Favourite nonfiction books
References in subjects you like, or simply books that you'd like to recommend.
A few of mine :
Politics :
Han Fei Tse : A 2300 year old political treaty, which served as a blueprint to the unification of China. Serious reflexion on the nature of power and law, quite comparable to Machiavelli. Lots of anecdotes, very pleasant to read.
Social sciences :
Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) : Entertaining and provoking, the search for a recipe of success in all kinds of domains. Sometimes debatable, always positive.
Literaure :
Reading early Hammett (Leroy Lad Panek) : The book I wished I'd written on Dashiell Hammett, one of the founders of modern crime fiction.
Cinema :
Chaplin cinéaste (Francis Bordat) : A very thorough analysis of Chaplin's art as a filmmaker. Probably indispensable for any student of early cinema.
Martial Arts :
Old School (Ellis Amdur) : A master of traditional Japanese martial art schools gives an intimate picture of their history, their methods and philosophy.
Management :
Swim with sharks without being eaten alive (Harvey Mackay) : This one gives very clever practical advice, accessible to anyone.
Career :
What next ? (Dr Barbara Moses) : A good tool for self evaluation and setting goal in one's career evolution. I used it with very good profit.
Sport :
Moneyball (Michael Lewis) : How the Oakland Athletics front office outsmarted the richer teams, all told in an extremely entertaining way.
I love A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
It's concise and non-intimidating though the topics in the book can get technical.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
“The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Raymond Kurzweil.
"The rat inside your brain rules the world."
Citizen Kane SUCKED!!!!!!! True fact.
Alcoholism is the cure not the disease.
Social sciences :
I'll second Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell). Also Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt the same lighthearted, non-intimidating approaches to it's material.
Arts :
The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton: A great argument for the importance of art to human existence.
Management :
Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath. A great book for anyone who has trouble expressing their brilliant ideas to others.
Japanese culture:
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein: A great look into how the Yakuza affects so much of Japanese (and American) society.
U.S History:
The Invention of Air by Stephen Johnson: deals with the unacknowledged founding father, Joseph Priestly, and how his understanding of air helped found the USA.
Occupations:
Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home by Gil Reavill and Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners by Alan Emmins are both excellent books about the job of human remains removal. One of my novels (forthcoming in 2011) deals with this job, so I read mostly for research, but came away genuinely impressed with the stories. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, I also read for research.
Swim with sharks without being eaten alive (Harvey Mackay) : This one gives very clever practical advice, accessible to anyone.
This sounds interesting.
It's a book divided in 7 parts : sales, negotiation, management, attitude, helping your children to face life, how to succeed.
I hate those management books that sell their rah-rah motivational slogans. This one adresses normal people and gives logical and practical advice. In fact, you can think what you want about business, the work market and management, but it's useful to have a grip on how it works and how to evolve in it without necessarily being an arsehole.
Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, The Prince by Machiavelli, Jarhead by Anthony Swafford. Also, all of Nietzche's books: Beyond Good and Evil, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, etc.
All of Mary Roach's books. But I liked Stiff the best.
I liked Chasing Ghost by Paul Rieckhoff. It's a first person account of a soldier in Afghanistan. Very well written.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. I read this one in the Smokey Mountains. It was cool reading it while I was in the wilderness. Everything Krakauer writes is gold. You can't go wrong with him.
Anything by Malcolm Gladwell. I've read all of his books. I liked Outliers the best and What the Dog Saw the least.
Basic money management - The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman. This book gives you the basics of everything. It's as entertaining of a read as possible given the subject. And it's really well organized.
Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! by Phil Town. Pretty good investing plan that is just about idiot proof. You don't get amazing returns - but you do get returns.
As always Freakonomics needs to be mentioned.
On Writing by Stephen King. I believe that anybody that wants to write, or does write, or if you just like Stephen King - then you need to read this. Such a good book.
I know there are a ton more that I'm forgetting about right now...
Ten Thousand Sorrows : The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan by Elizabeth Kim
The Visual Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Nigel and Susan Blundell Blackhall
All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
Our Oriental Heritage (The Story of Civilization, Vol.1) by Will Durant All of the series actually.
Good arms vs bad arms will win hands down.
On Writing by Stephen King. I believe that anybody that wants to write, or does write, or if you just like Stephen King - then you need to read this. Such a good book.
even if you don't like King that much, like me. i'm honestly not that fussed on King, but i read this book and it's fantastic. one of the best books on the craft out there probably.
Pat Walsh's (Craig Clevenger and Will Christopher Baer's editor) book, 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never be Published and 14 Reasons Why it Just Might, was amazing too. I'll definitely be reading it constantly, along with every essay on the craft by Clevenger while i revise my novel like a maniac with no life.
while i'm speaking of it, if Clevenger ever brough out a book on the craft it would probably never leave my side. it'd be sitting there piled up on top of The Elements of Style and The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need
Natalie would swear by Eat Pray Love, but i haven't read it, so i'm not entirely sure, but she has pretty good taste so i'm sure it's as illuminating as she says.
and then there's The Dirt and Heroin Diaries.
Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
The Man Behind the Nose: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales, by Larry "Bozo" Harmon
The Bruce Lee Story, by Linda Lee
My Autobiography, by Charlie Chaplin
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor , by Bruce Campbell
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry
Stradivari's Genius by Terry Faber
Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain by Carolyn Abraham
Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Chaney
Press On: Further Adventures in the Good Life by Chuck Yeager
Orson Welles: The Stories of His Life by Peter Conrad
Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature: an Exhibition by the National Library of Medicine by Susan E. Lederer
Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx
Paganini: His Life and Time by John Sugden
The World as I See It by Albert Einstein
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence by Ray Raphael
Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences by Richard Pryor
Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
The Prophet and the Astronomer: Apocalyptic Science and the End of the World by Marcelo Gleiser
Exotic Deviance: Medicalizing Cultural Idioms-From Strangeness to Illness by Robert E. Bartholomew
Rumor Has It: A Curio of Lies, Hoaxes and Heresay by Bob Tamarkin
The Lazlo Letters by Don Novello
The Big Book of Death by Various
Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle by Lauren St. John
Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography by Roger Shattuck
bit of a list you've got going there, Nate.
The Gulag Archipelago by Alekasandr Solzhenitsyn. It's incredibly long and not exactly an easy read, but what a fantastic in-depth study of the politics and social commentary on Stalin's Soviet Union. Absolutely horrifying and brutal beyond words.
I figured I'd just list half of them.
oh man, I forgot one.
Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker by James McManus
great book.
I read The Hot Zone when i was 14 and its scared me for the rest of my life.
Books on writing:
The Ode Less Travelled - Stephen Fry
A must for aspiring poets. Includes poetry exercises and to be expected Fry musings
On Writing - Stephen King
As aforementioned, this book is both informative and entertaining. A gem.
Write to Sell: The ultimate guide to copywriting - Andy Maslen
Taught me some copywriting basics. Didn't bore me to tears either.
Story - Robert McKee
Some great do's and don'ts for screenwriters... My advice would be to read this book as a checklist, so after you finish your screenplay. I think he's a lot better than Syd Field.
Business:
Commercial Awareness -Christopher Stoakes
Very easy to read. Good glossary
Autobiographies:
Roman - Roman Polanski
This has been out of print longer than I have walked this Earth, but all Polanski enthusiasts should beg, borrow or steal.
A Life of Contrasts - Diana Mosley
Mitford sister and wife of Sir Oswald Mosley (founder of the British Union of Fascists) recounts her life as a British aristocrat in the mid to late 20th Century.
Boy - Roald Dahl
Colourfully recounted tales of childhood.
How could I forget one of the best nonfiction books I've read most recently?
Columbine by Dave Cullen. This book flies by. It's huge, but I made it through it really quick. And it's so well written.
Columbine by Dave Cullen. This book flies by. It's huge, but I made it through it really quick. And it's so well written.
Its awesome, a really great book. I read it while working in the candystore and everytime a 16-18 year old came in I got freaked out.
Tao Te King (Lao Tzu) : Very short, very deep.
Duelling with O Sensei : Grappling with the myth of the warrior sage (Ellis Amdur) : If you have to buy one book on martial arts, even though you don't do martial arts.
Tough Jews (Rich Cohen) : The almost forgotten history of jewish gangsterism in America, with figureheads like Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, the Murder Inc. etc.
Nothing but the Blues (Lawrence Cohn) : an excellent introduction to the history of the blues, with a superb iconography
Tenacity of the Cockroach. A collection of The Onion A.V. Club interviews with some of my favorite people.
America: The Book. By the Daily Show staff. Probably the funniest thing I've ever read. Comedy, though ... I guess is fiction, since it's a fake history, but probably more honest and revealing than most actual history texts.
American Cinematographer Manual because I can't remember all this shit.
And a whole bunch of music books I can't recall off the top of my head. When I was a kid, I probably read Hammer of the Gods and No One Here Gets Out Alive a dozen times each. (To be revised.)
I've read Hammer of the Gods twice. But Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have both come out calling that book fiction. They say they were never that ridiculous.
I'm not a big fan of autobiographies, but I just burned through Mick foley's; Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks and Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling, shows what professional wrestling is really like. Trust me you'll look at completely differently.
"The rat inside your brain rules the world."
Citizen Kane SUCKED!!!!!!! True fact.
Alcoholism is the cure not the disease.
i love rock n roll autobiographies because i have a thing for unreliable narrators. i thought Phineas Poe was as unreliable as you could get, but turns out Keith Richards is putting out an autobiography soon. i read an excerpt of it in classic rock magazine and it sounds like it's going to be a laff.
Isn't it just the screenplay to Pirates of the Caribbean? heh heh
In Cold Blood - Capote
Into Thin Air - Krakauer
Alive! - Pears Paul Read
(I'm sensing a disaster/death theme here....)
People's History of the US by Zinn was also great. Now I'm jonesin' to read Columbine by Cullen after having watched that 4 part interview
"I thought I had mono once for an entire year. Turns out I was just really bored."
Wayne Campbell
Do it! He manages to creative tension and suspense even though you know the outcome. Very well written.
It's concise and non-intimidating though the topics in the book can get technical.
Same here.
I also like Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Stiff By Mary Roach was fun too.
The Catmother of all Worldwide Cats
Did anyone read that Spook by her? Was it any good?
Yeah I liked Spook a lot. Not as good as Stiff in my opinion. But a solid book. I enjoyed it. I have Bonk sitting here waiting to be read one day.
Does she only make one word titles?
You know in all the years I've been here I've never been sigged?
she must've jumped on the chuck-one-word-title bandwagon. or did she start the trend?
Does she only make one word titles?
i think the motif is one word slang titles of the topic.
Nah - Her new book is titled Packing for Mars. It's about space travel! It actually sounds really good.
http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life/dp/0393068471/re...
I didn't finish Spook. She wrote almost the whole book in one article in Outside, so I lost interest. But Packing for Mars sounds good.
Nate: I can send you Spook if you like.
The Catmother of all Worldwide Cats
hell yeah, Columbine by Cullen!
Oliver Sacks, almost everything, but especially:
'The Man that Mistook his Wife for a Hat', 'An Anthropologist from Mars', and 'Awakenings'.
'The Brain that Changes Itself' by Norman Doidge
'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer
'Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine' (Two authors, can't remember their names offhand)
'Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life' by Winifred Gallagher
'Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara E(something)
'In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto' by Michael Pollan
'The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter' by Peter Singer and Jim Mason
'The Varieties of Religious Experience' by William James
'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer
'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell
More later.
I've read Bonk and Stiff, both good books.
Speaking of "Packing for Mars", right now I'm reading Red Mars (fiction) about the colonization and terraforming of Mars. The terraforming aspect is what grabbed my interests.
Hot Zone is on my unofficial to be read pile (simply meaning I don't own it).
Freakonomics is fascinating, haven't checked out SuperFreakonomics though. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell is similar.
Guns, Germs, and Steel was good, but quite dry in the middle.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge is one of those books that makes you rethink your whole life, completely amazing.
The Omnivore's Dilemma similarly makes you think about your eating habits.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen is awesome.
god is Not Great, Letters to a Christian Nation, and the God Delusion are all interesting and should be required reading for all of the faithful.
But Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan is my all time favorite non-fiction book.
A good half of the books on my physical to be read pile are non-fiction, maybe 35 out of 89.
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
Nate: I can send you Spook if you like.
gimme gimme gimme
For the Mary Roach fans - http://www.avclub.com/articles/spook-and-stiff-author-mary-roach,44625/
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
My favorite is A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Probably the best American history book ever written. He basically invented the idea of alternative history, or "people's history", the idea that history, especially that of the Western world, should not be the story of rich white men, but of women, slaves, indigenous, of labor unions and the grunts who actually had to fight the wars. It's become dated in some places (like he still holds with the idea that Columbus was the first European to visit the Americas, which is generally accepted as false nowadays) but it's an inarguable classic.
There is hope, but not for us.