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Do you read non-fiction?

Darren

Darren

Active Member
I wonder how many people read non-fiction? I must admint, that apart from technical books related to work, I rarely read non-fiction.

I know that Ian Sanders likes to read non-fiction, but does anyone else?
 
Hardly ever, I'd have to admit. Apart from bits and pieces in encyclopædia's, year books, travel books, etc. I've never had the courage to pick up a non-fiction book. I should do something about that though.
 
I read the occasional non-fiction book. Most often I read just the parts that pertain to what I might be researching for travel or other interests.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the non-fiction books I've read in their entirety over the past year. Here they are for anyone interested:
  • Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs
  • Jan Wong's China: Reports From a Not-so-Foreign Correspondent by Jan Wong
  • In Exile from the Land of Snows by John Avedon
  • Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan *
  • Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman ***
  • Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer *
  • Changes in Latitude: An Uncommon Anthropology by Joanna Varawa
  • Danse Macabre by Stephen King *
  • Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan *
*Recommended.
***I highly recommend the Anne Fadiman book for readers who love the written word and are somewhat eccentric when it comes to reading.
 
Short and... well, short

That was a brief addition, loci.

Does your e-handle refer to mathematical - and vicariously, literary - precision, or a metaphysical "right here, right now" point of view?

(Or are you just mis-spelling the name of the Norse god of mischief? Or a clever mixture of both - which seems most likely- by the way?)

Tobytook
 
a leaning towards loki.....and an anagram of my online-gaming name 'coil'

i like your analysis toby, think i'll use it next time someone asks ;)
 
The only non-fiction I've read is a fasinating book on Jack the Ripper and Tom Clancy and Carl Steiner's Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. I only read that one because I thought it might be interesting since Clancy wrote it. It was.

I also read War of the Rats, but that's only based on true events so I don't how accurate to reality it is. It's also the basis for the movie Enemy at the Gates, my favorite movie.
 
Not as often as fiction...

I sometimes read literary criticism (Pretty much everything by Umberto Eco that doesn't have the word "semiotics" in the title, "The Art of Fiction" by David Lodge, etc.).

I've read "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan and intend to read his other non-fiction works but this hasn't happened yet.

My husband has been trying to convince me to read Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" for a while but I always postpone starting it...

Dava Sobel's "Galileo's Daughter" has been on my reading list for a while...

And finally, if somebody wants to read a good autobiography, try Frank McCourt "Angela's Ashes", he narrates his childhood in Ireland, it is a great book, at times sad and at times hilarious...
 
Unfortunately, I don't read much nonfiction. I did, however read Angela's Ashes. Great stuff there. Has anyone read the follow-up book - 'Tis?
 
Tis'

I wanted to read Tis' but many people told me that it was not as good as Angela's Ashes so I wasn't very motivated...

Frank Mc Court's brother Malachy has written his own childhood memories: "A Monk Swimming". I wonder if his point of view is much different than his brother's: anyone has read "A Monk Swimming"?
 
The criticism on 'Tis is why I haven't read it. I'm afraid would be disappointed. Haven't read A Monk Swimming. I'd like to hear if anyone has read it.
 
If its printed, and doesnt have Fabio on the cover, I'll read it.

My favourite non-fiction subjects are;

World War 2, ( I am a active re-creationist, both table top, and actual)
Modern History, (1788-nowish)
Ancient History, specifically, Ancient Europe (the gauls and Vikings) and ancient Britain & Ireland.
Technical books, ie, computer programming, mechanics, electronics etc.
 
I read more non-fiction than fiction at the moment.

I'm reading the biographies of John Forbes Nash Jnr A Beautiful Mind, the life story of Malcom X and The Hurricane the life story of Reubens Carter the boxer at the moment.

I also like to read business books and books about globalisation. e.g. Anita Roddicks book about the Body Shop Business as Unusual, The Rise and Fall of Marks & Spencer, The Silent Takeover the death of democracy. Busy reading the story of boo.com, a very interesting read.

Just finished Fast Food Nation, about what the fast food industry is doing to the world and what goes into the burgers. I don't think i'll have another burger after I found out what goes into them.
 
I do read quite a bit of non-fiction. The latest one was Shakespeare's Face by Stephanie Nolen (and friends), which is good fun. It's about a possible portrait of the playwright, painted from life by an ancestor of the current owner. It's been in the family since it was painted in 1603. The book details the scientific, sociological and art historical analysis of said portrait. I'm not sure it makes much difference to our appreciation of his works, but it is interesting.

Now I'm reading Gitta Sereny's The German Trauma, and before that I was reading an Australian writer's memoir of her adoptive and biological fathers and adoptive grandfather, The Truth About My Fathers. This is highly recommended, and not just for those involved in adoption. It's well-written, moving, intelligent.
 
Hi! I think any book lover should try to to broaden their interests by balancing fiction and nonfiction. I probably average 2/3 fiction to 1/3 nonfiction. This year I've read the following in nonfiction:

The Last Voyage of the Karluk by Wm.Laird McKinlay
In The Land of White Death by Valerian Albanov
Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan
1066 the Year of Conquest by David Howarth
1700: Scenes From London Life by Maureen Waller
Sailing Alone Around the World by Capt.Josh Slocum
Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World by
Peter D'Epiro and Mary D. Pinkowish

That is just a sample. But all were very good!
 
I read alot of true crime and other non-fiction. In fact, right now, I find non-fiction to be more engaging than fiction.
 
I like to read non-fiction. I read history especially women's history. I like medieval history too. I read books about childcare, nutrition, herbs, gardening... I read poetry, how-to books, cookbooks, reference works etc.

~Witch
 
Gardening books, biographies, rusty tractor repair manuals, and various other reference books make up the bulk of my non-fiction reading. Does the dictionary count? I've caught myself reading through the listings a time or two when I was supposed to be looking up a word. (Exciting eh?)
 
For a while, I was in danger of giving up on fiction altogether. I got interested in Dick Feynman, ended up reading everything I could about the Manhattan Project and it's chief scientists, and moved on to other books about monumental engineering projects (like David McCullough's The Great Bridge), etc.
Then, I sort of hit the wall with a little help from a couple of truly uninspired (or uninspiring) books, and fell back into fiction. Sooner or later, I'll get back to it, probably with Nicholas Basbanes' Patience & Fortitude (when it appears in softcover). His book A Gentle Madness was delightful.
 
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