The Galactic Question Center

I would choose the Bible. I've been studying it for years and there is still lots left that I haven't studied and it's a pretty well-rounded book with poetry, wisdom, spirituality and interesting events (or fictional stories, depending on your religious leanings).
If I got really bored, I could try converting it into a comic book...
 

I would chose the Encyclopedia Britannica. Knowledge on virtually everything known to humanity is too good to pass up. Plus, it would be quite an achievement to read all that.
 

Brittanic all the way. Constantly in quest of knowledge. Please, I beg you, go to my blog also, Am I Right...Maybee. Thanx for all the fish.
 

considering Anne Rice wrote the "Beauty" series which has a lot dirtier material that the exponential sum of every playboy, I would still chose the encyclopedia.
 

please! the time magazine.
 

I'm not so dependent on either tv or computers that reading materials would be a big deal to me. I'd choose Time magazine. Although it'd be tempting to get an author's complete works, I don't know if I like those authors enough yet to want to read them all, and I'd probably finish a lot sooner than five years. Reading the Bible or Encyclopedia Brittanica isn't exactly enjoyable reading to me, and although I might like to study either...not for 5 years. And Playboy? I don't even need to comment on that. In addition, I don't want to be oblivious to world events, no matter how much they might depress me in this day and age.
 

I'd have to go with the Britannica. I don't think I could even come close to getting bored with it in only five years.

While the Bible is a worthwhile read (vast understatement), I can't imagine reading nothing but that for years on end. Besides, millions of people have done that already!

I might have considered Playboy if I could have chosen a more interesting timeframe, maybe, say 1965-1975. Yes boys and girls, Playboy really did have good articles! I might even consider the 1995-2005 set, if I could have an unlimited supply of pencils and blank paper to go along with it; it would certainly provide plenty of artistic reference...

Five years with nothing but Heinlein would certainly be quite survivable as well.

Lastly, and I mean no offense, but who would even want to read even ONE issue of Time magazine, let alone 260 of them?
 

The bible. Although the other selections would be interesting, they provide little food for thought or contemplation.
 

The Bible. The first book ever mass produced. One could spend a lifetime interpreting its many layers. Esp. Revelations. (And I'm not a thumper.)
 

Plus, I spend many years as an encyclopedia editor (For Britannica's competition.) I can't imagine that anyone would value this over the Bible.
 

The Bible. The first book ever mass produced. One could spend a lifetime interpreting its many layers. Esp. Revelations. (And I'm not a thumper.)
 

Hmm, its tough to choose between the encyclopedia or Time magazine. On the one hand, Time might start to depress you, adding a sense of powerlessness to the isolation you face, but on the other it might make you feel somewhat connected to the outside world. The brittanica would also make for better scratch paper than the glossy pages of Time, if access to blank pages is an issue, so maybe the Britt. In all, the encyclopedia wouldn't take very long to polish off, though. So you'd have to be careful and pace yourself.
 

Britannica has got to be the only choice here.....

Time Magazine would only be good for toilet paper...

The Playboys would quickly become dog-eared and torn and stained and un-readable..

The Bible is just a big thick book of rambling yarns about who 'begat' whom.....who cares ?

Britannica rocks.......
 

This is a really American checklist. Where's the world class literature? Stephen King is abysmally bad..Time magazine has become a mere propaganda device for the US government. Is this what you read? I guess I'd choose the encyclopedia of the american version of everything, (after the lies about Iraq anything mainstream coming out of the states has a suspect "truth" content. After all, contrary to what you may believe, your national behaviour makes you the most dangerous element in a vast world of escalating wackiness.)

Yes, the encyclopedia; it has enough paper for several years of intense origami.
 

"Just Breathe" says the bible was the first book mass produced and finds the layering, particularly the hallucinogenic layering of "Revelations" attractive. Revelations wasn't generally accepted as a Biblical book by either Catholics or Protestants until the mid nineteenth century.
 

Probably the Encyclopedia. Knowledge is power.
 

Im gonna go with the stephen king novels (DON'T HIT ME) i enjoyed his writing (look up the dark tower!). What a lot of people don't realize is that ALL his books are connected. Its kinda cool.

Just one question though, if the author published a new book, would you get the new one?
 

It would have to be Britannica. My interests are varied & it would be much more interesting & knowledgeable.
I couldn't handle the bible for that long, Time would have little but bad news & the novels would be gone too quickly.