What non-fiction book could you just not put down? Was it a biography? Some obscure textbook? A collection of papers or speeches? Share your suggestions below!
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“Man’s search for meaning” is both profound and a must read imo. “Gödel, Esther, Bach” is a tome that I love to say I’ve read but it’s been 5yrs and I’ve only got to 60%. The follow up, however, “I am strange loop” is much more digestible.
David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity.
I have read these multiple times:
A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold, the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine shooters. It’s a heavy book.
How much of it is nonfiction is up in the air, but I love Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter is sharp and observant and funny as hell. It’s eerie how little has changed in American elections in 50 years.
How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch is a popular science book about physics. Sounds like a dry read I know but it’s one of the most upbeat and fascinating books about science I’ve ever read. Concepts I never thought I’d be able to grasp were easily explained…sometimes to the point where you’re in danger of having an existential crisis when you realise how very fragile the entirety of existence is.
The author works for CERN on one of the experiments at the LHC so he knows his stuff and he’s an excellent communicator of ideas without dumbing it all down in the slightest.
If you enjoyed Bill Bryson’s ‘Short History Of Everything’ you’ll enjoy this too.
Highly recommend Fall of the Roman Empire.
Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon.
Dude was a natural history book REVIEWER. Never left England in his life. Editor got the wild idea to pack him up and send him to Borneo for a month.
It is a funny, delightful, very fast read. Could not put it down.
When he survived, got back, turned in the manuscript, the editor liked it so much, he packed him off to the Amazon for TWO months.
“In Trouble Again” is the 2nd book.
Third book was called “No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo” and it’s not funny. At all. In the least little way, he and his crew were almost all killed in a nascent civil war.
4th book was “Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic” - embedded on a fishing boat. The literary equivalent of “Deadliest Catch”.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. A little dated, but a classic. Sagan’s enthusiasm for his subject is inspirational.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Part memoir, part reflections on how to repair humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The author is a botanist and a Potawatomi, and brings both perspectives to her work.
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. Thoughtful, heartfelt observations of humanity and its effects on the planet and the other beings that live on it, from a kind, decent, engaged, and nevertheless hopeful person.
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. Really more personal reflections on octopuses the author has known and loved than an objective look at consciousness, but the tales are very moving.
I’m going to give you two because I pretty much only read nonfiction and I can’t decide.
Outlaws Inc Which is a lot of fun tales of the adventures of post-soviet aerial smugglers.
The other is Topsoil and Civilization which you can request a copy of here. This is about how all (from memory) great civilizations have collapsed in part due to the degradation of their topsoil. Its very good, highly relevant, and many years ago started me on the life path I’m now on
Maybe something to crosspost to !nonfiction@literature.cafe, there might be some additional ideas there
I enjoyed Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger so much I stopped reading it for a couple weeks when I noticed I was almost through it. Did not want it to end.
Alison Weir is one of my favorite authors; two of her best (I think) are Queen Isabella (what a fuckin story) and The Lost Tudor Princess, which sounds vague and flighty but is like a high-beam flashlight into the time period.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people – including himself – to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer’s eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
The Divide by Jason Hickel is a good short read on global inequality.
The Making of Global Capitalism by Panitch and Gindin goes into historical detail on the emergence of the modern financial/trade system, but it’s fairly academic and not super exciting.
Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis is an account of the famines and mass social murder overseen by colonial governance in the 19th century.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous People’s History of the United States is self explanatory.
For books on America’s commitment to defending democracy around the world, pick any one of:
- Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad
- The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
- Killing Hope by William Blum
Here are some:
- Bad Blood - about Theranos
- Evicted - low-income housing
- They Called Us Enemy - Immigrants
- Factfulness - statistics
- Permanent Record - Edward Snowden
- Masters of Doom - PC gaming, id Software
- The Cuckoo’s Egg - fighting early computer crime
- The Initiates - Winemaking
- If it’s Smart, it’s Vulnerable - Computer security
- Sid Meier’s Memoir - Computer games
- How to Invent Everything - Building up modern tech starting from nothing
- The Everything Store - Amazon.com
- The Soul of a New Machine - Pulitzer winner, minicomputers in the late 70’s
- Freakonomics - Economics
- How Bad are Bananas - Greenhouse gas emissions and climate catastophe
- Laserwriter II - 90’s computer repair in NYC
- A Life on our Planet - Climate catastrophe
- The Goal - Business management comic
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford
Hometown by Tracy Kidder
House by Tracy Kidder
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
