On a deserted island
Illustration by Michael Gelen, JD '88
The question may be unanswerable (and hopefully never an option), but we asked it anyway of a group of faculty, alumni and students. If stranded on a deserted island for an undetermined period, what book, CD and movie/DVD would you like to have available for those long lonely hours? The responses were rich and varied, a lot like the wider UB community they represent. One faculty member even created her own CD, a special “island mix” of the Beatles, Duke Ellington, Debussy and others. Where can we get copies?
Andrea Markelz
Assistant Professor of Physics
- BOOK - Complete Works of William Shakespeare
- CD - Mozart’s Così fan tutte
- DVD - The Princess Bride
Ira Flatow, BS ’71
NPR Science Correspondent
- BOOK - 1001 Sudoku [puzzles]
- CD - Saturday Night Fever
- DVD - Casablanca
Lauren Fix, BS ’86
Car coach and host of Talk 2 DIY Automotive on the DIY network
- BOOK - “A survival guide to get me through the reality of it all”
- CD - “’80s alternative music, because it never gets old”
- DVD - “Photos and movies of my family and friends who have made me so grateful and have hope of [my] being rescued”
John B. Simpson
President
- BOOK - East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- CD - Either Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 (the C minor symphony), or Dvorak’s Symphony no. 9 (“From the New World”)
- DVD - Inherit the Wind
Judith Adams-Volpe
Director of University and External Relations, University Libraries
- BOOK - Wings of the Dove by Henry James
- CD - Jascha Heifetz: The Concerto Collection (RCA—5 discs)
- DVD - Apollo 13
Nancy Smyth
Dean, School of Social Work
- BOOK - Bhagavad Gita (The Holy Geeta by Swami Chinmayananda)
- CD - The Beatles: 1962–1966
- DVD - My Dinner with André
Abbe Raven, BA ’74
President & CEO, A&E Television Networks
- Book - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- CD - Carole King’s Tapestry
- DVD - Cast Away with Tom Hanks (“to give me hope”)
Roseanne C. Berger
Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
- Book - A Book - of short stories by William Trevor
- CD - “Island CD - Mix”—Moxie Früvous: “King of Spain”; Beatles: “Norwegian Wood”, “Let It Be”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”; Bob Dylan: “Tangled Up in Blue”; John Fogarty: “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”; Indigo Girls: “Galileo”; Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 19 in F, K. 459; Vivaldi: “Four Seasons”; Granados: “Spanish Dance no. 5” for guitar; Debussy: “Rêverie”; Arthur Johnston: “Cocktails for Two” (saxophone); Sonny Rollins: “St. Thomas” (saxophone); Duke Ellington: “Isfahan”
- DVD - Seinfeld episodes
Carl Dennis
Artist in residence and winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
- Book - The Odyssey
- CD - Haydn’s Late String Quartets
- DVD - Children of Paradise
Thomas B. Burrows Jr.
Director, Center for the Arts
- Book - Ulysses by James Joyce (“maybe I’d finish it”)
- CD - Ella and Louis Again
- DVD - Beat the Devil with Humphrey Bogart
Marguerite Walker
JD/MBA student
- Book - 1984 by George Orwell
- CD - Disc two of the Led Zeppelin big box set released in 1990
- DVD - Steel Magnolias
Warde Manuel
Director of Athletics
- Book - Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- CD - Any Wynton Marsalis jazz CD
- DVD - Shrek (first one)
Kimberly Butcher
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Major
- Book - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- CD - Toxicity by System of a Down
- DVD - Donnie Darko
David Felder
Composer and Professor of Music
- Book - Zohar
- CD - Mahler Symphony no. 2 (“Solti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or Karajan and Berlin Philharmonic”)
- DVD - Pulp Fiction
W. David Penniman
Dean, School of Informatics
- Book - “Now that is hard because I might want to take a whole library and could do so if you let it be on CD -ROM ... ever hear of digital libraries? In the spirit of the question, though, I will give you one Book: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
- CD - Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman (“I know, I know, he is out of favor in the U.S. now.”)
- DVD - Harold and Maude (“See a pattern here? Sound track by Cat”)