# Non-fiction titles you think everyone should read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808 "2008-08-04T15:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/41 "2008-08-05T14:23:19Z")
Oh, and: _The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_, edited by Humphrey Carpenter. His letters show the professor to be a brilliant, opinionated, funny man, with a razor-sharp wit (his rebuke to a German publishing house in the 1930s that wanted to know whether he was “Aryan” is a classic). He replied to many fan letters soon after _The Lord of the Rings_ was published, eager to explain and expand upon his work, and answered all of the questions I would’ve asked, if I’d had the chance. This book is the next best thing to a conversation with the Professor himself. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/42 "2008-08-05T14:30:44Z")
[QUOTE=Doug Bowe] Okay, you may think it’s cheesy, but somebody has to do it. The 1936 basic toolbox of getting along: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. [/QUOTE] Not cheesy at all, **Doug**. I’ve read it more than a few times, and would also recommend it. As my own contribution, I’d recommend _The Art of Plain Talk_ by Rudolf Flesch. If you want to communicate with anyone via speech or writing, this book is a must-read. In fact, I’d say that if you put the lessons from Carnegie and Flesch together, you’ll be an extremely effective communicator; and will find their lessons handy in business, in personal life, in volunteer work, and in many other ways. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/43 "2008-08-05T14:33:30Z")
:smack: _Fear & Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72_ by Dr Hunter S. Thompson. Insane yet insightful look at the American political process. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/44 "2008-08-05T14:48:17Z")
A couple I am in the middle of right now: [Stumbling on Happiness](http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/gilbert/about.html) by Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert. It is really all about human perception, how wrong it is and how we persist in leading our lives in the belief that we “know” what is going on. Every chapter is laced with fascinating test results that reinforce the points he is making. He is an amusing writer for a psychologist and I am really enjoying the book. [The Art of Learning](http://www.joshwaitzkin.com/book-art.html) by Josh Waitzkin. The subject of _Searching for Bobby Fischer_ writes an autobiography about his career as a chessmaster and world champion martial artist and tries to explain how the basis of his success was not natural ability but his ability to learn. I haven’t read much yet but it is most engaging. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/45 "2008-08-05T14:48:55Z")
“Blind Man’s Bluff” – Submarine espionage during the cold war. Any nonfiction from Issac Asimov will be a great read. I think I owe much of my world view to his books. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/46 "2008-08-05T14:51:13Z")
My favorite celebrity autobiography is Carol Burnett’s “One More Time.” A delightful tale of how a person born into a poor, dysfunctional alcoholic family became a family name. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/47 "2008-08-05T16:40:49Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] _Assassination Vacation_ by Sarah Vowell. well-written, highly readable, American History… [/QUOTE] I’ve heard good things about that. Didja know she provided the voice of Violet, the disappearing daughter, in _The Incredibles_? ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/48 "2008-08-05T16:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] My husband introduced me to 1980’s \*The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage \* by Clifford Stoll, a hippie astronomer who was working at Berkeley when he noticed a 75-cent discrepancy in some billing records. This led him to catch a computer hacker who’d been recruited by the KGB. Some of the ways they tricked this guy to string him along are hilarious. [/QUOTE] Hey! I just read that book a few weeks ago (found it in my dads bookshelves and stole it). It was really cool and quite hilarious, yup. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/49 "2008-08-05T17:22:09Z")
_Deborah, Golda and Me_ by Letty Cottin Pogrebin on feminism and Judaism. _Savage Inequalities_ by Johnathan Kozol for understanding how we fund schools in America. And why that system needs to change ASAP. _Living Out Loud_ and \*Thinking Out Loud \* both by Anna Quindlen and both fabulous collections of her NY Times essays. _Coming of Age in the Milky Way_ by Timothy Ferris. Really excellent history of science for the non-scientist. ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/50 "2008-08-05T17:58:44Z")
[Dead Men Do Tell Tales](http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Men-Tell-Tales-Anthropologist/dp/0385479689), the autobiography of one Wm. Maples, a forensic anthropologist. A fascinating look at, well, forensic anthropology. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/51 "2008-08-05T18:06:57Z")
[QUOTE=SisterCoyote] [Dead Men Do Tell Tales](http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Men-Tell-Tales-Anthropologist/dp/0385479689), the autobiography of one Wm. Maples, a forensic anthropologist. A fascinating look at, well, forensic anthropology. [/QUOTE] I read that just before getting a job in the pathology department here and was disappointed to hear he had died. It is a very interesting book. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/52 "2008-08-05T18:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] My recommendation is “Prisoner of Trebekistan” by Bob Harris, a former five-time Jeopardy! champion. It’s funny, poignant, engaging, and it’s about more than just being on a game show. [/QUOTE] I agree. This is an extremely funny, well-written book, which also gives some good (and funny) memorization tips. Harris wrote a second book called _Who Hates Whom_, a light-hearted guide to the various conflicts of the world which is equally as entertaining (which is surprising, given the subject matter). For anyone interested in video games, I recommend _Joystick Nation_ by J.C. Herz, a very interesting book commenting on why video games appeal to so many to us. Quite possibly the best book ever written on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/53 "2008-08-05T18:17:11Z")
**The Ancestor’s Tale** by Richard Dawkins. It seems a little too technical to people I’ve suggested it to but otherwise liked his other books like **The Blind Wachmaker** , but I think this one is his best one. I also liked **Over The Edge of The World** and **From Venice to Xanadu** both by Laurence Bergreen. The former deals with Magellan’s Voyage around the world and the second with Marco Polo’s travels in Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/54 "2008-08-05T18:35:20Z")
I would like to recommend The Drama of the Gifted Child, by Alice Miller, a Swiss psychiatrist. For anyone who has parent issues (and who among us doesn’t?), and for anyone who is a parent, this book could change your life and the lives of your children. She has written a number of excellent books, but among the ones I have read, this was the most profoundly moving for me. Then there’s The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, for anyone who wants to improve their written style and grammar. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/55 "2008-08-05T21:11:33Z")
Seconding “The Ancient Engineers” by L. Sprague De Camp. By Martin Gardner: “Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science”, “Science: Good, Bad and Bogus”. Any of Isaac Asimov’s writings on many non-fiction subjects. The science is becoming out-of-date, but for an introduction they’re great. “Flim-Flam” by James Randi. His other books are also worthwhile. “The God That Failed”, six accounts by people who rejected Communism: Arthur Koestler, Richard Wright, et al. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/56 "2008-08-05T21:15:32Z")
[QUOTE=counsel wolf] [Fooled by Randomness - Taleb](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-Markets/dp/0141031484/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217868921&sr=1-2) Instructs the reader about a number of easy to fall into mathematical traps in investment and life in general. [/QUOTE] Slight hijack - I read Taleb’s “The Black Swan” that dealt with the consequences of totally unforeseeable events, and while I loved the subject matter, Taleb came across as so unbearably arrogant that I found it almost impossible to finish. Does this book have all of the auto-biographical BS that made The Black Swan such a hard read? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_2Times](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@Jimmy\_2Times](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_2Times)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/57 "2008-08-05T21:20:28Z")
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/58 "2008-08-05T21:23:26Z")
And my own suggestions ( Into Thin Air and The Demon Haunted World have been covered emphatically enough, as they should) Roll, Jordan Roll: The World The Slaves Made - Eugene Genovese Stiff - Mary Roach (Spook was also wonderful, but I’m having trouble getting excited \ about Bonk.) Big Bang: the Origin of the Universe - Simon Singh Nickel and Dimed: on Not Getting By In America - Barbra Ehrenreich The Motion Paradox - Joseph Mazur (Deals with the formation and understanding of Zeno’s Paradoxes Chances Are: Adventures In Probability - Michael and Ellen Kaplan ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/59 "2008-08-05T21:27:16Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Actually, it’s “The Origin of Species.” [/nitpick] [/QUOTE] [nitpickier]It’s actually _On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life_[/nitpickier]. It just gets shortened to “The Origin of Species”. I prefer to call it “OTOOSBMONSOTPOFRITSFL”, myself. For those who prefer a less 1850s prose-oriented book, I’d recommend _The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time_, by Jonathan Weiner. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/60 "2008-08-05T21:34:50Z")
I shouldn’t jump in again but I feel the need to recommend the non-fiction writings of two of my favorite authors: Lauren Slater wrote a book about working in psychiatry after being a patient herself. The book is “Welcome to my Country” and it is wonderful. She has written many other books and articles and she’s always worth reading. Mark Salzman wrote “Iron and Silk” about living in China, studying martial arts. It’s as good as his memoir of growing up in the suburbs or his tale of teaching writing to prisoners. He is another wonderful writer. (oh and Dung Beetle - I met Dr. Maples when I worked at his dept at UF long ago. He was jokingly called Dr. Death. A nice, interesting guy) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808.md?page=4)