

Bettina

Eh? Some form of a legal system would be necessary if you have any interest in going after anyone who took your stuff, or committed any other crimes. Unfortunately common sense is becoming more and more of a rare commodity.