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Can someone recommend a really engagin, intereseting non-fiction read?

K

Kwitel

New Member
I know that's a very vague request but I think I should be relatively easy to please as I have read very few non-fiction books.

I dont care what the sub-genre is. As long as you loved it, found it engaging and informative, im in!

Thanks.

FYI-recently read Into Thin Air which I found to be and incredibly engrossing and fascinating read.
 
There are so many I don't know where to start. You know you'll make it a lot easier for us if you're being a bit more specific.

Anyway, I recommend these :

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
The Bookseller Of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Fatal Purity:Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood


.
 
Dahlia said:
There are so many I don't know where to start. You know you'll make it a lot easier for us if you're being a bit more specific.

Anyway, I recommend these :

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
The Bookseller Of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Fatal Purity:Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood


.
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Not sure how I can be more specific if even I dont know what I am looking for!
Thank you for the recommnedations.

Id say I want something enthralling...a page turner that I can learn something from. I have read hundreds of books in my life and less than 10% at most, have been non-fiction. So, I have likely not read most of the recommendations made here, including all of the above that you have listed.
 
Kwitel said:
Not sure how I can be more specific if even I dont know I have read hundreds of books in my life and less than 10% at most, have been non-fiction. So, I have likely not read most of the recommendations made here, including all of the above that you have listed.
Click to expand...

Then, I guess the world of non-fiction is your oyster :D

You might want to check non-fiction books written by your favorite fiction authors. Books like Stephen King's On Writing , Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and Maugham's The Summing Up just to name a few. I often find these kind of books engaging and they help me better understand the fiction work of their writers .

Hope that helps.

.
 
Kwitel said:
I know that's a very vague request but I think I should be relatively easy to please as I have read very few non-fiction books.

I dont care what the sub-genre is. As long as you loved it, found it engaging and informative, im in!

Thanks.

FYI-recently read Into Thin Air which I found to be and incredibly engrossing and fascinating read.
Click to expand...

Well if you loved Into Thin Air how about trying Under The Banner Of Heaven?I found it to be the best Krakauer book after Into Thin Air.
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Banner-Heaven-Story-Violent/dp/0385509510
 
A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes

Power and Greed by Philippe Gigantes

Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England by Robert Hutchinson
 
My husband recently finished the Steve Jobs biography. When he gets home I'll ask him what it was called, but he said it was a great read.
 
Books I've enjoyed are:
Your Inner Fish Neil Shubin
Longitude Dava Sobel
Tycho and Brahe Kitty Ferguson
Anything by Richard Feynman
 
I have only read the first part of Haruki Murakami new novel: 1Q84. It reads real good so you may want check it out. Remember I only read the initial phrases. Being a Murakami book I am pretty sure it's awesome.
 
Collapse by Jared Diamond. Maybe a liitle slow-going, but a topic -- environment -- and conclusions that you'll remember the rest of your life.
 
Peder said:
Collapse by Jared Diamond. Maybe a liitle slow-going, but a topic -- environment -- and conclusions that you'll remember the rest of your life.
Click to expand...

Excellent recommendation Peder, I'm currently reading that one right now as a matter of fact. I readily concur.:flowers:
 
  • Predictably Irrational, Daniel Ariely: PopSci, but endlessly fascinating
  • Maus, Art Spiegelman: opened my eyes. Unmissable
  • In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, Steven Levy: Currently reading this. It's not really spectacular, but I have a healthy respect for the idealism of one of my favourite tech companies.
  • This is Not the End of the Book, Eco and Carriere: Discussion on the future of books in light of the ebook 'revolution'. It was interesting to learn how the older folks who lived their whole lives with books see the digital medium. Cogent points on the transience of technology, but technology's the future, whether we like it or not.
 
drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards

Even if you don't want to do the exercises in the book, it is fascinating to see how this woman has taught people (whose original drawings look like those of children) to draw like professionals - in a matter of weeks!

I used this book with amazing results
 
Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage - William Rathje and Cullen Murphy
The World Without Us - Alan Weisman
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser

All very informative and entertaining.
 
Another

I've just remembered another good read. Life's Missing Instruction Manual by Joe Vitale.

I think it is supposed to be serious. Some of the advice is sound, some makes you smile such as "Pay your taxes, it makes life easier" and some is just hysterically funny
 
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