# Fun to read non-fiction books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367 "2007-07-27T14:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/41 "2007-07-28T18:02:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Lately I’ve read Tony Bourdain’s new collection of essays The Nasty Bits which was very entertaining and hiliarious!! I just picked up one of his earlier books. My hands-down favorite is still Hans Zinsser’s [Rats, Lice, and History: Being a Study in Biography, Which, After Twelve Preliminary Chapters Indispensable for the Preparation of the Lay Reader, Deals With the Life History of Typhus Fever](http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Lice-History-Preliminary-Indispensable/dp/1884822479/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-3535811-5483853?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185645691&sr=8-2), which has been a favorite since childhod. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/42 "2007-07-28T19:53:55Z")
I’ll definitely fourth Stiff, by Mary Roach. Great, if creepy read. One of my absolute favorite non-fiction writers is Michael Pollan. The Botany of Desire was a wonderful book, informative, descriptive and enjoyable. I’ve read most of his writings and really enjoy his style. “Why People Believe Wierd Things” by Michael Shermer (publisher of Skeptic Magazine. I also very much enjoyed hearing Stephen Kings other voice in “On Writing.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/43 "2007-07-28T20:19:21Z")
[Isaac’s Storm](http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/) - Erik Larson (About the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston.) [The Hot Zone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone) - Richard Preston (About an ebola outbreak among research monkeys in Reston, Virginia, and the potential of a human outbreak.) [Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars](http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Jackson-His-Indian-Wars/dp/0670910252) - Robert V. Rimini (Excellent read for anyone trying to understand the events leading up to the Trail of Tears.) And of course, there’s the granddaddy of true crime stories: [In Cold Blood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood_(book)) - Truman Capote ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/44 "2007-07-28T20:24:26Z")
**Lies My Teacher Told Me** by James W. Loewen **Guns, Germs, and Steel** by Jared Diamond **Founding Brothers** by Joseph J. Ellis and my favorite non-fiction of the past several years, _heartily_ recommended: **The Botany of Desire** by Michael Pollan. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/45 "2007-07-28T20:30:18Z")
[QUOTE=Knorf] **Lies My Teacher Told Me** by James W. Loewen [/QUOTE] Insert my standard rant against Loewen. I wouldn’t trust any factual assertion by Loewen without verifying. I have checked his footnotes and found them wanting. Aside from footnote problems, Loewen has a weakness for using dramatic but misleading half-truths. For my money the guy is a huge hypocrite if he’s raging about _other_ people’s lies. ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/46 "2007-07-28T21:32:23Z")
**The god delusion** by Richard Dawkins. An interesting read, if your are religious or not, it is also quite funny at times, and it all is explained at a level where most people can understand his ideas. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/47 "2007-07-28T21:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [Isaac’s Storm](http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/) - Erik Larson (About the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston.) [/QUOTE] Will have to check that one out!! I loved _Devil in the White City_ and _Thunderstruck_. Larson is quite a story teller. Since the Tour de France is currently in the news you might consider also [Lance Armstrong’s War](http://www.amazon.com/Lance-Armstrongs-War-Against-Scandal/dp/0060734973) by Daniel Coyle. Very engaging look into not just Armstrong himself but to the entire Tour. Coyle does a great job describing this world and pulls you right in to the peloton. I tried to get through Jared Diamond’s books _Guns, Germs and Steel_ and also _Collapse_, but could not do it. I would not describe his books as “fun”…something about his prose is very History Teacher-ish. But I had alot of fun with Kurlansky’s _Salt_! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/48 "2007-07-28T22:52:11Z")
I have [Into Thin Air](http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/0385492081) (Jon Krakauer) on my bookshelf at the recommendation of a friend, but haven’t read it yet. A first-hand account of a catastrophic Mt. Everest expedition, it received stellar reviews. And then there’s [Undaunted Courage](http://www.amazon.com/Undaunted-Courage-Stephen-E-Ambrose/dp/074347788X/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1094080-5088735?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185663002&sr=1-2), a well-paced, entertaining account of the Lewis and Clark expedition, by Stephen E. Ambrose. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/49 "2007-07-28T23:02:18Z")
I really enjoyed [Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare](http://www.amazon.com/Will-World-How-Shakespeare-Became/dp/0393050572) by Stephen Greenblatt. It’s a very detailed account of various historical events that occurred during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and how they may have influenced his writing. While the author sometimes uses lot of conjecture about what Shakespeare MAY have experienced (especially during the early years), he usually makes a very good case of why he came to those conclusions. It really paints a vivid picture of the history and life of that era, even if you’re not that interested in the Bard himself, but if you are, this is an even more excellent read. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/50 "2007-07-30T22:14:58Z")
I’ll second _The Devil in the White City_. _Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman_, about the amazing physicist. _To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian_, by Stephen Ambrose. He knew he was dying. He knew it was his last book. He just said what was on his mind. Any of Isaac Asimov’s science and math-related nonfiction. [QUOTE=Knorf] **Guns, Germs, and Steel** by Jared Diamond [/QUOTE] Fun? FUN? Okay, it was a good book. But _fun_? ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367/51 "2007-07-30T22:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] I’ll second _The Devil in the White City_. _Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman_, about the amazing physicist. _To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian_, by Stephen Ambrose. He knew he was dying. He knew it was his last book. He just said what was on his mind. Any of Isaac Asimov’s science and math-related nonfiction. Fun? FUN? Okay, it was a good book. But _fun_? [/QUOTE] What was wrong with “Guns, Germs, and Steel” ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-to-read-non-fiction-books/413367.md?page=2)