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Do you read much non-fiction?

I read more non-fiction than I do fiction, although I like both. I have very little formal education and an aversion to schools, so I read non-fiction to find out about the things that I'm interested in.

When I look at the books I own, probably 80% are non-fiction. If I had unlimited time I would certainly read more fiction, but since that's not the case I have to choose very carefully what I'm going to invest my time in, and that usually ends up being something related to biology, or natural history, which are my passions. If it's a choice between the new biography of Crick or the latest Dan Brown, Danny Boy is going to the bottom of the pile, that's for sure.
 
Love non-fiction. I basically read biographies and history books. I try to stay away from strict academic ones because they are too "heavy" for me. Then when my brain feels like mush from all the intensity of reading non-fiction I go for something light.
 
I read a lot of non-fiction

As a book reviewer, I get a lot of requests for fiction as well as non-fiction. I take what interests me. In non-fiction, I prefer books on health (both mainstream medicine as well as alternative streams), spirituality, management etc. I am not allowed to post the link to my review blog or website since I am still new here. Later on, you will be able to check out my blog and website.
 
I read both and usually have one fiction and one non fiction going. My book group reads a lot of fiction and we meet every two weeks so I make a point of keeping up. I read a minimum number of pages per night and then switch to the current non fiction.

Right now I'm on a William James kick. I'm reading the new biography, then I'm going to The Will to Believe and Varieties of Religious Experience. These will be used in a course I'm teaching this spring. But since I get to choose what to teach for our lifelong learning group I'm obviously pursuing my own interests.

You won't find full reviews but you will find comments on some of my non fiction reading at my blog here: Silver Threads. See, for example, what I say about Gandhi and Maimonides.
 
I read history books when I am not reading fiction books...

The next book I want is on Hadrian and would love to know more about him...
 
Thanks for sharing. Will check out the Blog suggested by Silverseason.

This is to sparkchaser: You mentioned that you are currently reading lots of procedures. Mind sharing on what? As a QA Manager and as a Level III in Non-Destructive Testing, I had to read and also write a lot of procedures related to Testing, Inspection etc.
 
Swamy said:
This is to sparkchaser: You mentioned that you are currently reading lots of procedures. Mind sharing on what? As a QA Manager and as a Level III in Non-Destructive Testing, I had to read and also write a lot of procedures related to Testing, Inspection etc.
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Procedures related to the jobs I have to perform the next few weeks.
 
I like to read science and history books, however I do find it hard to not get distracted by fiction instead. It's been quite a while since I've read a non-fiction book, as I have such as large TBR pile of fiction books, that seems to grow bigger each day. :rolleyes:
 
I go through phases. When I do read non-fiction, I read science non-fiction....I've tried other topics, but they can't hold my interest in a book. I especially tend to enjoy natural history books and history of science books.
 
Mostly I read only fiction but there are so many interesting books in our university library. For example many books about art history, anthropology or cultural studies. I've planned to read some of them but so far I haven't been able to decide what to read first x)
 
How it works with me is that I usually read lots of fiction and learn a lot from that, and then become interested in a certain subject and then go buy LOTS of books about that subject. These subjects are usually about espionage, pirates, pagan mythology, vampires, and literature. I also like to read a lot about French history and French memoirs.
 
I dont usually pick up Non-Fiction books - only if they are in Spanish. I have this weired thing to only read NF books in Spanish, though it is my seconed language. At my school we learn both spanish and english, and I have read practically every single darn book in the school library, except the spanish non-fiction. So the answer is yes/and no.

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I read mostly nonfiction - books about history, science and nature, religion, philosophy, current events, that sort of thing. But I usually have a historical or fantasy novel on the go as well for when I want to be entertained rather than informed.
 
It depends. I rarely can resist non-fiction/historical books about England or Greece, especially Myths, Gods, Kings and Queens.

So yes, once in a while I read them and once in a while they don't have anything to do with the above. It really depends on the topic. The last non-fiction I read was atrue-crime. Joe McGinnis "Never Enough" but the author's research was too one sided and not really focused on the circumstances that led to the murder.
 
Violanthe said:
So often, people talk about the novels, short stories and other types of fiction that they read. But do you read any type of non-fiction? What kinds? Biography? History? How To? Cultural? Academic? When you read non-fiction do you do it for business (i.e. assignments or research for work or school) or for pleasure?
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I usually started from Sci-Fi books while watched lots of Hollywood all along from a much longer time. But these days I am much more inclined towards some different kind of Non-Fiction e.g. In the Hollywood movie Pearl Harbor , it is shown that President was very patriotic and was very sensitive to the issue of sending his boys out of the country to attack Japan but in reality Franklin D. Roosevelt , along with his cabinet, were looking for an excuse to enter into WW2. They even got the information of attack 1 month ago and many countries warned about it but President had its sense of Patriotrism. Exactly same way, US Government knew about 9/11 before and many countries warned about it but US Govt. was looking for an excuse to grab the oil fields. Exactly same Pattern that will lead to WW3. What if the USA keeps on growing at the rate it is growing, then the corporations will be like shown in the movie CYPHER

That kind of Non-Fiction I like to these days. That was about documentaries and movies and regarding books I will love to read are :

The Hacker Crackdown
Capitalism and Freedom
Silence Spring
Free Software, Free Society
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation
The True Story of the Bilderberg Group
A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship
 
My library has more non-fiction than fiction, mainly background for current events, but including a variety of other major topics: Lit. Crit., Espionage, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Math and Chess.

Absolutely no Politics. I gag.

Have recently finished A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway (fiction) for BOTM discussion here.

Currently reading Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill (non-fiction)

Have started American Pastoral by Philip Roth (fiction) for discussion elsewhere.

I suppose I tend to browse the non-fiction and read the fiction.
 
I try to alternate between fiction and non-fiction. I'm really trying to broaden my horizons in literature, so I'll pick up something that I'm not sure I'll be completely interested in sometimes.
 
Prairie_Girl said:
I read a lot of books about feminism, and a lot of gay studies books, gay history, economics etc. Also a lot of "foodie" books, like Jane Goodall's new one.
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From what it seems like you are quite serious about Human Rights. I don't read gay books but I do think that they are a part of society and should have the right to marry each other and by the same way I think than Transsexual have the right to live and marry because we, all together, form the complete society but most don't agree.

Prairie_Girl said:
My photos: ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/a_sagin/my_photos
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Erm.. I can't see any photo there. All I see is this message:

Yahoo! Photos has officially closed so we can focus all our efforts on Flickr, Yahoo's award winning photo sharing community.​

Please update your link.


Thanks
 
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