-A really good founding father biography (in order of preference: Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin)
-A book about Lewis and Clark
-Good popular science (not Sagan, Dawkins, Hawking, or Gould) Fiction
A good, fast read (a 1,000pg book can be a “fast” read and a 200pg book can be a “slow” read.) Funny and thoughtful are good qualities. No series books that I’m going to get bogged down in. Scifi, fantasy, historical fiction, and pretty much anything else are on the table. No Tolkein, Rowling, Adams, Pratchett, Heinlein, or Asimov.
I don’t know if this is quite what you were looking for, but for the popular science you could try Mary Roach, although it might be a stretch (I don’t know whether you’re specifically looking for more physics and astronomy type stuff). I’ve read Stiff and I thought it was hilarious and informative, though she can be a bit cutesy at times.
Also, my reply bumps your thread up the page again. So at least you have that.
This is a pretty good biography of Jefferson. It was written before the DNA tests came out indicating that Jefferson was most likely the father of Sally Hemmings children and is a bit dismissive of the idea, but worth reading none the less.
I’m fudging a little on your first topic, but Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer includes a lot of bio information on Mr. Revere, and also a great play-by-play of the actual ride.
My go to fast, funny and thoughtful fiction recommendation is always Hit Man by Lawrence Block, about a philosophical hit man. It is the first of a (short) series, but the first book is just fine as a stand-alone.
By science, do you mean the hard sciences, or all science?
If you include the life sciences, I will recommend, as I always do, David Quammen’s Song of the Dodo, on biogeography and extinction. Riveting from start to finish.
I thought I’d go a little off the beaten track for this suggestion, so:
I was looking for political fiction a couple of weeks ago and someone suggested the books of Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. I read Seven Days in May and it is an extremely fast read. Written in 1962 about a political crisis in the 1970s.
Founding Father biography- American Creation by Joseph Ellis, Inventing a Nation by Gore Vidal, Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
Pop Science (I’m fitting these in as loose connections because they are found in the Social Science section sometimes)- Blink & Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. You migh also enjoy The World is Flat & The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Johnathon Friedman.
Not necessarily fiction but a good, fast read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Good, fast fiction- Fight Club, Rant (especially this one), & Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk.
Thank you so far! I’ve read some of these before (which means you guys are nailing my tastes :)) and the rest look interesting.
Re the excluded authors:
I got called away while I was writing the OP last night so I didn’t get a chance to explain. The little I’ve read of Rowling (1st Harry Potter) was just kind of “meh” for me so I might read more one day and I might not, it’s not really high on my list. For Pratchett, I’ve liked a few Discworlds and been bored by a few, and I think I’ve read all I’ve wanted to for now; I’ll probably revisit them at some point in the distant future. The rest are among my favorite authors, and I’ve either read all their works, or the little I haven’t read is on my list.
For sci-fi: Neal Stevenson’s ‘Snow Crash’ and ‘The Diamond Age’ are clever and funny, and would probably fit the bill, they are considerably less dense than his later stuff.
I’m not sure if you want short stories or not, but Allen Steele’s ‘Sex and Violence in Zero G’ is fun, semi-hard science fiction. It also way better than any of his novels, which are, frankly, disappointing.
For pop sci (sorry no authors): ‘Parasite Rex’ about the wonderful world of things that live on or in other things and ‘Ghosts of Evolution’ about plants that apparently co-evolved with now extinct macrofauna.
These are short biographies by fairly famous names that skip the usual tedious detail about lives and cut right to the exciting, interesting bits about how they became themselves and the big struggles and triumphs of their presidencies. They range from good to excellent.
I’d also recommend the comic crime capers of Donald Westlake. He is the master of that form, and has been writing one a year since the 1960s, so there’s lots to choose from. Almost all sf lovers go for Westlake, who actually started in sf in the 1950s before finding that mysteries were much more lucrative.
Pop social science books: Hidden Order by Friedman, Undercover Economist by Harford, Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner, Discover your Inner Economist by Cowen, Influence by Cialdini.
For more pop biology, there’s Matt Ridley (The Red Queen, especially) and Sean Carroll (The Making of the Fittest, Endless Forms Most Beautiful).
Also try Oliver Sachs’ The Man who Mistook hi Wife for a Hat, etc.