Treasured Books

The five books you’d take to a desert island and why.

Kenneth E. Phillips, 50, curator of the aerospace program at the California Science Center in Exposition Park

1. The Bible

It’s a master book of psychological thinking and the human condition, and it has great historical perspective and a wide range of literary types thrown into it. I find the thing incredibly difficult to read and open to interpretation on endless levels. It’s not just prose or poetry.

2. “The Origin of Species,” by Charles Darwin

If I could get something close to the original, it would be fun to read. It was very revolutionary thinking at the time. He was challenging people to think about evolution with a set of earth shattering hypotheses he put forward.

3. “Othello,” by William Shakespeare

We all tend to become like Othello now and then--our minds get tricked into thinking the worst of people who don’t mean us any harm. If you’re on an island for a long long time, your mind can play tricks on you. By reading it, you keep yourself sharp. You want to make sure to keep in mind the subtle traps we all fall into. I don’t want to return to society a bitter guy.

4. “Feynman Lectures”

It’s a three-volume set that covered the lectures of Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, who taught physics at Caltech. The books includes Feynman’s talks on Newtonian mechanics, modern physics, electricity, magnetism and thermodynamics.

The books are really cool--basic physics with illustrations. Great stuff. He was a very insightful, imaginative guy who had a way of explaining phenomena to his students that made it very clear.

5. “Still I Rise”

Including the poem by Maya Angelou and a collection her poetry. For me, it’s a statement of strength. I’ve heard her say that she had a prolonged period of silence as a kid and she came forward with this incredible gift for writing. She’s a real success story.