In spite of major advancements in the field of technology, a world without books would be uninhabitable. In the worst possible scenario where firemen are hell-bent on gutting down books, I would select various books for saving for the future. These books are The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar AllanPoe, The pedestrian byRay Bradburyand The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin as well as Letter from Birmingham Jail by martin Luther King Jr. and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. I would preserve these books because they have useful lessons for future generations.
The first book to be saved contains the short story, The Pit and the Pendulum, by Edgar Allan Poe. The book is entitled, The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1943. I would save this book because the short story contains important life lessons that would useful for future generations. The short story, The Pit and the Pendulum, is about a death-row prisoner who calls all his wits about him to escape death narrowly. Undoubtedly, future generations will experience many challenges, and, therefore, will learn from the prisoner depicted in this story in order to surmount the challenges. This story creates the impression that no problem is too big to be solved.
Secondly, a book that projects into the future is too precious to be destroyed
This is The Reporter by The Fortnightly Publishing Company. The book contains the story The Pedestrian by ray Bradbury, which projects into the future as it is set in the year 2053. The story depicts an advancement of technology to a high extent such that there are robotic police cars for maintaining security in cities, especially at night. Crime is one of the biggest challenges in the world today. Consequently, many nations have been struggling with ways of curbing lawlessness. Robotic police cars that have intelligence of their own may just provide the much-needed panacea. Therefore, this book would be very important to future generations, as they will be striving to live in a crime-free society.
Another text that projects into the future is The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. This is science fiction work that depicts the dilemma inherent in some situations in life. In this story, a pilot aboard an Emergency Dispatch Ship discovers a stowaway on the same vessel. This situation presents a dilemma to the pilot in various ways. The fuel on the ship is only enough for one passenger, implying that keeping the stowaway would lead to the crashing of the vessel killing them both. However, the dilemma solves itself when the stowaway willingly walks into the airlock and is ejected into space. Future generations stand to learn from this text that in life, one may come across very difficult choices to make. As such, people need to ready to make hard choices, just like the pilot of the space-craft in this story.
For the purpose of preserving history, I would also save Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. it would be important for future generations to learn about their pasts. This is because historical pasts enable a people to improve their future through various ways. In this text, the author depicts one of the darkest moments in the history of the United States. These were the trials and tribulations of black Americans during the era of slave trade. Future generations need to learn from the impact of slavery and learn from past injustices. This would help future generations to ensure that all members of the society regardless of their color or creed are afforded equal treatment. I would, therefore, save this text to act as historical materials.
However, the most important book I would select all cost is Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. The essence of this book is rather ambitious as it envisions a society in which everybody is equal. The storyline is set in 2081 and constitutional amendment of the times has paved way for a just society in which everybody is equal. This is the dream of most people in the world today. In fact the injustices and other ailments that afflict the society today arise from lack of equality among people. The test portrays people as not only equal but also effectively empowered. Nevertheless, the author seems to be sending out s strong warning to the concerned parties that attempts to create equality in the society may as well cause certain undesirable effects. Therefore, this is the best book I would save for future generations.
In essence, the importance of books cannot be gainsaid
This is because books provide a valuable source of information that will be very useful in future. Destroying books amount to getting rid of all that defines our humanity. When it comes to saving books during crisis may require prioritizing them. for this reason, I have selected the text Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron, which clears wars against blindly pursuing goals for the sake of establishing equality. The quest for equality, though noble, needs serious consideration lest into result into more problems than solutions