Nonfiction books?

[ThirteeTooBeets]

I wanted to get included into some of the book conversations here, but I noticed that most of the stuff I read is nonfiction, mostly art or science related.
Anyone else enjoys nonfiction books like that? Any recommendations?

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Nonfiction I read more often than not involves Music theory, Literature theory, old Journalistic chronicles and anatomy journals.

 

[Bonkers225]

Capote's Women
Warhol
Apollo 13

 

[LiberoVulpes]

I like Tom Clancy's non-fiction work just as much as his fictional stuff, his Study in Command Series is very interesting.

I read about history, politics, philosophy and pedagogy as well. But, i prefer to read about war overall.

 

[BigTony]

The King James Bible :)

 

[DarkTownStrutters]

Just finished reading "Above us the waves", an account of midget submarine and frogman warfare during the second world war. The things some of those guys got up to was pure crazyness. The preparation and recon for the Normandy invasion by the midget subs and their swimmers is just mind-boggling. Then there's the even crazier attack on the Tirpitz. And then there's the Italians raiding the naval base at Alexandria. Balls of brass, all of them. It's amazing that anyone made it out alive at all.

Currently reading Heinz Guderian's "Panzer Leader". It's very accurate but it suffers from the "the whermatch was not involved in war crimes, it was those pesky SS dudes only, we pinky swear" that a lot of German Generals accounts seem to have. The description of the raid into France and the race to the channel is very revealing in just how inept the French high command was. And then there's Barbarossa. They really were not prepared for winter at all, or the roads, or the mud, or the sheer size of it all. What a gigantic, colossal clusterfuck.

 

[miguk]

I'll give you a few books to get you started on some good authors:

• Noam Chomsky: a lot of books to go through; avoid his linguistic ones unless you are studying that for uni, focus on reading his others (which you most likely will read at least a little of for uni, considering he's the most cited living author). I suggest starting with Manufacturing Consent. You can also read The Chomsky Reader for a variety pack of his ideas.
• Howard Zinn: I'll get eyerolls from the history majors for this (fair enough; I have my differences with him too). Nonetheless, A People's History of the United States is a good starting point for understanding US history in real depth beyond the usual stuff found in school textbooks. (There are also various spin-offs by both Zinn and associates that are worth checking out, usually starting with "A People's History of" in the title.)
• Naomi Klein: A really good author for understanding 21st century economics and how it effects day to day life. No Logo is the classic book from her, and The Shock Doctrine is also a good choice.
• Barbara Ehrenreich: More economics, though more focused on microeconomics than the macro that Klein covers. Nickel and Dimed is the classic, with Bait and Switch being basically a sequel.
• Susan Faludi: Not a lot of people are comfortable with reading feminist books, but Faludi is probably one of the better ones to start with, as she can be quite considerate of men's concerns as well as the problem of misogynistic women. Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man is a good start if you need to get straight into the pro-men stuff, but Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women is her classic.
• Eric Schlosser: Good journalist often concerned with consumers. Fast Food Nation is big enough that you likely heard of it before, and Reefer Madness is interesting if you want to learn about the history of the black market.

A few books I'd recommend based on the topics:

• Rational thinking: The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan and Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer. Both go over situations where people are tricked into believing things that don't make rational sense while ignoring more rational considerations. I'd also include The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner, which goes over a similar topic.
• Philosophy: If you've never taken a philosophy course, I must warn you that the whole subject can be a hard read. Nonetheless, Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard and The History of Sexuality by Michel Foucault are both good reads.
• Human interest: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a very controversial book (a lot of people hate the person written about), but it is nonetheless a really good read. (Just remember that the subject is not exactly in his right mind and should not be imitated.) Despite Everything by Aaron Cometbus is interesting if you like the punk scene.
• A Very Short Introduction series (various authors): Good short reads by legit academics that give you a quick overview of various subjects before diving deeply into them. There are literally hundreds of books in this series, so you should be able to find something you are interested in.

 

[Ikagura]

This reminds me that I need to read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins someday. I know about it thanks to Metal Gear Solid 2.

I also need to read Amusing Ourselves to Death by Niel Postman.

Aside from them I like books about nature and antiquity like mushrooms and Egypt.



PS: The Art of War by Sun Tzu is interesting because you can apply these principles outside of war.

 

[SpcDaicon]

I'm not much of a reader but nonfiction books I do enjoy reading are history ones.

To be more specific a "jornalistic" history instead of academic history books, like reading a story unfold about a certain event that happend.

Also books about how we deal with modern technology and such

 

[Ikagura]

The King James Bible :)

This could be a dangerous route full of mines with that advice. But to be honest, why is this version the most popular? Is it the most accurate translation?

I'd also be tempted to read The Egyptian Book of the Dead which may give an insight about how they made the rituals back then.

 

[miguk]

This could be a dangerous route full of mines with that advice. But to be honest, why is this version the most popular? Is it the most accurate translation?

It's not at all the most accurate. There are multiple modern versions that make a better attempt at translating the old texts with modern translation techniques.

It is popular for a few reasons:

• It's the oldest English version. People tend to assume that if it has been around for a long time, it must be good. That fallacious thinking would make Ed Wood a great film director.
• It is very popular with politically right-wing religious people. I could go into detail on this more, but I'll stop at that.
• It's more famous than the other translations, so people default to it. Most people can't tell you the difference between it and the newer ones.
• Not many have looked into the newer ones, and are afraid to do so. Fear of learning that you got something wrong about something you deeply believe in is very common with religion.
• It has flowery Early Modern English (EME) text. To its credit, this is a nice thing. But poetic value is not the same thing as accuracy.
• Many people think EME makes it more authoritative and more intelligent. This is fallacious thinking; I could say "thou art ye offspring of yonder bytch" and still not sound any smarter by phrasing it that way.

Personally, I prefer the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB), as it was written by academics (from various religious backgrounds) actually trying to get it right for the sake of research. And it gets updates and annotations, too, to make sure it is as accurate as possible.