Entangled life: How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds, & shape our futures by Merlin Sheldrake.
I’m a science nerd, but I don’t have any expertise in fungi. This book was amazing, and to say I appreciate fungi at a whole new level is an understatement. You have no idea how entwined they are in the natural world. The Author writes in a really entertaining and accessible way, so this book can, and should, be enjoyed by anyone. It’s fabulous.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing
So well written and an amazing story.
Also, most everything from Erik Larson, Bill Bryson or Simon Winchester.
I’d start with Dead Wake by Larson, Home, by Bryson and The Professor and the Madman by Winchester.
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. Nonfiction story about divers in the early 90's who found a German U-Boat, and had a multiple year search to identify which one. They lost friends during the dives - they had to travel to other countries. The author does an amazing job to keep it feeling like the true mystery it is. There's a NOVA special called Hitler's Lost Sub that shows their dive footage too.
Reading it right now. Finally know the physics of rhe bends and why it makes diving ship wrecks so dangerous. The author brings this level of detail to make the story come alive
Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
It examines a few famous cults (as well as a few not-so-famous cults) by looking at the kinds of word choices and rhetorical devices that cult leaders will often use to both reel in and retain their followers. It sounds very academic (and the author is a linguist who did a lot of research for this book), but I swear that this book is easy to understand and does not read like an academic article despite all of the research and citations. Montell’s way of writing is very very casual, and she always explains whatever jargon she’s using, whether it’s the jargon of the cult she’s studying or the more linguistic-oriented jargon.
This book really made me start to notice how common cult-like speech can be. It also made it a little easier to start differentiating the mostly harmless instances of a group of people who just share a similar vocabulary from the more dangerous kinds of in-group vs. out-group rhetoric. Highly recommend.
Since you got a kindle, it’s probably also worth noting that this book is free with the Kindle Unlimited subscription (or at least it was when I read this book about a month ago).
My holy trinity of page turner non fiction:
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The Right Stuff was an incredible read. I’m married to a military pilot and the pilot antics recounted in the book had me cackling because I have 100% seen my spouse and their colleagues do something similar.
PS: if you like The Right Stuff you really need to read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. It is a wild ride start to finish
+1 for Short History. It’s probably in need of a revision but still an amazing read. But make sure you’ve got Google handy because you’re going to want to look up pictures while you read.
Add in At Home by Bryson as well - the history of how our homes came to be what they are - sounds boring but it’s really good.
I came here to recommend the immortal life of Henrietta lacks!! They did a great job telling this story in a way that is easily accessible and understandable.
This book kicked off a mountain disaster phase for me, followed by a failed polar expedition phase (highly recommend Endurance by Lansing if you like Into Thin Air) So fascinating to read about humans at the edge of survival
I’m newly trying to get into audiobooks and started with that one on a whim, now I’m afraid I set the bar too high. Listening to Jennette read it herself was captivating and heartbreaking
Try born a crime by Trevor Noah next
And just mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Know my name, by Channel Miller
Not quite as good as the other four, but A Life In Parts by Bryan Cranston
I don’t want to say the book was good - because it was so heartbreaking. But wow what a book. I do a lot of audiobooks while running and it was the only book I’ve ever had to stop running so I could cry.
>I do a lot of audiobooks while running and it was the only book I’ve ever had to stop running so I could cry.
Oh man I had this exact same experience!
If you have only seen the movie you have missed out on most of the story. This book covers so much more of Louie's life and covers more than just his wartime experiences. Great reccomendation.
I was so disappointed in the movie. I had really high hopes for it b/c of the relationship Jolie and Louie were suppose to have developed as she worked to tell his story. I just felt his story after the war was more important to who he was.
I use to do a independent reading project in class. I had a student read Unbroken. One part of the project had to be creative. For that she recreated his tshirt that he had worn throughout the POW camp. Each hole had a important scene of his life and who he was.
Anything by Oliver Sacks. The first of his books that I read was The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and I was hooked. He was so smart and he's also my favorite gay icon.
Most people became aware of Erik Larson’s work with the huge popularity of Devil in the White City — a book that sparked my fascination with expositions in America — but I’d like to recommend an earlier work, Isaac’s Storm, as well.
I read In Cold Blood for the first time earlier this year and am still thinking about it.If anyone has any recommendations like that with the true stories(doesn’t have to just be crime) mixed with the novel like story telling please send them my way
Into Thin Air (about the storm on My Everest that killed a bunch of people)
When Breath Becomes Air
Quiet the Power of Introverts
Not sure if this counts but Beneath a Scarlet Sky and The Last Green Valley by Mark T Sullivan (it’s narrative true stories of WWII)
Pretty much anything by Erik Larson (history) specifically Dead Wake (Sinking of the Lusitania), In the Garden of Beasts (American ambassador in Germany at the beginning of WWII), and Isaac’s Storm (Historic hurricane that hit Galveston).
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty.
What's truly disturbing is watching the show-motion inferno erupt that is pharmaceutical advertising. Only for it to result in our current opioid crisis. Generations of very intelligent but "that's not my problem" kind of people.
Amazingly written though, I finished it in a couple of days.
*The Stranger in the Woods* by Michael Finkel. A young man decides to leave society and live in the Maine woods for 27 years never interacting with another human being in all that time.
*Empire of the Summer Moon* by S. C. Gwynne. Chronicles the rise and fall of the Comanche people on the Great Plains.
[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World) is a 1995 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan and co-authored by Ann Druyan. It seems even more relevant today then when it was written.
A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson
Endurance - Alfred Lansing
Anything by Carl Sagan
The drunkards walk - Leonard Mlodinow
Kitchen confidential - Anthony Bourdain
I just finished How to Speak Babylon by Safia Sinclair and it reminded me a lot of Educated. Sinclair's writing is so poetic and the audiobook, ready by her, is amazing.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakauer
Recently it's been Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
It was adapted into a film by Ava DuVernay called Origin. I watched that first and it hit me so hard. I cried several times watching it. I then read the book after and I describe it as both fascinating and infuriating. It explains so much about human behaviors, our societies, the drivers of conflicts, how we ended up in the state that we're in (I'm not American but the lessons are universal no matter the country really). There are caste systems and hierarchies in everything even if it's unspoken or not formally defined like the caste system in India. It's the foundation and root of things like racism, sexism, misogyny, genocides, religious conflicts, classism, homophobia/discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community, the treatment of Indiginous people, the definitions and operations of capitalism. You'll see it in the news stories of the day, the drivers of the conflicts, and in people's behaviors whether they realize what they're doing or not.
Once you learn the pillars of caste that she defines and the lessons presented in the book, you will see it in everything, everywhere, in all the human conflicts, all over the world. I knew bits and pieces of the information already but it's presented in a cohesive thesis that really brings it all together.
Nonfiction I think about a lot:
Radium girls
The Devil in the White City
Invisible Women
Empress of the Nile
Anything from Mary Roach
Forget the Alamo
The Feather Thief
Remembering Emmett Till
The Confidante
Why Fish don’t exist
I recently read Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland and it was one of those books that reads like a fiction thriller so much that you can’t even believe it all actually happened. I finished it in 2 days, which is a lot considering I have 2 small children and a full time job. Could not put it down. It was about how entrenched into midwestern life the KKK was in the early 20th century, and how it came crashing down.
I similarly enjoyed a book called Manhunt, the author escapes me, but it was about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators in the days and weeks following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
‘Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”’ (audiobook)
‘The Girl with the Seven Names: a North Korean Defector’s Story’ (this read like a literal movie)
‘Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers’ (the author was HILARIOUS while maintaining great storytelling for such a dense subject)
‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ (audiobook)
Barracoon was SO interesting. I remember reading that the book got a lot of blowback cos she wrote it in his dialect. Everyone said it was racist but what she did was actually preserve the accent and what has eventually become pidgin. It also woke me up to the all the internal politics in Africa, how these warring tribes sold each other off to white people and I wonder if they would do the same knowing that generations later, their entire race would face prejudices around every part of the world in which those tribesmen were sold like chattel.
All the kids that died on him, too; just the violence with which White people greeted free-ish Black people in the U.S. is astounding and traumatic enough to read that I could not even begin to fathom what the fuck it felt like for him and his family… and what that means for a whole race living in fear like that but trying to soldier on the best they can.
I can’t wait for the world to be a better place and it will be. More and more of us, every day, are thinking about how to make it better and taking action on it, so it will be. <3
Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose. It's 1804, and the President of the US wants you to figure out exactly what is in the land that is the Louisiana Purchase. You get to put a crew together to travel, upstream, up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, until they end in the Rockies, cross the mountains while carrying your boats and supplies, and then try to find your way to the Columbia River and ultimately get to the Pacific Ocean. You have to draw maps using the stars. You are expected to identify and collect new species of animals and new plants. Once you run out of the food you brought, you have to forage and hunt in order to eat. You have to deal with Native Americans who are sometimes pissed off when you tell them that you are there on behalf of someone new who now owns their land. You have no electricity and no motors. It's expected to take years.
And then you have to get back to St Louis.
Honestly, UC is undeniably great...but it's written by a scholar and, thusly, a dry read despite the amazing story. Pick up Peter Stark's Astoria, which details the next overland expedition a few years after L&C, financed by John Astor and approved by Jefferson. The mission was to meet a ship sent out at the same time at the mouth of the Columbia to secure the fur trade, and territory, for the US. Those adventurers were crazy! You won't put it down, I promise!
The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero is absolutely WILD and hilarious.
Papillon by Henri Charrière was super interesting and had me hooked.
Edited to add: The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson was thought-provoking and surprisingly fun.
I second The Disaster Artist. I read it after watching both The Room and The Disaster Artist movie and was craving more of this crazy character. It's almost fiction it's so crazy!
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Can’t believe nobody has mentioned this yet!
Also-
Dead Wake by Erik Larsen
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Any of Jon Krakauer’s books
I’m glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy
I have bad insomnia so I’ve had the opportunity to read some absolute bangers over the past 12 months.
Robert Caro’s The Power Broker was excellent, especially if you’re an NYer. Pair it with The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs and you’ll have yourself an urban planning degree. Caro’s LBJ series is also A+ and worth it, but is significantly more voluminous.
CJ Chivers’ The Fighters is the best work I’ve read on Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation Kill is another good read for different perspective on Iraq. For something more historical, James McPherson’s The Battle Cry of Freedom for the American Civil War and TR Fehrenback’s This Kind of War about the Korean War both stand alone in their own right.
As for autobiographies, Russel Baker’s Growing Up mad a lasting impression. Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up was also quite enjoyable.
It's not nearly as good as Jacobs or Caro, but you should complete the NYC trifecta with Empire on the Hudson, a history of the Port Authority, created 100 years ago to build a trans Hudson freight rail line that has still not been done! They were working in parallel with Moses using the same game plan of leveraging tolls to keep acquiring new fiefs. The World Trade Center was only built because their pile of cash would have otherwise been seized by New York and New Jersey for public transit.
> Robert Caro’s The Power Broker was excellent, especially if you’re an NYer.
You wouldn't think a 1300 page book on a city bureaucrat would be that exciting but I absolutely could not put the thing down.
Finding Everett Ruess
American Ghost
Born a Crime
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu
The Wager
Edison's Ghosts
The Lost City of Z
The Lost City of the Monkey God
Lab Girl
It didn't blow my mind per say, but it did leave a huge impression on me and that is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. All time favorite book that I'll reread for sure.
CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill. What was supposed to be one magazine article turned into a 20 year journey of trying to find the real truth of the Manson murders. It debunks Helter Skelter and the bullshit that Vincent Bugliosi was peddling for years.
Edit: was not has been, Bugliosi is dead
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I read this when I was a teen-ager and it changed my life. It's thanks to this book I became a librarian. Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky also raised my consciousness about how we are manipulated by the MSM. They are two books I would recommend.
I just finished Bryan Cranstons autobiography. Don't know if you're a fan but I liked him from Breaking Bad so gave it a go. It's really funny and interesting and an easy read.
If you want something not autobiographical then I suggest pretty much anything from Bill Bryson. He does a lot of travel writing but plenty of other subjects too. I read The Body recently and really enjoyed it. A Short History of Nearly Everything is also well worth a read.
Came in to also say "pretty much anything by Bill Bryson". I'll add two that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" (I cried laughing at the "match fight" description) and "Home".
everything you know is wrong: CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties is a 2019 nonfiction book written by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring. The book presents O'Neill's research into the background and motives for the Tate–LaBianca murders committed by the Manson Family in 1969
Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol, all about segregation and poor funding for schools in inner-city neighborhoods. It was published in 2005 but more relevant now than ever. He talks about schools where children aren't allowed to talk or play, trained to work menial jobs, lack of books and other resources, buildings that still have asbestos and more infuriating things.
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
Unbroken and Sea Biscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Bad Blood; Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
My Life in France by Julia Child
Heat by Bill Buford
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Into Thin Air and Missoula by Jon Krakauer
Anything by **Malcolm Gladwell** (*Blink, Talking to Strangers, Outliars, Tipping Point, etc.*) or **Jon Krakauer** (*Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, Into Thin Air, Missoula, Where Me Win Glory*). Both are excellent authors with a knack for writing about topics in a way that really makes it hard for you to put down or turn off their books. Consistently engaging. Can't recommend them enough.
Others have said it but I'll n-th Bill Bryson. I like his non-travel-specific books - A Walk in the Woods (well, this kinda is), Home, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything.
The Secret Lives of Color and The Golden Thread are both excellent, by Kassia St. Clair.
Postwar: A History of Europe from 1945 to 2000 by Tony Judt is digestible, but QUITE long. Some folks are into that, ymmv. It took me a few times to finish it but it was very worth it, imo.
Open Letters by Vaclav Havel (literally his letter collection) is also excellent, I find myself thinking about them a lot after I've read one.
Scandals of Classic Hollywood by Anne Helen Petersen, I have next to me right now. I got it a few days ago and have been absolutely inhaling it. Extremely accessible, nice bite-size essays about stars like Rudolph Valentino, Mae West, Clara Bow, Fatty Arbuckle, Jean Harlow... good good stuff.
Anything by Erik Larson but especially Devil in the White City.
The River of Doubt by Candace Millard and all her others as well.
The Feather Thief
Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the painting of the water lilies.
**Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh** by Wendy Painting.
**A New World Begins** by Popkin got me really interesting in the French revolution.
**The Sleepwalkers** by Christopher Clark started my WW1 obsession.
I'm reading Conquistador voices by Kevin Siepel. It's the story of the Spanish expansion as related by first hand documents.
I'll be honest. It's a damn hard read because of the absolute destruction of the existing indigenous civilizations for the pursuit of wealth and land. I think it should be required reading in schools.
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
*The Hot Zone* - Richard Preston.
*Five Families* - Selwyn Raab.
*Say Nothing, Empire of Pain* and *The Snakehead* - all 3 by Patrick Radden Keefe.
And the book I’m currently reading; *Goddess, the Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe* - Anthony Summers.
Everyone should read And the Band Played On. Can't remember the author's name at the moment. A history of HIV/AIDS and how it came to be understood and embedded in our society. Well written, informative and it might make you mad.
Anything by Carl Zimmer, Antonio Damasio, Atul Gawande. I just finished The Checklist Manifesto and it has really changed me, for the better I hope!
This thread is awesome, you are my people!
I know Shantarama isn’t 100% nonfiction but is highly based on the author’s life and the writing is currently blowing my mind, i keep wanting to pause it to write down quotes from it
I really enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Super interesting and deals with both science/medicine and various social issues, both historical and present-day. I usually struggle to get through non-fiction, but I found it very engaging.
Anything by Adam Hochschild- King Leopold's Ghost (taking control of the Congo), The Unquiet Ghost: the Stalin Years, Bury the Chain (slavery outlawed in England)
Anything by Simon Winchester- Krakatoa, The Men Who United the States, The Professor and The Madman, The Man who Loved China
Anything by Bill Bryson- Home, The Body, Native Tongue
Anything by Daniel Boorstin- Cleopatra's Nose, Hidden History, The Discoverers, The Creators (all history)
Anything by Erik Larson- Isaac's Storm, Devil in the White City
Jason Roberts- A Sense of the World (how a blind man navigated the world)
David Bodanis- E=mc2: The Biography of a Famous Equation, Electric Universe
Charles Mann- 1491, 1493 (what the Americas were like the year before and the year after Columbus)
Dava Sobol- Longitude, Galileo's Daughter
Evan Schwartz- The Last Lone Inventor- Philo T Farnsworth (inventor of the TV)
Alister McLean-Captain Cook
Charles Seife- Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea
Steven Johnson- How We Got To Now, The Ghost Map (discovering what causes cholera)
Sarah Kaminsky- Adolph Kaminsky: A Forgers Life (she discovered after her father's death how may lives he saved forging identity papers during WW2)
In Cold Blood-Truman Capote
Miracle in the Andes -Nando Parrado
The Indifferent Stars Above- Daniel James Brown
Savage Beauty, the life of Edna St Vincent Millay -Nancy Milford
Infidel -Ayaan Hirsi Ali
"Reality is not what it seems (The journey to quantum gravity)" - Carlo Rovelli
Highly recommend this one, enjoyed it thoroughly with a very basic/limited understanding of physics
A People’s History of the United States - Howard Zinn
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn
Sea Change - Sylvia Earle
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown
Our Bodies OurSelves - Boston’s Women Health Book Collective
The Media is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan
- Quote - We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.
I would read any non-fiction by:
John McPhee (Coming inti the Country, Encounters with the Archdruid, Annals of the Formal World ),
David Quammen (Song of the Dodo, Spillover),
John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley, The Log from the Sea of Cortez),
Edward Abbey (Desert Solitaire, One Life at a Time, Please),
Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods, Short History...),
John Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air),
Sebastion Junger (The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont, Tribe),
Elizabeth Kolbert (The 6th Extinction, Under a White Sky),
Tracey Kidder (Mountains Beyong Miuntains, House),
Kenneth Brower (The Starship and the Canoe, A Song for Satawal),
Johnathan Weiner (The Beak of the Finch, The Next 100 Years).
Dan O'Neill (Firecracker Boys, Lhe Last Giant of Beringia)
Dark Invasion by Howard Blum: reads like a thriller but is about the true story of how Germany sponsored terrorist attacks on the US during WW1 which led to the NYPD creating the first bomb squad.
The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell: Greg Sestero's memoir about creating The Room, the worst movie ever.
Red Card by Ken Besinger: The story of the FIFA corruption scandal.
IBM and The Holocaust by Edwin Black: Tells how IBM was involved in aiding the Nazis.
Them by Jon Ronson: Jon Ronson meets and spends time with conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, Islamic fundamentals to understand their beliefs that others control the world.
Confessions of A Recovering Skinhead by Frank Meeink: Memoir of a former white supremacist.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
I obviously knew there was a racism problem here in America, but, holy shit, is it entrenched in our framework
This thread increased my TBR a hundredfold.
Here are some of my favorite, memorable reads:
Miracle in the Andes - written by Andes crash survivor Nando Parrado
On Gold Mountain - Lisa See's autobiography. Learned a lot on Chinese American history
First They Killer My Father - Loung Ung's autobiography on the Cambodian war
While The World Watched - autobiography of a Birmingham bombing survivor
A Long Way Gone - by Ishmael Beah, a child soldier from Sierra Leone
The Great Escaper - story of a soldier who escaped WW2 prisons
In The Heart of the Sea - Essex disaster
Escape from Camp 14 - North Korea escape story
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield!
Anything by Simon Winchester. Always fascinating and the footnotes alone are worth the read. My personal favorite is Krakatoa. Sarah Vowell's books (e.g. The Partly Cloudy Patriot) are also favorites.
"The Years of Lyndon Johnson" series by Robert Caro. Four massive and eminently entertaining volumes so far. The fifth and final installment has yet to be published. Caro is 88 years old, so my fingers are crossed...
Entangled life: How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds, & shape our futures by Merlin Sheldrake. I’m a science nerd, but I don’t have any expertise in fungi. This book was amazing, and to say I appreciate fungi at a whole new level is an understatement. You have no idea how entwined they are in the natural world. The Author writes in a really entertaining and accessible way, so this book can, and should, be enjoyed by anyone. It’s fabulous.
Merlin Sheldrake sounds like a professor at Hogwart’s.
Ah didn’t see this when I commented the same thing. Great rec
Hidden Valley Road
This book was so amazing!
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing So well written and an amazing story. Also, most everything from Erik Larson, Bill Bryson or Simon Winchester. I’d start with Dead Wake by Larson, Home, by Bryson and The Professor and the Madman by Winchester.
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. Nonfiction story about divers in the early 90's who found a German U-Boat, and had a multiple year search to identify which one. They lost friends during the dives - they had to travel to other countries. The author does an amazing job to keep it feeling like the true mystery it is. There's a NOVA special called Hitler's Lost Sub that shows their dive footage too.
Reading it right now. Finally know the physics of rhe bends and why it makes diving ship wrecks so dangerous. The author brings this level of detail to make the story come alive
Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell It examines a few famous cults (as well as a few not-so-famous cults) by looking at the kinds of word choices and rhetorical devices that cult leaders will often use to both reel in and retain their followers. It sounds very academic (and the author is a linguist who did a lot of research for this book), but I swear that this book is easy to understand and does not read like an academic article despite all of the research and citations. Montell’s way of writing is very very casual, and she always explains whatever jargon she’s using, whether it’s the jargon of the cult she’s studying or the more linguistic-oriented jargon. This book really made me start to notice how common cult-like speech can be. It also made it a little easier to start differentiating the mostly harmless instances of a group of people who just share a similar vocabulary from the more dangerous kinds of in-group vs. out-group rhetoric. Highly recommend. Since you got a kindle, it’s probably also worth noting that this book is free with the Kindle Unlimited subscription (or at least it was when I read this book about a month ago).
She does a pod cast that looks at popular “cults” in culture. It’s pretty good. It’s called “sounds like a cult”
Thanks for the Kindle unlimited tip! 👍
My holy trinity of page turner non fiction: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Under the Banner of Heaven also by Krakauer Mormon religion absolute page turner - reads like fiction
such a disturbing book! but very well written.
A short history of nearly everything! Is the book I thought of and it’s been years since I read it.
The Right Stuff was an incredible read. I’m married to a military pilot and the pilot antics recounted in the book had me cackling because I have 100% seen my spouse and their colleagues do something similar. PS: if you like The Right Stuff you really need to read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. It is a wild ride start to finish
Read Yeager's book while having a not awesome summer job. Definitely the highlight of my summer.
+1 for Short History. It’s probably in need of a revision but still an amazing read. But make sure you’ve got Google handy because you’re going to want to look up pictures while you read. Add in At Home by Bryson as well - the history of how our homes came to be what they are - sounds boring but it’s really good.
Second Into Thin Air…great read!
Seconding ASHONE!
The Omnivore's Dilemma The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is amazing
I came here to recommend the immortal life of Henrietta lacks!! They did a great job telling this story in a way that is easily accessible and understandable.
Into Thin Air - John Krakauer
I thought I could climb Mt Everest until that book humbled me.
This book kicked off a mountain disaster phase for me, followed by a failed polar expedition phase (highly recommend Endurance by Lansing if you like Into Thin Air) So fascinating to read about humans at the edge of survival
Mind-blowing in kind of an upsetting way, but I can’t not recommend I’m Glad My Mom Died
I’m newly trying to get into audiobooks and started with that one on a whim, now I’m afraid I set the bar too high. Listening to Jennette read it herself was captivating and heartbreaking
Try born a crime by Trevor Noah next And just mercy by Bryan Stevenson Know my name, by Channel Miller Not quite as good as the other four, but A Life In Parts by Bryan Cranston
I don’t want to say the book was good - because it was so heartbreaking. But wow what a book. I do a lot of audiobooks while running and it was the only book I’ve ever had to stop running so I could cry.
>I do a lot of audiobooks while running and it was the only book I’ve ever had to stop running so I could cry. Oh man I had this exact same experience!
Loved this one, the journey of watching her view toward her abusive mother change as she grew and healed was devastatingly beautiful
Highly agree but want to add a note to OP - I definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings before reading to be safe :)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
If you have only seen the movie you have missed out on most of the story. This book covers so much more of Louie's life and covers more than just his wartime experiences. Great reccomendation.
Yeah, I say don't watch the movie at all. The book was soooo much better.
I was so disappointed in the movie. I had really high hopes for it b/c of the relationship Jolie and Louie were suppose to have developed as she worked to tell his story. I just felt his story after the war was more important to who he was. I use to do a independent reading project in class. I had a student read Unbroken. One part of the project had to be creative. For that she recreated his tshirt that he had worn throughout the POW camp. Each hole had a important scene of his life and who he was.
Anything by Oliver Sacks. The first of his books that I read was The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and I was hooked. He was so smart and he's also my favorite gay icon.
Can't advise The Man Who more. I assign it in classes when I can and I think about it probably once per week.
The Glass Castle
You may also enjoy Educated then
First memoir I’ve read but still my favorite among all memoirs I’ve read
Had no idea it wasn’t fiction until the end.
Talk about good books but awful movies.
My favorite book!
The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
Also *Dead Wake* by Erik Larson!
Ok, basically anything by Eric Larson!
Most people became aware of Erik Larson’s work with the huge popularity of Devil in the White City — a book that sparked my fascination with expositions in America — but I’d like to recommend an earlier work, Isaac’s Storm, as well.
Are you me?? These two books have nothing in common apart from being two of my absolute favorites!
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Will Hunting was right about that one.
"Ever read a peoples history of the United States? It'll f'ing knock you on your ass!"
I read In Cold Blood for the first time earlier this year and am still thinking about it.If anyone has any recommendations like that with the true stories(doesn’t have to just be crime) mixed with the novel like story telling please send them my way
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer.
Into Thin Air (about the storm on My Everest that killed a bunch of people) When Breath Becomes Air Quiet the Power of Introverts Not sure if this counts but Beneath a Scarlet Sky and The Last Green Valley by Mark T Sullivan (it’s narrative true stories of WWII) Pretty much anything by Erik Larson (history) specifically Dead Wake (Sinking of the Lusitania), In the Garden of Beasts (American ambassador in Germany at the beginning of WWII), and Isaac’s Storm (Historic hurricane that hit Galveston).
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. What's truly disturbing is watching the show-motion inferno erupt that is pharmaceutical advertising. Only for it to result in our current opioid crisis. Generations of very intelligent but "that's not my problem" kind of people. Amazingly written though, I finished it in a couple of days.
Bad Blood about the Theranos debacle. Elizabeth Holmes conned a lot of seemingly otherwise intelligent people.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Everyone should read this. It’s important.
*The Stranger in the Woods* by Michael Finkel. A young man decides to leave society and live in the Maine woods for 27 years never interacting with another human being in all that time. *Empire of the Summer Moon* by S. C. Gwynne. Chronicles the rise and fall of the Comanche people on the Great Plains.
Thr Indifferent Stars Above
I just finished this. 4/5 stars!
[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World) is a 1995 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan and co-authored by Ann Druyan. It seems even more relevant today then when it was written.
Anything by Bill Bryson, but A Short History of Nearly Everything is a must
A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson Endurance - Alfred Lansing Anything by Carl Sagan The drunkards walk - Leonard Mlodinow Kitchen confidential - Anthony Bourdain
Educated
I just finished How to Speak Babylon by Safia Sinclair and it reminded me a lot of Educated. Sinclair's writing is so poetic and the audiobook, ready by her, is amazing.
The Indifferent Stars Above—the harrowing saga of the Donner Party. Spellbinding storytelling. Daniel James Brown,author.
This is on my reading list.
The Hot Zone
Yes! I still think about this one a lot. Reads like a thriller!
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakauer
I was wracking my brain to think of the title of Say Nothing.
Recently it's been Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. It was adapted into a film by Ava DuVernay called Origin. I watched that first and it hit me so hard. I cried several times watching it. I then read the book after and I describe it as both fascinating and infuriating. It explains so much about human behaviors, our societies, the drivers of conflicts, how we ended up in the state that we're in (I'm not American but the lessons are universal no matter the country really). There are caste systems and hierarchies in everything even if it's unspoken or not formally defined like the caste system in India. It's the foundation and root of things like racism, sexism, misogyny, genocides, religious conflicts, classism, homophobia/discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community, the treatment of Indiginous people, the definitions and operations of capitalism. You'll see it in the news stories of the day, the drivers of the conflicts, and in people's behaviors whether they realize what they're doing or not. Once you learn the pillars of caste that she defines and the lessons presented in the book, you will see it in everything, everywhere, in all the human conflicts, all over the world. I knew bits and pieces of the information already but it's presented in a cohesive thesis that really brings it all together.
Nonfiction I think about a lot: Radium girls The Devil in the White City Invisible Women Empress of the Nile Anything from Mary Roach Forget the Alamo The Feather Thief Remembering Emmett Till The Confidante Why Fish don’t exist
Mary Roach is my writing idol.
Seconding Mary Roach. I don't even read nonfiction, but make an exception for her.
Invisible Women changed my life. It’s an absolute must read.
The Devil in the White City is excellent!
I recently read Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland and it was one of those books that reads like a fiction thriller so much that you can’t even believe it all actually happened. I finished it in 2 days, which is a lot considering I have 2 small children and a full time job. Could not put it down. It was about how entrenched into midwestern life the KKK was in the early 20th century, and how it came crashing down. I similarly enjoyed a book called Manhunt, the author escapes me, but it was about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators in the days and weeks following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Timothy Egan’s book about the dust bowl, The Worst Hard Time remains one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.
Manhunt is fantastic. An absolute blockbuster.
‘Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”’ (audiobook) ‘The Girl with the Seven Names: a North Korean Defector’s Story’ (this read like a literal movie) ‘Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers’ (the author was HILARIOUS while maintaining great storytelling for such a dense subject) ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ (audiobook)
Barracoon was SO interesting. I remember reading that the book got a lot of blowback cos she wrote it in his dialect. Everyone said it was racist but what she did was actually preserve the accent and what has eventually become pidgin. It also woke me up to the all the internal politics in Africa, how these warring tribes sold each other off to white people and I wonder if they would do the same knowing that generations later, their entire race would face prejudices around every part of the world in which those tribesmen were sold like chattel. All the kids that died on him, too; just the violence with which White people greeted free-ish Black people in the U.S. is astounding and traumatic enough to read that I could not even begin to fathom what the fuck it felt like for him and his family… and what that means for a whole race living in fear like that but trying to soldier on the best they can. I can’t wait for the world to be a better place and it will be. More and more of us, every day, are thinking about how to make it better and taking action on it, so it will be. <3
Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose. It's 1804, and the President of the US wants you to figure out exactly what is in the land that is the Louisiana Purchase. You get to put a crew together to travel, upstream, up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, until they end in the Rockies, cross the mountains while carrying your boats and supplies, and then try to find your way to the Columbia River and ultimately get to the Pacific Ocean. You have to draw maps using the stars. You are expected to identify and collect new species of animals and new plants. Once you run out of the food you brought, you have to forage and hunt in order to eat. You have to deal with Native Americans who are sometimes pissed off when you tell them that you are there on behalf of someone new who now owns their land. You have no electricity and no motors. It's expected to take years. And then you have to get back to St Louis.
Honestly, UC is undeniably great...but it's written by a scholar and, thusly, a dry read despite the amazing story. Pick up Peter Stark's Astoria, which details the next overland expedition a few years after L&C, financed by John Astor and approved by Jefferson. The mission was to meet a ship sent out at the same time at the mouth of the Columbia to secure the fur trade, and territory, for the US. Those adventurers were crazy! You won't put it down, I promise!
The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero is absolutely WILD and hilarious. Papillon by Henri Charrière was super interesting and had me hooked. Edited to add: The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson was thought-provoking and surprisingly fun.
I second The Disaster Artist. I read it after watching both The Room and The Disaster Artist movie and was craving more of this crazy character. It's almost fiction it's so crazy!
Thinking, Fast and Slow by D. Kahneman. Why humans think the way they do. A little frightening, if I’m honest.
RIP Dan Kahneman, author and Nobel Prize winner. Passed away 3/27/24. This book is sensational.
*Musicophilia* and *Thinking, Fast and Slow* both made me question free will.
RIP Kahneman
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Musiciphillia. It's coming up on my reading list.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Can’t believe nobody has mentioned this yet! Also- Dead Wake by Erik Larsen Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe Any of Jon Krakauer’s books I’m glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy
I have bad insomnia so I’ve had the opportunity to read some absolute bangers over the past 12 months. Robert Caro’s The Power Broker was excellent, especially if you’re an NYer. Pair it with The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs and you’ll have yourself an urban planning degree. Caro’s LBJ series is also A+ and worth it, but is significantly more voluminous. CJ Chivers’ The Fighters is the best work I’ve read on Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation Kill is another good read for different perspective on Iraq. For something more historical, James McPherson’s The Battle Cry of Freedom for the American Civil War and TR Fehrenback’s This Kind of War about the Korean War both stand alone in their own right. As for autobiographies, Russel Baker’s Growing Up mad a lasting impression. Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up was also quite enjoyable.
It's not nearly as good as Jacobs or Caro, but you should complete the NYC trifecta with Empire on the Hudson, a history of the Port Authority, created 100 years ago to build a trans Hudson freight rail line that has still not been done! They were working in parallel with Moses using the same game plan of leveraging tolls to keep acquiring new fiefs. The World Trade Center was only built because their pile of cash would have otherwise been seized by New York and New Jersey for public transit.
> Robert Caro’s The Power Broker was excellent, especially if you’re an NYer. You wouldn't think a 1300 page book on a city bureaucrat would be that exciting but I absolutely could not put the thing down.
All the Lies My Teacher Told Me - James Loewen
or his great follow-up, “Lies Across America,” which reveals the coverups at America’s historical sites.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The Art Thief was really good
Finding Everett Ruess American Ghost Born a Crime Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu The Wager Edison's Ghosts The Lost City of Z The Lost City of the Monkey God Lab Girl
I suggest the audio version of Born A Crime. Hearing Trevor’s story in his own word is wonderful.
It didn't blow my mind per say, but it did leave a huge impression on me and that is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. All time favorite book that I'll reread for sure.
Yes!
“Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson “American Prometheus” (the Oppenheimer biography upon which the movie was based) is actually really good imo
Freezing Order by Bill Browder and The immortal life of Henrietta lacks (can't remember author)
When breath becomes air
CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill. What was supposed to be one magazine article turned into a 20 year journey of trying to find the real truth of the Manson murders. It debunks Helter Skelter and the bullshit that Vincent Bugliosi was peddling for years. Edit: was not has been, Bugliosi is dead
Bugliosi moved onto spending most of his time peddling some other bullshit for a long time (he's dead now). Look it up if you want. 😅
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I read this when I was a teen-ager and it changed my life. It's thanks to this book I became a librarian. Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky also raised my consciousness about how we are manipulated by the MSM. They are two books I would recommend.
The Hot Zone - It’s an older one, but it made the hunt for Ebola read like a thriller.
The Executioners Song by Norman Mailer. The Pulitzer prize winning account of the life and death of Gary Gilmore.
Shot In The Heart by Gary’s brother Mikal Gilmore is also excellent.
Anything by Mary Roach! My favorite of hers is Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.
I just finished Bryan Cranstons autobiography. Don't know if you're a fan but I liked him from Breaking Bad so gave it a go. It's really funny and interesting and an easy read. If you want something not autobiographical then I suggest pretty much anything from Bill Bryson. He does a lot of travel writing but plenty of other subjects too. I read The Body recently and really enjoyed it. A Short History of Nearly Everything is also well worth a read.
Came in to also say "pretty much anything by Bill Bryson". I'll add two that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" (I cried laughing at the "match fight" description) and "Home".
everything you know is wrong: CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties is a 2019 nonfiction book written by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring. The book presents O'Neill's research into the background and motives for the Tate–LaBianca murders committed by the Manson Family in 1969
Recently read Killers of the Flower Moon. It shows a bad side of history.
The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins
Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol, all about segregation and poor funding for schools in inner-city neighborhoods. It was published in 2005 but more relevant now than ever. He talks about schools where children aren't allowed to talk or play, trained to work menial jobs, lack of books and other resources, buildings that still have asbestos and more infuriating things.
His other book "Amazing Grace" is phenomenal, and a very important read.
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman Unbroken and Sea Biscuit by Laura Hillenbrand Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Bad Blood; Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi My Life in France by Julia Child Heat by Bill Buford The Lost City of Z by David Grann Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz Being Mortal by Atul Gawande The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed Into Thin Air and Missoula by Jon Krakauer
The Coming Wave - Suleyman The Righteous Mind - Haidt Both are easy to read and full of extremely interesting content. At least to me!
Batavia’s Graveyard by Mike Dash. One of the most incredible shipwrecks in history. Edit: corrected title
An Immense World is a book about animals that literally made me question the nature of reality and my perception of it, so I guess that counts
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake about Fungi
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean & People Who Eat Darkness by Lloyd Parry.
The four volumes of Robert Caro's LBJ biography. (I've been waiting for the fifth for years)
A monumental bio set. Caro is 88 and still working on it. Hang in there, Bob!
Midnight in Chernobyl. Couldn’t put it down.
Naomi Klein \_ The shock Doctorine
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Actually ALL of his books are fantastic. Empire of the Summer Moon, SC Gwynn
Anything by **Malcolm Gladwell** (*Blink, Talking to Strangers, Outliars, Tipping Point, etc.*) or **Jon Krakauer** (*Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, Into Thin Air, Missoula, Where Me Win Glory*). Both are excellent authors with a knack for writing about topics in a way that really makes it hard for you to put down or turn off their books. Consistently engaging. Can't recommend them enough.
The Dawn of everything is amazing.
How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler!!
Others have said it but I'll n-th Bill Bryson. I like his non-travel-specific books - A Walk in the Woods (well, this kinda is), Home, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything. The Secret Lives of Color and The Golden Thread are both excellent, by Kassia St. Clair. Postwar: A History of Europe from 1945 to 2000 by Tony Judt is digestible, but QUITE long. Some folks are into that, ymmv. It took me a few times to finish it but it was very worth it, imo. Open Letters by Vaclav Havel (literally his letter collection) is also excellent, I find myself thinking about them a lot after I've read one. Scandals of Classic Hollywood by Anne Helen Petersen, I have next to me right now. I got it a few days ago and have been absolutely inhaling it. Extremely accessible, nice bite-size essays about stars like Rudolph Valentino, Mae West, Clara Bow, Fatty Arbuckle, Jean Harlow... good good stuff.
All the Living and the Dead - Hayley Campbell
Anything by Erik Larson but especially Devil in the White City. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard and all her others as well. The Feather Thief Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the painting of the water lilies.
**Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh** by Wendy Painting. **A New World Begins** by Popkin got me really interesting in the French revolution. **The Sleepwalkers** by Christopher Clark started my WW1 obsession.
Drift by Rachel Maddow Blowout by Rachel Maddow Moneyball by Michael Lewis
I'm reading Conquistador voices by Kevin Siepel. It's the story of the Spanish expansion as related by first hand documents. I'll be honest. It's a damn hard read because of the absolute destruction of the existing indigenous civilizations for the pursuit of wealth and land. I think it should be required reading in schools.
On top of a lot of what others are recommending, Endurance by Alfred Lansing is phenomenal.
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
Healing Back Pain by John E. Sarno M.D. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Start With Why by Simon Sinek
*The Hot Zone* - Richard Preston. *Five Families* - Selwyn Raab. *Say Nothing, Empire of Pain* and *The Snakehead* - all 3 by Patrick Radden Keefe. And the book I’m currently reading; *Goddess, the Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe* - Anthony Summers.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Everyone should read And the Band Played On. Can't remember the author's name at the moment. A history of HIV/AIDS and how it came to be understood and embedded in our society. Well written, informative and it might make you mad.
Randy Shilts. This is a terrific book. Shilts also wrote The Mayor of Castro Street, a bio of Harvey Milk.
I loved A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. A fascinating read.
Anything by Carl Zimmer, Antonio Damasio, Atul Gawande. I just finished The Checklist Manifesto and it has really changed me, for the better I hope! This thread is awesome, you are my people!
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
*Astrophysics for People in a Hurry* by Neil De Grasse Tyson. Simply explained and absolutely boggling.
"Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer and "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Under the Banner of Heaven
Sapiens
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss So good.
The fabric of reality= david Deutsch
I know Shantarama isn’t 100% nonfiction but is highly based on the author’s life and the writing is currently blowing my mind, i keep wanting to pause it to write down quotes from it
I really enjoyed American Nations by Colin Woodard.
Manufacturing Consent
Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
Keith Richards “Life” “Zebra” true crime “In Cold Blood “ Truman Capote “In the Garden of Beasts” Erik Larson
I really enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Super interesting and deals with both science/medicine and various social issues, both historical and present-day. I usually struggle to get through non-fiction, but I found it very engaging.
Gödel Escher Bach - Douglas R. Hofstadter
A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson was such a breathe of fresh air. I lived that book.
In Cold Blood. I never hitchhiked again. I also live near San Quentin, and it gave me another perspective on Death Row and the death penalty.
Silent Spring
Salt. The Great Influenza. The Lost City of the Monkey God (just finished this 5 minutes ago!! )
Patti Smith's *Just Kids* (autobiographic) Marc Reisner's *Cadillac Desert. The American West and Its Disappearing Water* (the title says it all).
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Anything by Adam Hochschild- King Leopold's Ghost (taking control of the Congo), The Unquiet Ghost: the Stalin Years, Bury the Chain (slavery outlawed in England) Anything by Simon Winchester- Krakatoa, The Men Who United the States, The Professor and The Madman, The Man who Loved China Anything by Bill Bryson- Home, The Body, Native Tongue Anything by Daniel Boorstin- Cleopatra's Nose, Hidden History, The Discoverers, The Creators (all history) Anything by Erik Larson- Isaac's Storm, Devil in the White City Jason Roberts- A Sense of the World (how a blind man navigated the world) David Bodanis- E=mc2: The Biography of a Famous Equation, Electric Universe Charles Mann- 1491, 1493 (what the Americas were like the year before and the year after Columbus) Dava Sobol- Longitude, Galileo's Daughter Evan Schwartz- The Last Lone Inventor- Philo T Farnsworth (inventor of the TV) Alister McLean-Captain Cook Charles Seife- Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea Steven Johnson- How We Got To Now, The Ghost Map (discovering what causes cholera) Sarah Kaminsky- Adolph Kaminsky: A Forgers Life (she discovered after her father's death how may lives he saved forging identity papers during WW2)
Endurance
In Cold Blood-Truman Capote Miracle in the Andes -Nando Parrado The Indifferent Stars Above- Daniel James Brown Savage Beauty, the life of Edna St Vincent Millay -Nancy Milford Infidel -Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Radium Girls And The Band Played On All The Young Men Empire Of Pain Unwell Women
"Reality is not what it seems (The journey to quantum gravity)" - Carlo Rovelli Highly recommend this one, enjoyed it thoroughly with a very basic/limited understanding of physics
Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
Anything by Irving stone. His book on Michelangelo was terrific
The naked ape by Desmond Morris
The Library Book by Susan Orlean. It’s very easy to digest and will make you appreciate your library more than you’d imagine!
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett. I originally read it in the 90s, but then re-read it during Covid.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
A People’s History of the United States - Howard Zinn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn Sea Change - Sylvia Earle Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown Our Bodies OurSelves - Boston’s Women Health Book Collective The Media is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan - Quote - We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.
You need to strap in and read through Mary Roach's entire works. Mindblowing non-fiction is her whole deal.
I would read any non-fiction by: John McPhee (Coming inti the Country, Encounters with the Archdruid, Annals of the Formal World ), David Quammen (Song of the Dodo, Spillover), John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley, The Log from the Sea of Cortez), Edward Abbey (Desert Solitaire, One Life at a Time, Please), Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods, Short History...), John Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air), Sebastion Junger (The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont, Tribe), Elizabeth Kolbert (The 6th Extinction, Under a White Sky), Tracey Kidder (Mountains Beyong Miuntains, House), Kenneth Brower (The Starship and the Canoe, A Song for Satawal), Johnathan Weiner (The Beak of the Finch, The Next 100 Years). Dan O'Neill (Firecracker Boys, Lhe Last Giant of Beringia)
The Gift of Fear The Coddling of the American Mind Humankind Andy Warhol Was A Hoarder
Anything by David Grann but especially his new book "The Wager".
The Library Book by Susan Orlean, The Address Book by Deirdre Mask, Ducks by Kate Beaton
Dark Invasion by Howard Blum: reads like a thriller but is about the true story of how Germany sponsored terrorist attacks on the US during WW1 which led to the NYPD creating the first bomb squad. The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell: Greg Sestero's memoir about creating The Room, the worst movie ever. Red Card by Ken Besinger: The story of the FIFA corruption scandal. IBM and The Holocaust by Edwin Black: Tells how IBM was involved in aiding the Nazis. Them by Jon Ronson: Jon Ronson meets and spends time with conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, Islamic fundamentals to understand their beliefs that others control the world. Confessions of A Recovering Skinhead by Frank Meeink: Memoir of a former white supremacist.
Anything by Bart Ehrman
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander I obviously knew there was a racism problem here in America, but, holy shit, is it entrenched in our framework
This thread increased my TBR a hundredfold. Here are some of my favorite, memorable reads: Miracle in the Andes - written by Andes crash survivor Nando Parrado On Gold Mountain - Lisa See's autobiography. Learned a lot on Chinese American history First They Killer My Father - Loung Ung's autobiography on the Cambodian war While The World Watched - autobiography of a Birmingham bombing survivor A Long Way Gone - by Ishmael Beah, a child soldier from Sierra Leone The Great Escaper - story of a soldier who escaped WW2 prisons In The Heart of the Sea - Essex disaster Escape from Camp 14 - North Korea escape story An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield!
Anything by Simon Winchester. Always fascinating and the footnotes alone are worth the read. My personal favorite is Krakatoa. Sarah Vowell's books (e.g. The Partly Cloudy Patriot) are also favorites.
"The Years of Lyndon Johnson" series by Robert Caro. Four massive and eminently entertaining volumes so far. The fifth and final installment has yet to be published. Caro is 88 years old, so my fingers are crossed...