Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

I now spend 90 mins a day on the train and have been starting to read once again. Recommend me some cool non-fiction stuff.

I'll be picking up the Robert Rodriguez book 'Rebel Without A Crew' that Diablo mentioned on another thread, plus Michael Johnson's 'Slaying The Dragon', because he rules.

Gimme some mo'.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Not only very good, but long too.

c

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. It's so unlike anything he's ever done and it is brilliant IMO. You will thoroughly enjoy it if you decide to read the 7 books, starting with The Gunslinger.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

I am enjoying "the selfish gene" by richard dawkins.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

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Recommend me some cool non-fiction stuff.

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Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

I'm reading "The Historian" right now. It's a pretty cool book about Dracula ... I think it made best seller. Not a lot of action in the book, but somewhat suspenseful. Kinda has a mystery type theme to it. Worth reading

Edit: My bad this is fiction... I should learn to read

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/07...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

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Recommend me some cool non-fiction stuff.

Gimme some mo'.

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Overlooked...

The Philosophy of Punk by Craig O'Hara. (I always say Our Band Could Be Your Life, so I'm switchin it up...)

I just finished the founding text of Creative Non-fiction: Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (not to be confused with Storeys from the Old Hotel by my favorite author of all time: Gene Wolf.)

I just bought Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity by David Foster Wallace. He's got a new book of nonf coming out next month...should be interesting...

Anyone read the new (non-p***r) Jim MacManus joint?

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Right now I'm reading Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. So far so good.

GoT

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs if you have any sort of interest in pop culture.

amazing stuff.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Not only very good, but long too.

c

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Haha, oops, sorry about that.

Do you like war history, or history in general? What are you in to?

c

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Yup, good book.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers is also great, if you haven't read it.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

OK yeah, let's narrow it down somewhat.

I want light reading. I don't want anything to sciencey (although Brian Greene's first book sounds pretty good). Nothing history or war unless it's really good. Film/sport/music/autobiographies, good, good. Surprise me.

edit - oh, and I'm English, so nothing about baseball.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

Fear and Loathing in LV

In Cold Blood

Those two pop to mind.

c

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Ishmael is a book I think everyone should read. It's heavy, but well suited to reading a few chapters at a time, then mulling over the ideas. It's presented as fiction, but it's not a novel-more like philosophy.

A Beautiful Mind was also very good. Very easy to read.

-SmileyEH

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Trade-Offs : An Introduction to Economic Reasoning and Social Issues (Paperback) by Harold Winter.


I haven't actaully read this yet, but it is by my favorite prof from college. I would be shocked if this book isn't awesome.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

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Right now I'm reading Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. So far so good.

GoT

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I think you need to start with The Elegant Universe. Fabric Of the Cosmos is the second book. (But perhaps you can read them out of order.) In any event, I agree, great stuff. Best explanation of relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory I've ever read, all without the overwhelming mathematics.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

If you havent yet, Freakanomics by Steven Levitt is an excellent read. Very interesting stuff.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Right now I'm reading Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. So far so good.

GoT

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I think you need to start with The Elegant Universe. Fabric Of the Cosmos is the second book. (But perhaps you can read them out of order.) In any event, I agree, great stuff. Best explanation of relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory I've ever read, all without the overwhelming mathematics.

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Yeah, I've read The Elegant Universe. And for anybody who hasn't seen it, I highly highly highly recommend watching Nova's series based on it.

GoT

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

Killer Lite Reading:

The Dirt
Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

by Motley Crue

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Hmm, it seems my taste in nonfiction may be driven by the need to read books with subtitles.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

I loved A Walk In the Woods, and all Bryson's stuff for that matter. I have been thinking about buying Freakonomics for some time. Will check out the rest now.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Try legs McNeil Please Kill Me- an oral history of Punk

Or The Other Hollywood- an oral history of the 1970's porn Industry

I have not read either but my sister worked for the author for a while last year and siad they were both very good.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

OK, so it's not exactly non-fiction, but Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a pretty interesting read. It intertwines the drama surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's fair (and its design/construction, an amazing feat at the time) with the fictionalized account of a real-life serial killer who was at large during that time.

Edit: Freakonomics was also a pretty fun read.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Fast food nation.

This book is very interesting and not too bad a read. If you want to know where the food comes from, read this.

Warning: You may never want to eat fast food again after reading this, especially from taco bell...(I would assume you don't eat much fast food anyways though)

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

"Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson is an account of the Chicago World's Fair with a focus on two men that made it the backdrop for their life's work: architect Daniel Burnham who was repsonsible for building the exposition, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who found victims and anonymity in the bustle of the expo and Chicago in general.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

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I am enjoying "the selfish gene" by richard dawkins.

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This definitely, and if you like it, try the Blind Watchmaker by Dawkins too.

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

The Selfish Gene is one of my favorite books. I've read a bunch of Dawkins' other books as well (I study evolutionary biology). The Blind Watchmaker is another good one of his to read.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Presidential biographies in general, Truman specifically. I know you're English but they are still REALLY cool people with REALLY cool stories.

Also books about South Africa like My Traitor's Heart and Country of my Skull. Really scary, but really interesting.

Edit: OK, I read the thread and see you're not too interested in history. In that case, I recommend "Why Things Bite Back: The Science and Technology of Unintended Consequences". Very awesome book about how a lot of technological advances have actually hurt lifestyle and comfort instead of helped.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

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I loved A Walk In the Woods, and all Bryson's stuff for that matter. I have been thinking about buying Freakonomics for some time. Will check out the rest now.

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I've never read anything else by Bryson, although I've heard good things. I read another Jon Krakauer book, but I can't remember what it was. I think it was good though. Into the Wild maybe? Anything by Sagan gets my vote as well. Oh yeah, read David Sedaris too.

([img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] for italicizing book titles)

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

this might come in hand

Re: Recommend me some cool books
 

Into Thin Air is excellent. Also check out Under the Banner of Heaven, Krakauer is awesome. If you like war history, check out An Army at Dawn, by Rick Atkinson, it's about the allied invasion of Africa in WWII. Part I of the Liberation Trilogy he is working on. Loved the Elegant Universe as well.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

If you want to find out about the mad English

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

if you insist on reading non-fiction try that book "The Art of Seduction". Looked interesting, but I was never sure if I wanted to read it or not.

You should also read an autobiography by a jewel theif or a drug lord or someone cool like that.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I now spend 90 mins a day on the train and have been starting to read once again. Recommend me some cool non-fiction stuff.

I'll be picking up the Robert Rodriguez book 'Rebel Without A Crew' that Diablo mentioned on another thread, plus Michael Johnson's 'Slaying The Dragon', because he rules.

Gimme some mo'.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alexander Hamilton bio (by same dude who wrote Rockefeller bio name escaping me) - this is seriously great read. Hamilton led a really interesting life, and of course is one of the main architects of both the Constitution and the Treasury. Really well researched and compelling [censored].

Edit - just saw TWP rec for Truman bio - that one is great, also. The recent John Adams one is only OK.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is one of my favorite non-fiction books.
The science is geared towards the layperson and once you get past him being impressed with himself it's a great read.

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

Some good non-fiction I've read recently:

Global Brain by Howard Bloom

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (warning: freaky), along with the sequel, Dry

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

If you want THE single volume book on WWII, an updated 10th anniversery edition of A World At Arms was just released. Only for people already familiar with the war, if you really want to understand why everything happened in context, there is no better book. It's a VERY long read, very dense.

Also:

The Great Influenza
A Short History Of Nearly Everything
Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded
Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

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Warning: You may never want to eat fast food again after reading this, especially from taco bell...(I would assume you don't eat much fast food anyways though)

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Why would you assume this?

Re: Recommend me some cool books (non-fiction please!!!)
 

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Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs if you have any sort of interest in pop culture.

amazing stuff.

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Seconded.