# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**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, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/61 "2008-08-05T23:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I’ve heard good things about that. Didja know she provided the voice of Violet, the disappearing daughter, in _The Incredibles_? [/QUOTE] I borrowed the audio book from my library, & it sounded like I had a cartoon character in the car with me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![counsel\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@counsel\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/counsel_wolf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/62 "2008-08-06T00:46:38Z")
[QUOTE=SuntanTigerTamer] 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? [/QUOTE] Yes, Taleb is almost insufferable, but the subject matter makes it worth it. For the record I’ve read both books and I think black swan is a badly padded rehash of ideas he explains more clearly in the first book. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/63 "2008-08-06T00:51:10Z")
[QUOTE=counsel wolf] Yes, Taleb is almost insufferable, but the subject matter makes it worth it. For the record I’ve read both books and I think black swan is a badly padded rehash of ideas he explains more clearly in the first book. [/QUOTE] I will check it out then, but whoever edited The Black Swan deserves a date with a firing squad… ---
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/64 "2008-08-06T01:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=HongKongFooey] Guns, Germs, and Steel [/QUOTE] Seconded. _The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee_, also by Jared Diamond. Anything else by him too, for that matter. _Your Inner Fish_ by Neil Shubin. _Crowds and Power_ by Elias Canetti ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/65 "2008-08-06T01:32:30Z")
_The Moon’s a Balloon_ and _Bring on the Empty Horses_ by Davin Niven - Hollywood explained clearly and with love, including the damage it does. _Uncle Tungsten_ and any other book by Oliver Sacks, _Island of the Colorblind, The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat_ - anything. _Mr God, This is Anna_ by Fyn - the only theology book this atheist will ever recommend. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/66 "2008-08-06T01:42:45Z")
\*Europe: A History \* by Norman Davies. A book I have enjoyed reading and rereading. Beautifully written and informative. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/67 "2008-08-06T03:43:49Z")
I haven’t finished it yet, but I was educated on things I had no inkling of by The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. I didn’t know why Communism and Communist Russia were bad things until I read this book. I just thought they were, you know, different. My husband usually recommends Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution by Kenneth R. Miller. ---
**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 6, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/68 "2008-08-06T04:11:10Z")
I really enjoyed _Blink_ by Malcolm Gladwell, about the (more often than not) accuracy of snap judgments and how people should rely on their intuition, particularly in dangerous situations. Very thought-provoking, and well-written to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/69 "2008-08-06T10:08:14Z")
_The 48 Laws of Power_ - learn how to control anyone. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/70 "2008-08-06T10:22:58Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] _The 48 Laws of Power_ - learn how to control anyone. [/QUOTE] And there’s a fitting username/post 😉 Since so many good books have already been mentioned, I’m down to biographies of which I really like this one: [Peter the Great](http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Great-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345336194/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218018096&sr=1-1) by Robert K Massie ---
**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 6, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/71 "2008-08-06T12:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] (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) [/QUOTE] Cool! ---
**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 6, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/72 "2008-08-06T13:30:01Z")
[QUOTE=WormTheRed] …Since so many good books have already been mentioned, I’m down to biographies of which I really like this one: _Peter the Great_ by Robert K Massie… [/QUOTE] I’ll see your \*Peter the Great \* and raise you _Washington: The Indispensable Man_ by James Flexner (an excellent one-volume bio of George Washington), _Lincoln_ by David Herbert Donald (ditto, about the Civil War leader), and _Theodore Rex_ by Edmund Morris (equally good, about T.R.'s presidency). All are just terrific, even if you know nothing about the subjects beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/73 "2008-08-06T15:09:32Z")
Has anyone yet mentioned Barbara Tuchman’s **A Distant Mirror**? If nothing else this book had a remarkable impact on my life. It was the first time a book on history sung to me. I need to buy a new copy as I’ve worn out the one I bought 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808/74 "2008-08-06T17:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] (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) [/QUOTE] /me has envy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-fiction-titles-you-think-everyone-should-read/458808.md?page=3)