Hi all - I've created this thread for members to call out particularly great works of non-fiction that they are reading/have read. I get a lot of recommendations from people's threads but find it hard to keep track of them. Post your picks here!
the coming plague - Laurie Garrett - changes in social relationships to the less and less natural world and infectious disease.
the worst hard time (again).
godel, escher bachthis is your brain on music Levitin
the birth of the clinic - is Foucault "right"? not really, but this is a very fascinating approach to analyzing changes in medical/social perception of disease.
the structure of scientific revolutions - short and by now v. old hat, but well written and, again, important. oh Thomas Kuhn
mountains beyond mountains tracey kidder 's bio of md Paul Farmer's work in Haiti, creating recog. of multiply resistant TB and much more
She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World by Verlyn Flieger
In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale ghosh
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century alex ross.
the sweet spot in time - John Jerome.
my own country Verghese. a young Indian md confronts the rural face of the Aids epidemic.
...
well,that's far too many, but at least a few different genres.
The Eighth Day of Creation: The Makers of the Revolution in BiologyRevolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties -MacDonald, Ian
Wow, this is turning into a jolly interesting list of books. I haven't read that much non-fiction this year, and I tend to be drawn to history, philosophy and criticism.
However, I am slowly reading my way through
The Icon and the Axe, which is one of the best books on Russian culture/history I have ever read. Billington is thoughtful, wide-ranging, fascinatingly informative and a great prose stylist. Very highly recommended.
Reading Like a Writer by
Francine Prose is the best book on writing I've read in a long time, it also made me read differently, with a foray into Chekhov's short stories.
Message edited by its author, May 6, 2009, 9:41am.
if anyone besides me likes books about sports:
1.
levels of the game John McPhee's wonderful meta-description of a tennis match between Clark Graebner and Arthur Ashe.
2.
to hate like this is to be happy forever by Will Blythe. Memoir about growing up a Tar Heel BBall fan bearing animus towards the dook blue devils.
3.
Staying with it - John Jerome's story about taking up masters swimming @ 50.
All three are very well written.
Wow, what a lot of great recommendations - I'm not sure I should have read this thread! I see
The Guns of August recurring. I am three chapters into it at the moment and enjoying it immensely. The story could easily have been told in a dry, academic way, but Tuchman writes wonderfully well. So there's a further endorsement. One curiousity is that Tuchman seems to use the term "England" to refer to the UK, even though many of the famous regiments fighting with the UK were non-English.
I found
The Rest is Noise equally good and plan to go through it again soon. Although I love 20th Century music (the subject of the book) and thought I had a decent smattering of knowledge, every chapter offered me a wealth of new information.
And
Desert Solitaire is inspirational.
Off the top of my head, the following are some of the non-fiction books I've most enjoyed. I have not included field guides, which form the overwhelming bulk of my library.
Endurance. A real life "Dangerous Book for Boys", it makes one proud to be, er, British just like Shackleton wasn't. This book shows that a bed, a roof over your head, adequate food and even a little sunlight really are luxuries.
The
History of the Countryside. A book that broke new ground in the UK with its combination of botany and history - a fascinating read. I was fortunate enough to have Oliver Rackham as a tutor and he was as charming in person as he is in writing.
A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert is just what it says. An authoritative manual on every aspect of the wildlife and ecology of this region, it should be a model for all such endeavours. Engrossing reading whether in the field or in the armchair.
A
Neotropical Companion. Kricher's is a sort of Latin American equivalent of the above. Again, fascinating before, during and after a trip or just for armchair fantasising.
The
Diversity of Life. E O Wilson has been one of the most influential ecologists for decades. This popular treatise on biological diversity first came out in the early 1990s and it will withstand illimited re-reads.
The Singing Life of Birds. This is for those with a real interest in the topic, but Kroodsma is a great communicator as well as a researcher at the top of his field. An accompanying audio CD shows off some of the songsters.
The Good Opera Guide. Forman has produced a witty and knowledgable introduction to the most popular operas, as judged by number of major recordings. This book, read along with the music, will help even a non-musician like me appreciate what is going on. I only regret that Peter Grimes is not in here.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. This is the book I would probably want on my desert island. A concise distillation of wisdom that should resonate with eveyone, whether Zen practicant or not.
Another great book is
Cadillac Desert by Mark Reisner, a prescient book about the water challenges of the west that are even more urgent today.
What a great thread. It's nice surprise to see
The Prize, and
Cadillac Desert already mentioned. And
Desert Solitaire - the later being something maybe a bit different from nonfiction - more like personal (and very adamant) thoughts. I've given
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions five stars too, but it's a challenging read.
Some of my absolute favorites (not mentioned above) - all five stars
More personal:
Goodbye to a River by John Graves - one of my absolute favorites, especially relevant to Texans.
The Knock at the Door by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert - where the author interviews talks to her mother about the Armenian massacre.
The Deer Pasture by Rick Bass - on hunting, but very well done.
Running After Antelope by Scott Carrier - a random personal favorite, discovered via NPR circa 1998
Love and Exile: An Autobiographical Trilogy by Isaac Bashevis Singer
More researchy or journalisty
Annals of the Former World by John McPhee - for anyone interested in geology.
The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery - on global warming
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr - a legal expose of sorts, exceptionally well done
And other favorites (~4.5 stars) because I like lists:
The New New Journalism by Robert Boynton - a series of interviews of "literary" nonfiction authors that has unexpectedly stuck with me.
Our Parents' Lives: The Americanization of Eastern European Jews by Neil M. Cowan
The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver W. Sacks
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
... I better stop there.
Message edited by its author, May 7, 2009, 9:47am.
Two very recent reads I enjoyed:
Heat by Bill Buford is a look at master chefs, restaurants and restauranteurs, pasta, Italy. Perfect book for a food-lover.
Voltaire in Exile is a terrific intro to a great mind, wit and reformer. Candide is NOT the only book of his we should all know.
Voltaire in Exile is indeed stunning. Made me feel quite inadequate.
Voltaire's French is the French that I love, later in the 19th century writers often are too obsessed with
le mot juste (which more often than not isn't in my vocabulary).
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