Good non-Fiction

[King Hadas]

So I've been reading Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe and I'm really enjoying it. So I've become interested in reading well written non-fiction, especially history related. Is there anything I should look out for?

[Fathom Zero]

The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston.

It's the main reason why I'm irrationally afraid of ebola.

[Dixie]

Dr Peter Ward's "The Life and Death of Planet Earth" is super awesome.

I'm reading Sagan's "Dragons of Eden" at the moment, I've really enjoyed it so far.

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

If you are a little twisted, like myself, I would suggest Stiff: The Curious Life of Cadavers (http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217233138&sr=1-1) by Mary Roach. More eccentric historical non fiction I've enjoyed as of late includes Edison's Eve (http://www.amazon.com/Edisons-Eve-Magical-History-Mechanical/dp/0679451129), The Mummy Congress (http://www.amazon.com/Mummy-Congress-Science-Obsession-Everlasting/dp/0786884630/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217233122&sr=1-1), Final Exits: The Illustrated Dictionary of How We Die (http://www.amazon.com/Final-Exits-Illustrated-Encyclopedia-How/dp/0060817410/ref=pd_sim_b_12) and The Secret Life of Houdini (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Houdini-Americas-Superhero/dp/0743272080/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217234954&sr=1-1) (which is hands-down the best biography I've ever read).

[VaporTrailx1]

I was gonna pick up Pale Blue Dot and A Brief History of Time Today, but failed to do so.

[kahljorn]

I've really been enjoying the second sex. So far it's interesting from a historical standpoint in the same sense as tragedy and hope.

i hope that counts ;o

[JJ_Maniac]

I thought the Memoirs of Machiavelli was "okay"

[King Hadas]

I've gone through the trouble of requesting most of these books at my library, some I am not able to get though; Edison's Eve, Final Exits (I'll probably buy this in the future), Second Sex, and Dragons of Eden. I didn't bother looking for the Machiavelli one since I don't have much interest in that.

Right Now I'm reading a Biography on Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson which I only picked up because of it's author Byron Farwell. I read "The Great Wars in Africa" a while back and really enjoyed it and just a week ago I read his Biography on Sir Richard Francis Burton which I really, really enjoyed. I'm not enjoying the Stonewall one nearly as much, one of the things I like about Byron's writing is his sense of humor and his ability to showcase all the eccentricities in these historical figures. Stonewall has a few goofy quirks but on a whole his a very serious character and the book really isn't geared towards the anecdotal like his other stuff but more towards pure military history which is definitely not my thing.

[WhiteRat]

"An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion" is fairly interesting read.

[Zhukov]

I am almost finished 'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman, and I have really enjoyed it.

This is the sort of book that makes you feel more intelligent. Hahaha.

It's a look at what the world will be like if we just suddenly disappeared; how long structures and cities will last, how the environment will repair itself, how flora and fauna will react... It's surprisingly in depth, and he spends a large amount of time looking into the past, human and beyond, to hypothesise about the future.

It covers a huge range of topics: war, agriculture, early human development, petro-chemicals, radiation, ice ages, the space race, genetics... and it has a chapter dedicated to birds flying into windows.

It's really well written, and I like it so much that I want everyone to read it.

[glowbelly]

stiff is awesome.
and i'm talking about the book here, folks.

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

It's a shame her other stuff isn't as good. I'm reading Bonk right now and it's pretty bland. Have you read either follow up?

[imike24]

Yeah I am facing the same issue.
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[Tadao]

:lol

[Kilgore Cod]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KHEP1VVJL.jpg

I've enjoyed reading this a few times

[LordSappington]

The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston.

It's the main reason why I'm irrationally afraid of ebola.
I read that in eighth grade, and for a short time I was obsessed with becoming a doctor in the Hot Zone type labs.
Until I remembered I'm shit scared of needles and it'd be terribly hypocritical of me to get a job where I jab things all the time.
Also, Black Like Me. That was actually extremely interesting to read.
And I was very surprised to find a copy of Mein Kampf in my school's library.

[Big McLargehuge]

malcolm gladwell, the tipping point of course but also outlier. also ANYTHING by sagan. and i loved stiff but spook was awful

[kahljorn]

I stole my copy of the second sex :(

the trick of the second sex is to know when to read carefully and when to skip chapters :O Like the first chapter about biology is just bleh i don't need to know the history of biology and how reproduction works. Even if people do make arguments based on the superiority of men because of how the reproductive process works, I still find it boring to read the word gamete 50 times on the same page.
on the other hand the history of psychology is fucking awesome :O the way she explains freudian theories makes complete sense without making him look like a douche, and you can understand how existentialism was influenced by freud.
I mean when you think of the idea of being sexually attracted to your mother you just think he's a weirdo. But when you realize he's talking about finding yourself in others it makes more sense :O :O :O

[King Hadas]

I hope you didn't steal it from your local library :eek

Except for the ones my library didn't have (Second Sex for instance) I've read every book in this thread. Now I'm reading those Robert Quest books about the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian death famines were pretty hardcore.

[kahljorn]

I stole it from barnes and noble :(
its surprisingly easy to steal from there. I've also stolen the collected work of borges, genealogy of morality, the gay science, walden and civil disobedience and who knows what else ;\

I usually just walk out holding the books in my hands. Unless they are really small then i might just put them in a purse or something. SOMETIMES I ROUGH THE BOOKS UP A BIT AND BOOKMARK SOME OF THE PAGES AND MAYBE UNDERLINE SOME SHIT SO IT LOOKS LIKE I BROUGHT IT TO STUDY. lol

[King Hadas]

:x

Robbery was his greatest sojourn
Pilfering bookstores with scorn
Could they ever hope to obviate
or even discombobulate
The fervor of book bandit Khaljorn?

Librarians leer
The Great Gatsby is concealed
He makes his escape!

Store clerks couldn't possible know
What khaljorn had hidden at his toe
Books by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Hidden inside a snow ski!
The scam don't work in summer though

[Zhukov]

You can't steal knowledge!

[Zhukov]

Also, I think that that was a great post King Hadas.

[kahljorn]

hehe except that i bought all of my dostoevsky books and i did it during the summer aplenty. :O
still awesome though ;o

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung is really good. It has helped me understand a lot more about myself.

[ZeldaQueen]

A Hippo Swallowed a Circus Dwarf and Other Hoaxes. Best stuff ever. :lol

[Charity]

I am happy to see other people like Russian history. I want to be a history teacher, so I am constantly reading non-fiction. One good book is The Flight of the Romanovs by John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov. It contains a helpful family tree.