MovieChat Forums > The Time Machine (1960) Discussion > 'Which Three Books?' - No Qualifications

'Which Three Books?' - No Qualifications

posted 15 years ago by Poisoned_Dragon1964
140 replies | jump to latest

The two extant threads on this board arrogantly shut off discussion, forbidding "Bible bashing," and questions/criticism of others' (possibly lame) choices. Here, discussion and criticism are welcome.

My choices? Well, it sure as hell wouldn't be a Bible or any other religious text. Religion's track record leaves much to be desired, and if there's not any religion to be found among the Eloi and the Morlocks, then it's evidently something the designers of the "perfect world" felt it was better without.

I'm not sure I could make a choice from what we've got. The books available in our time have not solved our problems. I would like to broaden the choice. Before choosing three books, I would prefer to look in what Wells refers to as "the Golden Age," the time during which all the problems had been solved, prior to the decay of the great Quiet. Perhaps there's better books later than our time. Having a Time Machine would make that possible.

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] diddymuck 14 years ago

The Boy Scout Handbook...seriously! Tells how to stay alive, codes to live by, and how to live on your own in the wild.

Back To Basics by Reader's Digest books...how to make a house, a farm, a fence, a power supply, raise livestock, and handle all other personal needs in one large, picture laced volume.

An alphabet book. Hey, gotta teach the dummies how to read before the other books become useful, don't you?

[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 14 years ago

In watching the film, did you ever ask yourself how it happens that the Eloi speak English? Or how they already happen to have a sizeable, though neglected, collection of books?

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

I assume they lived in an abandoned complex that included a Library.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 14 years ago

The world of 802,701 was far, far beyond any culture that would have used books. The Talking Rings were the closest thing to an information system, and even they were ancient, from before the bifurcation of the human race.

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

They impression I'm clearly given is that really nothing has changed among Human society since a couple hundred years after our time. That's why so much stuff is still left behind.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 13 years ago

The stuff left behind looks like someone's eclectic collection - perhaps George's, from another point in time.

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Duragizer 12 years ago

A book on religion - to piss off the rabid antitheists.

A book on nontheism - to piss off the Fundies.

A book on respect and tolerance - so the Eloi don't develop into either of the two above.

Standing there, on a road that leads to anywhere ...

[–] JessL1988 11 years ago

Hard to pick just three, but I'd go with:

A medical book

A book on cultivation

And a book on history.

[–] nycruise-1 11 years ago

No-brainer:

1) A Text book that teaches basic reading and writing

2) A Text book that teaches basic math

3) The Kama Sutra

No need for a Bible - since I would start the whole religion thing over again and make ME the origin of all knowledge and creation. I would start writing *A* Bible and it would be in the First Person (the way a real Bible would have been if Adam had been told he was going to be in the Book of Genesis).

As for the Kama Sutra, it is the only "religious experience" that should be transmitted from our time to the future.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] Yogami 9 years ago

Plato's Republic
The Bible, mainly for the Pentateuch and the 4 Gospels
The History of Civilization by Will Durant

[–] nycruise-1 11 years ago

I doubt that the Time Traveler took the Bible. The bookshelf where the books were taken from hardly looks like a place where a Bible would be kept. Usually, people - even scientists - consider the Bible a holy book and keep it somewhere else.

Of course, this leaves open the question of "did he take the Bible - only no one bothered to check the place where it was stored (away from the other books)?)"

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] loveginfizzy 11 years ago

Bet one was the kama sutra to use on Weena.

[–] pusterummet 10 years ago

1. The Junior Woodchuck Guide Book
2. Nabokov: Lolita
3. Orwell : Down and out in Paris

Seeing that they don't have any tools.. as far as we know.. It would be a tough one.
If they had.. I would bring some books about making shelters/huts.. maybe a book about self sufficient farming.. when we have shelter and food taken care off we could start killing each other off out of boredom