I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj ., - chosen by -- Vivek Narayanan
I would choose this book and learn from it how to rejoice in the fate that awaits me. of course, it would be an extremely eclectic ship that would boast in its intellectual larder of such a title. failing this, Ii would simply take some mentally taxing book like 1001 theorems in geometry using ruler and compass, and while away my last moments pondering the beauty of geometry.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad., - chosen by --Luigi Malerba
Probably the book that reveals at the best how thin is the civilization
influence over humans. After a century, it continues to inspire artists such
as Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse now) or Alex Garland (The beach).
I read it first time when I was 19 and since then I have read it at least
other three or four times, obsessively. Highly recommended.

Moby-Dick, - chosen by --Richard Binder
My single book would be what I consider the finest American novel ever written: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, by Herman Melville.

I marvel at Melville's unrivaled skill at weaving the illimitable breadth and depth of human destiny into the fibers of an equally substantial setting of the eternal struggle between good and evil, and making the whole into a cracking good yarn. His descriptive prose is second to none, and his character delineation leaves me breathless. Moby-Dick is a searing look into the soul, and I reread it aboout every five years.

The Bible, - chosen by --Kay Purcell
'Fraid I am going to reveal just how square and boring I am. I'd take my Bible. It is the only book I've been able to read more than once and not put down after the first ten pages of the second reading.

Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - chosen by --Bob Whitmire
I've read it a thousand times and every time is like the first time. And because I'm dead, I wouldn't care what the book told others about me, if anything. (If, on the other hand, I wanted to give the finders something to chew on, I would take Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces.)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera- chosen by Paul L.
I chose this Novel because it deals with existential concepts that most closely parallel my own. These include: Nietzsche's idea of eternal return the 'irreconcilable duality' of body and soul Kitsch the unbearable lightness of being without weight I also see myself in a certain character, but of course I will not say who!

Growing Up Absurd-by Paul Goodman chosen by Bob H.

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce -chosen by Donal H.

She Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat by Lewis Grizzard-chosen by John Odom

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
-chosen by My L.
Why? Because it's the only book I've ever read that made me look forward with gleeful anticipation to being old.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
- chosen by David Ranson.
If the academics find me, at least they'll know I didn't take them too seriously.

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
-chosen by David Mason.
I've read it four times now and I still have no idea what it's about - a metaphor for life, for sure. I like the quality of the writing and especially the silly little songs that the characters burst into at the drop of a pin.

The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco. chosen by Yit
The novel speaks to my sense of experience; the almost existential conundrum that the protagonist finds himself in, trapped aboard a shipwreck within sight of land. The novel spoke to me.