Best Nonfiction

[El-ahrairah]

There have been countless threads on fiction recommendations. But nonfiction is literature as well, if a oft-neglected path of it. What are the greatest factual works the board has read?

For myself I nominate [i]The Guns of August[/i] by Barbara Tuchman for the top spot. No one can after reading this claim history is boring.

[Larry.]

Michel Foucault, [i]Discipline and Punishment[/i] - hell, almost any Foucault will do.

Joachim Fest, [i]Hitler[/i]

Ernst Jünger, [i]Storm of Steel[/i]

Modris Eksteins, [i]Rites of Spring[/i]

E.P. Thompson, [i]The Making of the English Working Class[/i]; [i]Customs in Common[/i]

And if you like classics, [url="http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/12/ranking-the-cla.html"]keep track of this[/url]. As for most of the other choices up there...can you tell that I earned two degrees in history? :P

[Teng Ai Hui]

I don't usually read non-fiction. But, the one that stands out the most for me is [i]The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley[/i].

Also, even though I personally have never read it, I'm guessing that a few boarder will say [i]Guns, Germs, and Steel[/i] by Jared Diamond.

[Ser Bryon]

[i]Germs, Guns and Steel[/i] - Jared Diamond

[i]How the Irish Saved Civilization[/i] - Thomas Cahill

[i]The Story of English[/i] - McCrum, MacNeil and Cran

[i]The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language[/i] - David Crystal

[Ser Bryon]

[quote name='TengAiHui' post='1626997' date='Dec 20 2008, 23.01']Also, even though I personally have never read it, I'm guessing that a few boarder will say [i]Guns, Germs, and Steel[/i] by Jared Diamond.[/quote]

That's spooky :stunned:

But yeah, that was one of the first books I thought of. The show was also very good.

[ObiJohn]

[i]The Civil War[/i] trilogy by Shelby Foote. Non-fiction, but written in a narrative form. Reads almost like an epic novel. Very rewarding.

[Teng Ai Hui]

[quote name='Ser Bryon' post='1626999' date='Dec 21 2008, 00.04']That's spooky :stunned:

But yeah, that was one of the first books I thought of. The show was also very good.[/quote]

I'm from the future so I already knew that you were going to say GGS.

[G'Kar]

[quote name='Dylanfanatic' post='1626994' date='Dec 20 2008, 22.56']Ernst Jünger, [i]Storm of Steel[/i][/quote]

+1

[Peadar]

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/1594132054/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229851591&sr=1-2"]The Omnivore's Dilemma[/url] by Michael Pollan.
+1 for any Jared Diamond book
There is also enormous pop-science psychology fun to be had from [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0349113467/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229851802&sr=1-1"]Malcolm Gladwell[/url].
[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Berlin-Downfall-1945-Antony-Beevor/dp/0141032391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229851886&sr=1-1"]Berlin: The Downfall[/url] by Anthony Beevor is great, if very, very horrific.
[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Consent-George-Monbiot/dp/0007150423/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229851942&sr=1-8"]The Age of Consent[/url] by George Monbiot is a great little political manifesto.

[etcetera]

[quote name='El-ahrairah' post='1626989' date='Dec 20 2008, 22.45']For myself I nominate [i]The Guns of August[/i] by Barbara Tuchman for the top spot. No one can after reading this claim history is boring.[/quote]


Isn't the opening paragraph of that book just wonderful? I read it this year, too, and enjoyed it very much. Others I found captivating included:

[i]The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl [/i]-- Timothy Egan
[i]Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of our Ancestors [/i]-- Nicholas Wade
[i]Shadow of the Silk Road [/i]-- Colin Thubron
[i]The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan [/i]-- Russell Shorto
[i]Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War [/i]-- Nathaniel Philbrick
[i]Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation[/i] -- Joseph J. Ellis
[i]Stasiland[/i] -- Anna Funder
[i]Annals of the Former World [/i]-- John McGhee
[i]The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey [/i]-- Candice Millard
[i]Travels with Herodotus [/i]-- Ryszard Kapuscinski

If I had to pick a favorite out of them, it would be Egan's book.

[Bronn /Sword of Midnight]

Bruce Lees Anthology most of which was incredibly constructed as he was recovering from a serious back injury within a hospital...some really great quotes..and just useful info for anyone who has any interest in self defense or combat martial arts

[Ser Barry]

The Great Bridge by David McCullough

Madness Explained by Richard Bentall

[Quarterman]

Been on a true crime kick the last month or so:

Mr Untouchable by Leroy "Nicky" Barnes (autobiography by the 1970s Harlem heroin kingpin rival of Frank Lucas who was portrayed in Ridley Scott's American Gangster)

Born To Kill by T. J. English (the rise and fall of an extremely violent and powerful Vietnamese street gang in New York's Chinatown)

Paddy Whacked by T. J. English (US Irish mobs, anywhere, everywhere)

The Westies by T. J. English (the Irish Mob of Hell's Kitchen)

Harlem Godfather by Mayme Hatcher Johnson (biography of Harlem's original gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson who went toe to toe with Dutch Schultz in a mob war and survived)

Capone: The Life And World of Al Capone by John Kobler (Al baby!)

Drug Lord: The Life & Death of a Mexican Kingpin by Terrence E Poppa (biography of Pablo Acosta)

The Triads: The Growing Global Threat From The Chinese Criminal Societies by Martin Booth

The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon Of The Triads by Martin Booth

Basically, the only authorative works or books written about the Chinese transnational organized crime. Both are literally Bibles because these societies are so secretive and closed to outsiders. The only other informative works found about the Triads in existance are those written by W. P. Morgan, Pan Ling, and Bertil Lintner.

[Eyelesbarrow]

Dylanfanatic: I second Foucault, although I must say I'm rather partial to The History of Sexuality :D

Others:

Outlaw Culture - bell hooks

Camera Lucida - Roland Barthes

Orientalism - Edward Said

The Berlin Wall: A World Divided - Frederick Taylor

James Tiptree Jr - Julie Philipps

The Double Helix - James Watson

Now, for the feel-good favorites :thumbsup:

The Soul of the New Machine - Tracy Kidder (one of the early practitioners of new journalism, very good book especially those interested in the early years of the personal computer)

In These Girls Hope is A Muscle - Madeleine Blaise (the book's about a legendary girl's basketball team in Amherst. Their last game's final score was 74-36)

[Liffguard]

Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker. Excellent book and the work that gave me a sudden moment of clarity about evolution. Really beautiful stuff.

[End of Disc One]

This is going to seem random, but The Game by Neil Strauss is the most entertaining nonfiction I've ever read.

[Smeech]

Lee Smolin - The Trouble With Physics

That's my rec provided, of course, that you want some science. So far as I can tell (as a lay reader of science) it perfectly encapsulates the issues in modern theoretical physics, issues that'll need to be surmounted in order to actually make some real progress.

[Blaine]

I love nonfiction. Almost to the point now where I read as much nonfic as I do fiction.

The Informant and Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald are both really excellent reads. Despite being about business, they are really easy to get into and enjoy.

Similarly, James B. Stewart's Den of Thieves and Disney War were great business yarns. Like Eichenwald, I believe he was a business reporter.

I'm a big fan of anything by Jon Krakauer. Into The Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven are probably my favorites. I'm reading his book on Pat Tillman right now and I'm riveted.

For a totally different, enjoyable but often humorous, I'd recommend Chuck Klosterman, particularly Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Or David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day which might be the funniest thing I've ever read.

Also totally second or third or whatever the Jared Diamond picks.

[Piper]

Big fan of Michael Lewis.

His first one, which is partly-autobiographical, is Liar's Poker, about Wall Street during the bond market boom of the 80s (he was working at Solomon Brothers at the time). Fascinating in light of the recent financial situation, not only in the abstract in that it lets you see some of the culture, selection process, training program, and general practices of big Wall Street firms, but also in that describes (using different terms than today) the creation of the mortgage backed securities and whatnot that exploded last year (though not the sub-prime variety, iirc).

My favorite of his, and the one he's probably best known for, is Moneyball, about the Oakland A's baseball franchise in the early 2000's, and how they remained competitive despite operating with 1/3 or so of the payroll of some of the other teams. Brilliantly written, fascinating in how you can see other franchises starting to follow some of the A's ideas, and just a great way for a baseball fan to understand the game in different way. Its pretty fun seeing how some of their decisions have panned out well for them since the book was published, but many others didn't.

[Skallagrim]

The Nature of Alexander -- Mary Renault

She's unabashedly positive about Alexander (the Great, we're talking), so don't read it if you want a neutral take on him. For all that, it's a lot of fun to read.

Battle Cry of Freedom -- James McPherson

The best history of the Civil War I've ever come across. Sure, it's a big, fat history book, but parts of it read almost like a novel, and McPherson managed to write a spectacular history of the war in a single volume. Most other histories of the Civil War that are considered "great" are multi-volume works.

Any book by Bill Bryson. His books are truly hilarious and, at times, remarkably poignant.