One of my favorite things so far about Interstellar has been Murphy Cooper's bookcase. You might call it an "elegant solution for keeping track of time"...love and gravity may transcend time, but so can the written word. Nolan's use of allowing the bookcase to carry Coop's messages to Murph is poetic, to say the least, and really beautiful. One of the best ways to cross boundaries with other generations is to put yourself into print. Further, as proven with the discussion concerning the changes to textbooks - books are really timecapsles and means of traveling in and of themselves. We move through other worlds, visit other countries, and we remember our human history because of the written word.

Mr. Nolan is a literature nut. He studied literature at UCL and all his films often invoke or recall great literary works (such as A Tale of Two Cities). The English teacher in me can't resist an opportunity to see into his mind. Assuming he purposely chose the literature that fills the bookshelf (and, with his attention to detail, I'd suspect that to be the case), we might get a look into his influences and where he's headed.

So, I'm trying to compile a reading list. I've seen the film 3 times and made the attempt to document some of the things I've seen. This article was also helpful: http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/solitu ... ar-teaser/

So far, the entries are:

The Stand by Stephen King
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Out of the Blue by Isabel Wolf
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Maugham: A Biography by Ted Morgan
Downwinders: An Atomic Tale by Curtis and Diane Oberhansly
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski

Can you help me add more?

EDIT: Thank you guys for your help so far! Keep them coming! I'll update this post as new info comes through.

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot (specifically the poem "Four Quartets")

EDIT 2: Here's WIRED magazine's article on the book case complete with comments from Chris about a few of the books http://www.wired.com/2014/11/interstell ... library/#x and here is their list:
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Emma by Jane Austen (and what he says about this...<3 )
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
The Go Between by L.P. Hartley
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott

A few glimpses of authors/names:
Janet Finch
Diana Gabaldon

Edit 3:
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

I have also created a pinterest board (easiest way I could think of to display): http://www.pinterest.com/magnusrexbegin ... -bookcase/

Edit 4:
Here are new additions with the help of BluRay technology!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
A Life Inspired: Tales of the Peace Corps by Peace Corps
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Three Cups of Tea by Relin and Mortenson
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
The Balloon Man by Charlotte Armstrong
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsythe
Rogets Thesaurus
In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development by Carol Gilligan
Little Children by Tom Perrotta
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
The Reapers by John Connolly
We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates (Interesting side note: Nolan cites the painting “Christna’s World” as a key influence on the Farmhouse setting of Interstellar. Early editions of this book use that same painting as a cover.)
Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster

Maybes: Books that I made the best possible guess about but may not be the right ones.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Exit into History: A Journey Through the New Eastern Europe by Eva Hoffman
Flora by Gail Goodwin (awwwww….)
May and Amy by Josceline Dimbleby
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic by Redmond O’Hanlon
Silverwood by Betsy Streeter

The Stand is there?

m4st4 wrote:The Stand is there?

Yeah. There was a shot with it front and center as the most noticeable work on there.

Bacon wrote:

m4st4 wrote:The Stand is there?

Yeah. There was a shot with it front and center as the most noticeable work on there.

Probably in my top five favorite books, next time I'll look it up!

I like to look back and think how important that shot is. And it was in the trailer too.

I actually have One Hundred Years of Solitude on my bookshelf. I guess I'll have to read it now lol.

Lionheart wrote:I like to look back and think how important that shot is. And it was in the trailer too.

I know - I love the analog nature of printed books on a bookshelf being the communication center for technological advancement lightyears ahead of our time. It's just...perfect. And I feel like no one is really paying attention to that - it's the heart of the film.

u2aerofan wrote:One of my favorite things so far about Interstellar has been Murphy Cooper's bookcase. You might call it an "elegant solution for keeping track of time"...love and gravity may transcend time, but so can the written word. Nolan's use of allowing the bookcase to carry Coop's messages to Murph is poetic, to say the least, and really beautiful. One of the best ways to cross boundaries with other generations is to put yourself into print. Further, as proven with the discussion concerning the changes to textbooks - books are really timecapsles and means of traveling in and of themselves. We move through other worlds, visit other countries, and we remember our human history because of the written word.

Mr. Nolan is a literature nut. He studied literature at UCL and all his films often invoke or recall great literary works (such as A Tale of Two Cities). The English teacher in me can't resist an opportunity to see into his mind. Assuming he purposely chose the literature that fills the bookshelf (and, with his attention to detail, I'd suspect that to be the case), we might get a look into his influences and where he's headed.

So, I'm trying to compile a reading list. I've seen the film 3 times and made the attempt to document some of the things I've seen. This article was also helpful: http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/solitu ... ar-teaser/

So far, the entries are:

The Stand by Stephen King
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Out of the Blue by Isabel Wolf
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Maugham: A Biography by Ted Morgan
Downwinders: An Atomic Tale by Curtis and Diane Oberhansly
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski

Can you help me add more?

ive bolded the ones ive read, and theyre all great reads. you can really see their influence on Interstellar's narrative and themes too.

It really is the perfect opening shot and encompasses a lot of the films ideas/themes. Beautiful.

Thread subject is kinda spoilery no? Should be reformulated.