I thought about the books that I like the best and decided that Dostoevsky loses to Pasternak. Doctor Zhivago is an excellent book at a lot of levels. It's an anti-utopian novel that isn't dystopian. It's a love story that isn't conventional. It's a poem in prose stylistically. The ideas are postmodern but somehow classic. There's a very historic element to it, yet it is purely fictional. There is an apocalyptic element to it, as well as a set of characters based on actual people Pasternak knew, so the novel is filled with inside jokes and universal symbols at the same time. Yes, if I had only one book to pass on, this would be it.
The problem is that it was published before I was born. Even some of the edgier, crazier books that I might be tempted to choose in a fit of drug-inspired cultural destructiveness, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, were published before I was born.
After some reflection, one of the only books that I think has been published in my lifetime that is worth passing on would be Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I think that, other than Kundera, only Eco was considered.
The problem is that it was published before I was born. Even some of the edgier, crazier books that I might be tempted to choose in a fit of drug-inspired cultural destructiveness, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, were published before I was born.
After some reflection, one of the only books that I think has been published in my lifetime that is worth passing on would be Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I think that, other than Kundera, only Eco was considered.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
If you could pass on only one book to the next generation, what would it be?
- 01/04/2011 10:29:47 AM
1792 Views
The Kama Sutra 
*NM*
- 01/04/2011 01:35:42 PM
419 Views
*NM*
- 01/04/2011 01:35:42 PM
419 Views
Well, it WOULD help insure that there would be at least 1 more generation after that... *NM*
- 01/04/2011 07:49:30 PM
429 Views
GRRM's SoIaF, maybe they will live long enough to see the series ended 
- 01/04/2011 07:59:58 PM
1118 Views
- 01/04/2011 07:59:58 PM
1118 Views
Norton's Anthology *NM*
- 01/04/2011 08:44:18 PM
418 Views
Lord save me. *NM*
- 01/04/2011 08:46:13 PM
399 Views
quantiy over quality
- 03/04/2011 07:16:13 PM
925 Views
Re: quantiy over quality
- 03/04/2011 07:18:13 PM
917 Views
I was mostly pissed that I had to $60 for it and everything we read was available for free
- 03/04/2011 11:27:24 PM
848 Views
The first answer is far easier than the second.
- 01/04/2011 08:53:30 PM
932 Views
I'm tempted to say 1984
- 02/04/2011 01:32:22 PM
901 Views
Yeah, that seems like the obvious choice for me as well... but in my lifetime, no idea either. *NM*
- 02/04/2011 06:23:54 PM
399 Views
I'd go with Brave New World, actually.
- 02/04/2011 10:36:20 PM
1006 Views
I think Huxley has a better understanding of human nature and less politcal motive
- 03/04/2011 04:48:19 AM
811 Views
Some parts of Orwell's dystopia did in fact come true, though.
- 03/04/2011 03:07:07 PM
860 Views
you really need to read Brave New World
- 03/04/2011 07:14:04 PM
812 Views
We agree again. *NM*
- 03/04/2011 07:45:06 PM
433 Views
stop that your scaring me *NM*
- 03/04/2011 11:27:52 PM
379 Views
I can berate you for writing "your" instead of "you're" if it makes you feel better. *NM*
- 03/04/2011 11:30:14 PM
377 Views
Can't recommend many published in my life that I've read;the Sprawl Trilogy if I can count a series.
- 03/04/2011 12:18:30 AM
1050 Views