One Book

FairyFeller

If you were stranded on a city island (the sort of reverse of a desert island where, instead of being isolated from society on a tranquil island with no hope of seeing another person you are instead surrounded by people and noise with no escape), which one book would you like to have with you?

Which one book could you read time and again and take something new from it each time?

Jeffrey

I would just play video games. j/k

I guess my favorite to feel a supported practice on my own would be the Jewel Ornament of Liberation.

karasti

I guess Shantideva's The Way of the Bodhisattva. Because I can find something that applies to basically any situation in that book, and I reference it a lot.

anataman

Being and nothingness by Jean paul Satre

Because no matter how many times I read it, I like thinking about how the phenomenon differs from the noumenon, and I still have not got JPS view. Perhaps being in a wilderness of humans might make me see it differently.

Bunks

Hmmmm.....good question.

Today I'd say Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen but ask me next week and I'd probably answer differently.

Kundo

"Being Comfortable with Uncertainty" Pema Chodron (I think)

lobster

Tao Te Ching
http://manybooks.net/titles/laotzuetext95taote10.html

Simonthepilgrim

T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets". I have it with me everywhere: the Faber edition in book form, on m,y e-reader and on my tablet.

how

A book with edible pages?
A book on how to get unstranded?
or perhaps
a book on taking the hypothetical more seriously?

fivebells

Something incredibly good which my fellow islanders have never heard of, so I can plagiarize it to raise a little of the seed capital an immigrant always needs. :-)

genkaku

I don't read books much any more, but in the Buddhist realm, I always liked "Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui."

I also like "The Chinese Bandit" by Stephen Becker.

TheEccentric

Joyful Path of Good Fortune by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Buddhadragon

I schlepp so many books about with me! My favourites are the I Ching (Jack Balkin's version), a compilation of Pema Chödron's work, Alexandra David Neel's "Buddhism: its doctrine and its methods," T. W. Rhys Davids "Buddhism," Sartre's "Existentialism is a humanism"... Tich Nhat Hanh's "The heart of the Buddha's thought"...the list is endless... I have always feared that question about "the one book," precisely because I have so many I love!

Citta

Either 'London ' or 'The Thames ' both by Peter Ackroyd.

Both about exactly what you imagine they are about.

He writes so well.

Kundo

@dharmamom said:.the list is endless... I have always feared that question about "the one book," precisely because I have so many I love!

You and me both! I cheated and invested in a Kindle a few years back. So I'd like to change my answer above and say - My Kindle (and yes that book above is on it, along with my Buddhist books and Tehilim and Jewish books - Oy vey!)

Aspiring_Buddhist

@FairyFeller said:
If you were stranded on a city island (the sort of reverse of a desert island where, instead of being isolated from society on a tranquil island with no hope of seeing another person you are instead surrounded by people and noise with no escape), which one book would you like to have with you?

Which one book could you read time and again and take something new from it each time?

Darth Plagueis by James Luceno - Phenomenal Star Wars book. Probably what propelled me to look for "deeper meaning" in my life.

No joke - that book kicks butt. Plagueis is amazing.

BhikkhuJayasara

Entertainment: the whole A Song of Ice And Fire series aka Game of Thrones(its one book!..kind of)

Dhamma wise: Majjhima Nikaya

also, shouldn't this be under General banter?

Zenshin

I agree with @Jayantha‌ the Majjima Nikaya.

lobster

Kindle is a good plan. Tehilim = Psalms, did not not know, great choice.

Also as we are on a 'city' Island, I would maybe be better off with a guide book, as @citta mentions, would Facebook (ok admit I no longer use it) be the modern equivalent of the whole earth catalogue?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog

Think I will stick with my original choice if paper only book . . .

Citta

My choices aren't actually guide books..they are histories.

Buddhadragon

@dhammachick said:
You and me both! I cheated and invested in a Kindle a few years back. So I'd like to change my answer above and say - My Kindle (and yes that book above is on it, along with my Buddhist books and Tehilim and Jewish books - Oy vey!)

Oh, yes, dhammachick! Kindles were invented for people who like me love to carry their favourite books everywhere. I'm still a bit old-fashioned and simply love the odour of old books, anyway.
But yes, eventually a Kindle would be an option

FairyFeller

I must admit to having some very full Kindles but if I find it interesting I end up buying a hard copy of the book as well.

Kundo

@FairyFeller said:
I must admit to having some very full Kindles but if I find it interesting I end up buying a hard copy of the book as well.

I've done that too. I love my Kindle, but nothing beats the feel of turning the pages in a book