Recommend me interesting/good nonfiction books.

[NeutralDrow]

How to Win a Cosmic War, by Reza Aslan. Interesting subject (Jihadism and the War on Terror), and I believe around 200 pages. I'm actually rereading it, at the moment.

 

[blindthrall]

Definitely try Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. It's a facinating take on the conventional view of Darwinism. It's completely pro-Darwin (don't worry I'm not going to try to ram some unorthodox evolutionary theory down your throat), though it looks at the theory with a different perspective than what we might be used to - i.e. from the point of the genes that make up the organism rather than the organism itself. The book was written circa 30 years ago and is still widely thought of as a masterpiece of scientific writing. There's nothing in it that's original/ground-breaking science, it's all the tried and tested thoeries but with an original viewpoint. It's written in simple terminology - I'm not sure how old "Freshmen" are but so long as you have a basic grasp of biology then you can read it from around 17/18 and be aware of what he's talking about.

I second this one.

 

[thylasos]

Magic & Witchcraft, by Nevill Drury.

A history of the practice and theory of various types of magical and otherwise occult practises throughout history. Mainly European stuff, mind.

 

[Mortons4ck]

Nickle and Dimed [On (Not)Getting By In America] by Barbara Ehrenreich (235 pages)

Story of an undercover jounalist's attempts to eke out a living while working as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home-aide, and Wal-Mart associate and the insanity of trying to survive in America on minimum wage.

Very timely in the wake of a global recession. Highly recommended.

 

[ScatterBen]

If you're into history try The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis. There are two versions - I'm talking of the shorter one which is around 200 pages (if I remember correctly). Anyway, he does a really fluent and interesting summary of the 20th century in relation to the Cold War. It is genuinely a page turner, as well, and one the best non-fiction books I've read.

I also read a book on Vietnam by a guy called Hugh Higgins (called Vietnam) and that was only about 150 pages. It was really quite excellent, especially since he'd fit everything into such a small space. It never dragged on.

I guess this isn't much help if you aren't into history, and maybe it helped that I was studying these topics at the time, but I still highly recommend them as the best non-fiction I've read (which, admittedly, isn't a great deal).

 

[areos]

So, my English teacher assigned us to find a nonfiction book and read it. The problem is, I don't know too many of them and am at a loss to where to start.

My question to the Escapist, since I trust you guys: What are some good and interesting nonfiction books that you have read to recommend to me?

Aalso, tell me what it's about, just to help me out here, and try to keep it around 200 pages, since I don't have all the time in the world.

I like the sciences (althought nothing so technical it'd be impossible to read; I'm only a freshman) and stuff about entertainment (music, movies, etc.), but hit me with anything you find interesting.

Thanks in advance.

48 by james hurbet its about a man stuck in london after the second world war and every one but a select few are dead those who aren't are trying to kill him its an amazing book

 

[similar.squirrel]

If you're looking for something slightly surreal, look at the catalogue of Feral House publishing. They release some strange pop-culure stuff, from the Finnish black metal scene to Mexican pulp sci-fi to obscure hippie sects and militias. My friend's uncle runs it, so I've looked through a couple if them.

 

[Heathrow]

Angela's Ashes, Salt, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.

I really can't recommend Angela's Ashes enough especially since Frank McCourt died recently.

 

[A velociraptor]

EDIT: Actually do you mean fiction (story books), because being asked to read non-fiction s a little weird? If you do, I recommend Horus Rising by Dan Abnett, it's about part of the Warhammer 40000 universe, but they are damned good reads.

The entire Heresy series is just amazing.

And I would say to try a book called "Infantry Tactics" by Erwin Rommel. It's a journal that he kept during WWI and actually had a huge impact on modern military tactics.

Another good one, if you're interested in astronomy and the like, is "A Brief History of Time" by Stephan Hawking.

If you want something a little more controversial, then "The case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel is a good read. It looks at the scientific evidence pointing toward the existence of a God. It's a little more than biased though, because the entire point of the book is trying to convince you of the existence of some kind of God, namely Christianity's one.

Although, "Not your average founding father" is an interesting read. It's a series of letters and whatnot written by Benjamin Franklin.

Most of all though, I would say to go pick up "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman". I personally own two copies. One for myself and one as a loaner. This book is an amazing biography of an amazing man and I would honestly say that it should be required reading.

 

[Bowie]

If you're into the arts, maybe a biography of one of you're favorite artists (musician, director, whatever suits your fancy).

The most recent non-fiction book I read was "Into the Wild". It's about this 20-something kid who decides to go into the wild with nothing but some rice and basic supplies. He dies in his attempt, but it's a great, quick read.

 

[David Bray]

200 pages. Thats a bit small. WAIT. One of the QI books. It technically non-fiction and you'll have a bawl

 

[katieintheattic]

I recently read "The Drowned and the Saved," by Primo Levi, for a module at university; it's a thoughtful and interesting introduction to the topic of surviving the Holocaust. It's quite short, but not a light read...

 

[Layz92]

How non-fiction are we talking? because you could always read some philosophical works like Voltaire.

 

[CouchCommando]

"The Forgotten Soldier" Written under the pseudonym Guy Sajer- A pretty harrowing account of what it was like to be a soldier on the losing side in world war 2.
Or "90 minutes at Entebbe" by William Stevenson, The actual story of an amazing rescue of a plane load of kidnapped Israeli civilians from deep in africa.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Cosmos by Carl Sagan (the book, get the series too which will complete the work of the book)

Also (not sure if they were translated into english) but look for Valerio Massimo Manfredi books, he is an italian historier that wrote a trilogy called "Alexandros" about the life of Alexander The Great (be careful though he has non-fiction and history based fiction books among his works)

 

[MasterLu]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks (2003). It's not fiction, it is an actual survival guide, albeit for a hypothetical situation.

 

[Vorpals]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll look into all of those, they sound interesting.

 

[ModsDeleteThisAccountPlease]

Let me check my personal Library...

I give you:

Cradle to Cradle-Amazing book on the consumer cycle and how to make business profitable and green.

50 Rules your Kids will Never Learn in School- A must read for anyone in high school. It will change your out look in life. Seriously. Some of the rules helped me get over some of my own personal problems.

The World is Flat- Read it if your into business

Freakonomics- Also read if you're into buisiness

The World Without Us- An thought experiment where the auther delves into the question, what if humanity suddenly "vanished"?

The Flags of our Fathers- Story of Iwo Jima and the famous photo of the flag. Written by the son of one of the men who planted the flag in the picture.

First They Killed my Father- So far, I've been suggesting adult literature. This is an amazing memoir written by a survivor of Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia. The language is simpler, a Freshman could read it.

 

[Lonan]

So, my English teacher assigned us to find a nonfiction book and read it. The problem is, I don't know too many of them and am at a loss to where to start.

My question to the Escapist, since I trust you guys: What are some good and interesting nonfiction books that you have read to recommend to me?

Aalso, tell me what it's about, just to help me out here. Also, the minimum page number for the book suggested is 200 pages, but please try to keep it between 200 and 300 pages.

I like the sciences (althought nothing so technical it'd be impossible to read; I'm only a freshman) and stuff about entertainment (music, movies, etc.), but hit me with anything you find interesting.

Thanks in advance.

The Weather Makers is good, there's also the young adult version We are the Weather Makers (the other one is a bit dry and very scientific). I found it to be an incredibly enlightening book on global warming, it gave me an understanding of the entire global ecosystem and why greenhouse gases are so dangerous. It goes back to the time of the dinosaurs and makes you realise how different the world looks when it's just a few degrees warmer. I found it fascinating, because I like history and most of it is talking about past climatic states the earth has been in, from a ground level, and what humans have done in the last 10,000 and 250 years. I found it mind blowing, I had no idea the world used to have 2 metre long centipedes and 1 metre long spiders. The idea of insects that size running around now is terrifying, but that's how the world once was, and it could easily be that hot once again. It's a truly fascinating book.