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Current Non-Fiction reads

Im reading 'The Tower Menagerie' by Daniel Hahn, its all about the history of the private zoo that existed in the Tower of London to house all of the animals the kings and queens of England received as gifts from foreign dignitaries.

It also broadens out into a general political and social history of Medieval London, with loads of humorous anecdotes - its a good read :)

Phil
 
I am reading Kursk Down by Clyde Burleson -- an accounting of the events that lead to the tragic sub accident. Has anyone else here read this or A Time to Die? I am curious if it is worth reading as well.

I also just started Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis.
 
Stargazing by Peter Hill is my current non-fiction read. There are 3 types of UK lighthouse:island lighthouses, mainland coastal lighthouses and estuarine lighthouses. Fascinating.
 
I'm currently reading A History of Medieval Europe.

I was in Borders yesterday to buy a book called Medieval Monasticism I'd had my eye since mid-March. Only one copy in the bookshop although not a book you'd expect anyone else to buy in a hurry. So, imagine my surprise when it was gone! :mad:

I had to order it on Amazon last night. To make use of the free delivery I had - well, just had - to order the Malleus Maleficarum, too. Cheaper than buying them in Borders, I suppose. But, oh! the agony of waiting. :rolleyes:
 
Read Into Thin Air yesterday. I just don't get why you'd want to climb Everest when it is obviously such a bad idea. Good writer, lots of people to keep track of and he kept them all interesting. I mean, frostbite is just icky, and that's the least of your problems.
 
That reminds me of The Lost Explorer by Conrad Anker. It covers the story of his finding George Mallory's body(lost in '24) on Everest in '99.

Not a lot of good times but talk about the ultimate test!


RaVeN
 
Ashlea,
If you liked Into Thin Air you might like to check out Endurance by Alfred Lansing, about the failed Shackleton expedition to the Sout Pole.
 
I watched a film about the Shackleton expedition. What I noticed was that early on, they talked about how the sled dogs were such a comfort and then they just stopped mentioning them. Bad sign, I thought.

I guess what really bothered me the most about the Everest thing is that you have to crawl over the corpses of those who have failed before you. It seems like that would trigger some sort of "You know, this might be a fricking stupid idea" line of thought.
 
I just bought Hypatia of Alexandria, The Realm of Prester John, The Art of War, and The Civilization of Ancient Crete.

Other non fiction stuff on my list are: Medieval Monasticism (about halfway through), How to Read a Church, and the Malleus Maleficarum.

I'm going to have one hell of a headache once I get through these. :mad:
 
I'm reading Talk of the Devil by Riccardo Orizio. Basically, the book is about Orizio searching for and talking to some ex-dictators (Amin, Bokassa, Jaruzelski, Hoxha, Duvalier, Mengistu and Milosevic, to be precise). I'm only 75 pages into the book, but I'm intrigued, mainly because it's not just a book about these dictators... they have a voice in it themselves.

Anyway, I was wondering if someone knew of other books like this? Especially about Mobutu and Kabila, if it's possible.
 
The Realm of Prester John? Is that the one by Robert Silverberg? It's been in my "to read" pile since I bought a year ago.
I'm currently reading Out of the Flames, a non fiction account of Servetus and the rarest book in the world, which story served as the basis for Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas.
 
Shackleton and co., ate the dogs...good times.

Everest is a tourist pit. The media has over-hyped the death the mountain causes.
 
lies said:
I'm reading Talk of the Devil by Riccardo Orizio. Basically, the book is about Orizio searching for and talking to some ex-dictators (Amin, Bokassa, Jaruzelski, Hoxha, Duvalier, Mengistu and Milosevic, to be precise). I'm only 75 pages into the book, but I'm intrigued, mainly because it's not just a book about these dictators... they have a voice in it themselves.
Click to expand...
I finished it last night and felt sick. I need a happy book now.
 
I think the general consensus is that there are enough discrepancies between Ryan's and McNab's books that no-one will ever really know the truth of what happened!

Myself, I picked up a book called 'What Might Have Been' after seeing it reviewed in a national paper. It's a collection of essays by noted historians, who all take a vital moment in history and formulate a discussion of what might have been if this moment did or didn't happen e.g. What might have been if the Spanish Armada landed; What might have been if Guy Fawkes did manage to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

I haven't started it yet, but I'm anticipating it being an interesting and thought provoking read.
 
I'm in the middle of reading "Gulag", about the gulags (suprisingly) and "The rightous gentile", about Raoul Wallenberg who helped hundreds of jews in the war also, and who later disappeared into the gulags and never came out.

Both interesting reads.
 
Reading a book on Srebrenica. I don't know what the English title is, but it's basically 91 survivors' account of what happened. I didn't want to read it at first, but then the introduction urged the reader to read on against better judgment, so I did. It's chilling.
 
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