Favourite Non-Fiction

finlma

I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction now and I'm wondering what people's favourite non-fiction books are.

My favourites are:
Into Thin Air - Jon Krauker. Amazing book
Survival in the Killing Fields - Haing S Ngor
Forget You Had A Daughter - Sandra Gregory

tSubh Dearg

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

I really enjoyed this book and picked up loads of useless facts to store away for use in table quizzes.

Dades

Cosmos, Carl Sagan.
I love his writing.

tSubh Dearg wrote:

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

I really enjoyed this book and picked up loads of useless facts to store away for use in table quizzes.

I couldn't finish this. I found there was so much information - nothing was sticking in my head! I liken it to several people trying to get in a doorway at the same time finding themselves firmly wedged.

MrJoeSoap

finlma wrote:

Into Thin Air - Jon Krauker. Amazing book

Weird, when I saw this thread I immediately thought of Krakauers other book "Into the Wild". Have you read this one? How do they compare?

I read "Under the Banner of Heaven" whilst travelling around the US last summer, a very interesting read.

"Into The Wild" is my favourite book ever though, an amazing story about an amazing guy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385486804/002-6959167-0569661?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness. Four months later, he turned up dead. His diary, letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly starving. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man, raised in affluent Annandale, Va., who self-consciously adopted a Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. Krakauer, a contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless's ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace engineer. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful exploit in 1977 when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion against his autocratic father. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes the mystery of McCandless's death, which he attributes to logistical blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods.

finlma

I haven't read it but I'm going onto Amazon now to order it. Krauker really draws you into his books - great author.

Enii

"Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenrich. Excellent book.

johnny_ultimate

Dont read much non-fiction really, but finished 'Hell's Angels' recently - a great read.

grimsbymatt

My faves are: -

'The Universe in a Nutshell' by Stephen Hawking

'The Blind Watchmaker' by Richard Dawkins

'The Code Book' by Simon Singh

John Eddison

Is King James Bible considered fiction or non-fiction?

That aside, my favourites are "My Life" by Richard Wagner, and the three volume Liszt-biography by Alan Walker.

There are also some non-fiction by R.A. Lafferty, and Avram Davidson, both whom are mostly known for their wonderful fiction, that I'm going to read (and that will presumably become my favourites), but haven't yet...

Dades

John Eddison wrote:

Is King James Bible considered fiction or non-fiction?

I would suggest it's "based on a true story".

RobY

The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

Rob

Most things by Hunter S. Thompson. He'd be like the coolest dad ever, if he hadn't shot himself in the face with a shotgun.

Feu

Mentioned above:

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Hells Angels
Also:

The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal - Desmond Morris. i guess its a beginners guide to anthropology

Fast food nation - interesting more than anything.

Blackbird - Jennifer Lauck. Memoir - total heartbreaker but really interesting, particularly the commentry on the culture of America in the 70s.

BossArky

"A short history.." by Bryson as mentioned above.

Also, check out a book published by Winston Churchill's doctor (which Churchill's family were annoyed about) - an interesting read. Googled it for a name but cannot find or remember what it was called.

grimsbymatt

grimsbymatt wrote:

'The Code Book' by Simon Singh

Just finished 'Big Bang' by Singh. Found it far more informative and less glib than Bryson's 'Short History'. Hadn't actually read anything about cosmology in such detail before, came away feeling that I had actually broadened my understanding rather than just gone through 500 pages of entertaining but useless trivia ala Bryson's book.

Loved PJ O'Rourke's 'Holidays in Hell' too. The best travel book about the worst travel spots in the world. He hones in on every country in the midst of a conflict and ends up travelling around them, boozing a lot, and giving the right wing liberal's take on events.

And Eamon Sweeney's 'There's Only One Red Army' is my favourite sports book. In terms of its exploration of alcoholism and marriage breakdown in Ireland, along with lots of football and craic along the way, just found it all so relevant.

gaf1983

Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by David Winner. It was good enough, don't know why I read it. The author, a journalist, explores the Dutch psyche and society through examining the national teams of the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, and basically argues that the way the Dutch play football is modelled on their society, with its emphasis on collectivism and co-operation and so on. I still don't know why I read it.

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson is a brilliant book and does exactly what it says on the cover, tries to examine the idea of why someone will go so far as to lay down their life for something as abstract as a "nation."

The Shackled Continent: Africa's Past, Present and Future by Robert Guest - the author, The Economist's Africa correspondent, identifies so many of the problems that plague Africa (whilst not ignoring the success stories either) at the moment and offers suggested solutions to them.

Reefer Madness and other Tails from the American Underground by Eric Schlosser. I haven't read Fast Food Nation yet, but if this book is anything to go by, it should be a good read. This book is adapted from a series of articles of his, he examines the hypocrisy that surrounds the issues of Pornography, Drug Laws and Migrant Workers in the United States.

The Foundations of European Community Law by T.C. Hartley. Very boring. Wouldn't recommend it.

gaf1983

gaf1983 wrote:

The Foundations of European Community Law by T.C. Hartley. Very boring. Wouldn't recommend it.

In fairness to Hartley, there is no such thing as a not boring book on the structures or legal systems of the EEC, EC or EU...

Tree

Brian greene's the elegant universe, best introduction to string theory ive ever read

Marcus DuSatoy's The music of the primes, fabulous book, very readable even to those of us who are crap at maths

Matt Ridley's Genome, Genetics for beginners

J D Barrow - the book of nothing, all about zero and the vacuum and the absecnce of stuff in general

pwd

biographies.
Pappilion by henri cheri (lots of people love this book. check it out)
orwell
king of the world (m ali)
a drink with shane macgowan
the rum diaries (hunter s thompson)
bill hicks american scream
others too can't think of them

orwell-
inside the whale
down and out in paris and london
homage to catalonia

brave new world revisited -aldous huxley

Amazotheamazing

gaf1983 wrote:

The Shackled Continent: Africa's Past, Present and Future by Robert Guest - the author, The Economist's Africa correspondent, identifies so many of the problems that plague Africa (whilst not ignoring the success stories either) at the moment and offers suggested solutions to them.


The Foundations of European Community Law by T.C. Hartley. Very boring. Wouldn't recommend it.

The Shackled COntinent changed my perspective on Africa, completely. Also changed my perspective on law.

Surprisingly there's actually some great stories in EU law, but they haven't found their author yet.

finlma

pwd wrote:

biographies.
Pappilion by henri cheri (lots of people love this book. check it out)
a drink with shane macgowan

Both great books.

Just started reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It makes for hard reading but I'm sucked in.

gaf1983

Just finished Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner. Very enjoyable read. It's been mentioned in the David McWilliams thread - Levitt's an economist who uses tools from economics to analyse societal issues, and includes examinations of why crack dealers live with their Moms, and an argument that the reason why America's crime rate began to decrease during the 90s was the legalisation of abortion about 15-20 years' previously.

starn

Endurance by Alfred Lansing has in paticular effected me and shaped my charecter in many ways

Surely You're Joking, Mr.Feynman by Richard P. Feynman

Pappion by Charraie

Flatland by Ian Stewart

The Seven Pillars of Knowledge by TE Lawrence

Oh And
Never Shave a Camel by Peter Rowne of wacaday fame........ A very dangerous book to give to a 7 year old boy

turbot

I have a few:

I think that Prometheus Rising (by Robert Anton Wilson) is an amazing book... the first few chapters are tough, and then it's totally enlightening. Certaintly was for me...

Demetrius

Here are a few of my favourites

Home before night
Out after dark both by Hugh Leonard

Nelsons most recent biography

My Life by Richard Wagner vol 1 (havent read vol 2 yet)

Secret Germany:Klaus von Stauffenberg and the mystical crusade against Hitler by Baignet and Leigh

tHE vAGGABOND

Lots of the usual suspects already covered here, so I'll just cover my fav sporting books..

My first book, "The Miracle..." is the best sports book ever imho:

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss

and dont forget..

A Season with Verona - Tim Parks

Your not a 'real' football fan till you've read the two of these [a must for fans of anything italian too tbh]

Also, you must read..

Its Not About the Bike - Armstrong, Lance
Say what you like about him, beating cancer the way he did was amazing, this is that story really..

I really liked, "A Good Walk Spoiled" by John Feinstein. Its a must for golf fans, but tbh if you did not know the in's and out's of the world of golf would not get that much from it.

Finally, I loved "In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens" 2 of the most famous sporting icons in the world, and this shows what they really went through.

gaf1983

Has anyone read Tony Cascarino's autobiography? I've a funny feeling I might buy it this afternoon.

tHE vAGGABOND

yea, its quite good..

Bodhidharma

Che Guevara's Bolivian diary.

Towards the end its like a horror movie, " No Che, dont go there. Its a trap!"