# Please recommend a book I can learn from. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2002, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-i-can-learn-from/116018 "2002-06-26T12:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-i-can-learn-from/116018/41 "2002-07-01T21:28:17Z")
**lno** got to both of the books I was going to recommend _in the very first response._ Frustrating, but also an indication of why I like this board so much. I’ll also second (third, actually) _Godel, Escher, Bach_, which I’m re-reading right now for the third time. It gets awfully thick, but it definitely rewires your head. On a completely different tack, I’ll throw out _Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women_ by Ricky Jay. It’s a historical survey of sorts, presenting a remarkable catalog of unusual vaudeville and sideshow performers, written by a man who is generally considered the best card magician currently alive. He’s made an obsessive hobby of the history of his art, and has collected all sorts of anecdotes and characters along the way. In _Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women_, you will learn about Le Petomaine (sp?), who made his living by farting in tune; Clever Hans, the arithmetic-performing horse (and provider of an excellent username to somebody on these boards); an Austrian noble who could juggle, perform trick shots with bowling balls and firearms, write miniscule calligraphy, and do other stunts despite not having either hands or feet; and so on and so forth. And Jay’s writing style is unbelievably droll, his wit Sahara-dry. Tremendously entertaining _and_ informative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-i-can-learn-from/116018.md?page=2)