What books would you bring?

On SurvivalBlog a couple of days ago, there was an interesting mental exercise about what books you would choose if you were tasked with preserving western culture against some sort of apocalyptic destruction of literature. The author listed many praiseworthy books by such luminaries as Plato, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Plutarch, etc., that arguably do, indeed, encompass much of western thought.

As many of you know, we’re book freaks in our house. We own over 5000 volumes on everything from astronomy to zoology.

After reading this SurvivalBlog piece, I started doing a mental exercise of my own, namely this: if we were establishing a bug-out location and could bring, say, 100 books — what would they be? These books wouldn’t necessarily have to encompass western civilization and culture, but instead would be books we would want for both reference and pleasure.

So I began wandering through our house, picking some of my favorites. I’m nowhere near 100, but I can always add to them. Some books are serious, some are shallow. This is just MY list. My husband and daughters will have broad lists of their own.

So here is my list, in no particular order:

• The Bible. Of course.

• The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
• Any books by Bill Bryson
• All books by Anya Seton
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• The Lord of the Rings; The Hobbit by Tolkien
• My Family and Other Animals; Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
• Legacy by Susan Kay
• A Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
• Zits comic books (a family favorite)
• In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall
• The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• The Encyclopedia Britannica (we don’t own a set, but I wish we did)
• History of the World by J.M. Roberts
• At Home with Books by Estelle Ellis
• Living with Books by Alan Powers
• It Takes a Village Idiot by Jim Mullen
• Not Buying It by Judith Levine (I like to mock her)
• Most books by Dave Barry
• Gifted Hands by Ben Carson
• Patriots by Jim Wesley, Rawles
• Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole B. Turner
• Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzberg and Janet Greene
• Cheaper & Better by Nancy Birnes
• Better Homes & Garden cookbook
• The Joy of Cooking
• Edible & Medicinal Plants of the Rockies by Linda Kershaw
• Field Guide books (birds, insects, plants, etc.)
• All books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes
• New York Public Library Desk Reference by
• The Columbia History of the World by Peter Gray and John A. Garraty
• Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
• AMA Encyclopedia of Medicine
• Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner and Jane Maxwell
• Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson
• Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis Balch
• Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
• Select books by Nora Roberts
• Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon

I plan to add to his list over the next few days as more books occur to me

So what about you? During long winter nights in your remote bug-out location, what books would you want to have available (either for pleasure or for reference) while sitting around the kerosene lamp?