I’m looking for recommendations for nonfiction written for adults but that a teenager might enjoy. My 13-year-old son, who loves to read, recently picked up and started to read Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond, a book that my husband was reading. (My son, an SDMB fan – in fact, he’s the one who first got me interested in SDMB – said the book caught his eye because it was favorably reviewed here.) He is enjoying Guns, Germs and Steel, so I decided to try to think of other books not written specifically for teenagers, but that he might enjoy. The first one I thought of is Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand. So far, he loves it. I’m thinking maybe he should try either Eiger Dreams or Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.
I really enjoyed this book which give a lot of information about where various Christmas customs come from and what they mean.
And also this one about Paul Revere and his famous ride. You really learn a lot about the events leading up that famous night as well as what really happened. Plus it is a very dramatic telling of the events.
The Wilderness World of John Muir
Edited by: Edwin Way Teale
A biographical account of America’s most famous naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club. Covering his entire life this story was dictated by Muir during his final years. The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Author: Richard Rhodes
A highly readable account of America’s development of atomic weapons and entrance into the nuclear age. Rascal
Author: Sterling North
A coming of age tale from World War I told by the author. North’s life is changed by the appearance of a raccoon pup that becomes his companion. This award winning book is a must read for children of all ages. Food in History
Author: Reay Tannahill
A superb retrospective on the role of food and cooking in regard to the history of mankind. Filled with interesting insight and facts this is a fun read for teenagers or adults. Ring of Bright Water
Author: Gavin Maxwell
A heartwarming story of a naturalist’s encounter with one of nature’s supreme amphibious clowns. Set in the West Highland seaboard of Scotland this is an endearing and educational tale about animals and their lives. On Food and Cooking
Author: Harold M[sup]c[/sup]Gee
A somewhat technical but always entertaining treatise on the biochemical processes by which food is preserved and prepared. Seal Morning
Author: Edith Nesbitt
A child’s stay with her aunt is upended by the adoption of a baby seal. An excellent story for young children eager to learn about marine mammals.
Both Eiger Dreams and Into the Wild are good, but Into Thin Air is better; I’d start with that one first, if he hasn’t already read it.
Other suggestions:
Volcano Cowboys by Dick Thompson - about the vulcanologists who worked with the US Geological Survey monitoring Mount St. helens and Mount Pinatubo.
The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw - life on a swordfishing boat.
Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina - a marine ecologist looking at the current state of the world’s oceans and the harm we are doing to them.
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker - how the mind works to create language.
An Intimate Look at the Night Sky and 365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo - two books on naked-eye astronomy that are almost as beautiful as the heavens they describe.
Learning to Fly: A Season with the Peregrine Falcon by P. H. Liotta - an Air Force officer oversees the release of falcon chicks into the wild, and reflects on flight and the risks we take in life. (This one’s out of print, but is worth tracking down.)
I’m sure some other folks will have more good suggestions, but this ought to get you started!
How about books about the Civil War, Indian Campaigns and Westward expansion. There are several books about the Donner Party that are pretty cool, and it might spark an interest in American History.
Fledgling Days - Memoirs of a Falconer
Author: Emma Ford
This outstanding story details the world famous falconer, Emma Ford, and her childhood introduction to the world of raptors. A fine book for teenagers or adults. Born Free
Living Free
Forever Free
Queen of Shaba - Story of an African Leopard
Author: Joy Adamson
The author and her husband were among some of the first naturalists to make a genuine study of releasing human raised animals back into the wild. Based upon her husband’s diaries, Adamson weaves a moving tale of Elsa the lioness and her brood.
The last book, Queen of Shaba, represented her final effort to prove that even the most dangerous big cat of them all could be handled and reintroduced into its natural setting. Adamson was murdered before she could conclude this successful experiment. Her legacy lives on to this day in Kenya’s game parks.
I highly recommend Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine - yes, that Douglas Adams - about endangered species and their equally endangered habitats. This book is sometimes hard to get your hands on but worth special ordering if necessary. I love Douglas Adams and I think some of his very best writing is in this book.
Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions – this is great! With the posts just since 3:30 this afternoon, we have a reading list for at least the next several months. I think we’ll start with the most recent suggestion, Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker’s Guide (another SMDB recommendation!) is one of my son’s all-time favorite books, and Last Chance is actually at our local library. (The library has an online catalog, so I have already confirmed this.)
All the books sound great. I think my husband and I will have to read them, too – it’ll be a family project!
I never pass up an opportunity to politicize someone.
The following are nonfiction but as with all nonfiction reflect the perspective and experience of the author.
REALITY POLICE, Anthony Brandt
JUDGE JURY AND EXECUTIONER, Huey Freeman
ON OUR OWN, Judi Chamberlin
THE LOONY BIN TRIP, Kate Millett
…
Then there are these which are works of theory or about theory. Theory is nonfiction but rather than descriptions of historical fact they are attempts to make sense out of the facts we already have, or in some cases descriptions of how we engage in that process:
I was in my early twenties when this, IMO, classic was published and I found it so fun and interesting; truly accessible (although admittidly soft) science. I would have loved it at twelve or anytime thereafter.
It’s sort of a biography, but focuses a lot on his education and his fascination with chemistry in his childhood and early teens. I haven’t read anything else by Sacks, though I plan to since I really enjoyed reading this book (I’ve actually read it twice now). I think a lot of people aren’t introduced to chemistry in an interesting way (myself included) and I loved being reintroduced to it through this book. Since your son is so young, I think it would be really cool if he became interested in it now, so that when it gets taught to him in school he’ll look at it as an interesting and not tedious thing.
Richard Feynman! Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and a sequel What Do You Care What Other People Think? are both mainly biographical and very funny, and The Pleasure of Finding Things Out has a similar tone. I haven’t read The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, but have heard good things about it. He has quite a few more that explain physics in a very accessible way.
If he likes puzzles and abstract games, look for Martin Gardner’s collections of his Mathematical Games columns from Scientific American.
Finally, to pick up on Zenster’s food suggestions, try Much Depends on Dinner by Margaret Visser, a history of a few of our basic foods.
Depends what your son is interested in. Personally, I’d recommend any “popsci” physics books. These often delve into such fascinating worlds as quantum mechanics, science philosophy and even consciousness.
I definitely agree with rjk’s suggestion of the Richard Feynman books. Also add Schrodinger’s Cat and the sequel, Schrodinger’s Kittens.
Jay’s Journal of Anomalies : Conjurers, Cheats, Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters, Imposters, Pretenders, Side-Show Showmen, Armless Calligraphers, Mechanical Marvels, Popular Entertainments by Ricky Jay
The Museum of Hoaxes: A Collection of Pranks, Stunts, Deceptions, and Other Wonderful Stories Contrived for the Public from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium by Alex Boese
Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand, Jan Harold Brunwand
Alive : The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger
Beauty Fades/Dumb Is Forever : The Making of a Happy Woman by Judy Sheindlin
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World’s Most Baffling Crimes by Colin Evans
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor is an extremely funny black comedy about a man, a hologram, a robot and a highly evolved cat stranded in space, over three million years in the future. Maybe you’ve seen the TV show, maybe not. I personally think the book was stacks funnier. The second, Better that Life, is worth a look too, but it’s nowhere near as funny.
Thomas Harris was the writer of the astounding Hannibal Lector series. Perhaps he’d enjoy them, perhaps not. I personally loved them.