For several years I collected and read Easton Press books. This morning I investigated an Easton Press add that popped up on the computer. Those books now range in price from $75-$300 each.

I have 20 rows of those books with a rough average of 15 books on each row indicating that I have around 300 Easton Press books. If those books sold for $100 each they would be worth $30,000. My goodness!!! I need insurance for those books. Maybe a fire extinguisher in the room will do.

If we multiplied $30,000 by the pleasure and information I received from reading those books the value would be incalculable: $50,000? $100,000? $300,000? I can’t say.

For some reason that add got me thinking about the book that is most valuable (excluding the Bible, of course). What one book would I take on a desert island that offered no chance for rescue?

The first book that came to mind was Huckleberry Finn, but that book is too short. So I began to think of books that are around 1000 pages or so. After all I am going to be on that desert island a long time. What about David Copperfield?–that book is long, and funny with good characters? War and Peace?–over 1000 pages fiction intermingled with history. The Count of Monte Christo?—what an adventure story of revenge and renewal. Perhaps Les Miserables?–spiritual, but probably too full of dread…and well, misery. The Divine Comedy?–no; the need for Cliff Notes would eliminate it. I will take Shakespeare: The Annotated Tragedies and Romances.

What book would you take?

PS: If you like Mark Twain you can get The Complete Works of Mark Twain including his letters and speeches on Kindle for 99-cents!!!