# Please recommend a nonfiction vacation book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 9, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371 "2025-06-09T14:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/1 "2025-06-09T14:50:46Z")
Hey, I’m fly fishing in Montana from Friday to Wednesday and looking for something to read on the flights and in the evenings on the deck. For me, the perfect vacation book is light without being insipid. Something you can read after a long day of fishing and maybe too much sun. I’m a sucker for the kind of nonfiction that started life as a long magazine article and then was expanded into a book. The kind of “accessible” history that drives my history prof friend into a rage. I also like a true crime book, but I have a weird hangup: in order for me to enjoy it, everyone involved has to have died long ago. I don’t like reading a true crime book and thinking about the victim’s mom having to see the author talking about it on TV, or whatever. So Lizzie Borden good, but some horrific murder last year bad, if that makes sense. Books I consider perfect vacation books: Devil in the White City and all of Larsen’s other books The Match King The Lost City of Z Night of the Grizzlies ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/2 "2025-06-09T15:18:44Z")
[Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded](https://www.amazon.com/Krakatoa-World-Exploded-August-1883/dp/0060838590) [The Right Stuff](https://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427565/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TCIYGF5C15I5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hVSPk9cUiFx78Lew79ud4QaFGRTb0HR3UwtV-hIxkb6dl8HKP1LHdyCrVNaw2t17UPTaVawRKc4s6wgEb3SbfjgHZoky6nK0uTfJ2dVhxHilxu9VB6S7P2OAw-vUzr89QGRV4YjxtOz8LVS8fQa3jLuayYTiEnmGZFO9i6J3KVYthN2eFcXghvbwgCEaqsEFOh1BRMG4n69mE8a1NBwyKoLAH3SkQRIJB_d_1P57xBs.UEP9XMg19SP8_rHJxvgeyuaB-UQoRh2VTiJf--Uf8Kk&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+right+stuff&qid=1749482183&s=books&sprefix=the+right+stuff%2Cstripbooks%2C167&sr=1-1) [Confederates In The Attic](https://www.amazon.com/Confederates-Attic-Dispatches-Unfinished-Civil/dp/067975833X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NHYANWJRMOQS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QytR-BLRa-YaZVCJy1shsZFRgNYIB_I2c7UADWAJdlcXMKBx-WOjm3knUyDB3hy9wc2T59_GGu3xm7zXcbyJDck_1tzKkRJYRngh-Alk_mLRZyAV4bbwLLFNAPNjAT4kubKuaWA0T10kNaH3wjiHVvPZoOxg2bad1jAJOHTHTiCoB80_6AdZOn-T01bR9CRmxMLbqBqmCDEVtsQt_-tnC91dAZGFWf6aITXxYsfmYVA.fo44C-t9QiFYjlYQEKxAywLDK_wsgiD_3Lvw_R_EObo&dib_tag=se&keywords=confederates+in+the+attic&qid=1749482239&s=books&sprefix=confederates+in+the+attic%2Cstripbooks%2C145&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/3 "2025-06-09T15:18:57Z")
Any of the Uncle Johns Bathroom Readers. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/4 "2025-06-09T15:22:26Z")
Pretty much anything by Bill Bryson. Largely travelogues but also some historical and accessible sciency stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/5 "2025-06-09T15:27:38Z")
_[The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56269264-the-dawn-of-everything)_. One of the most life-changing books I’ve ever read. Speaking of life-changing: _[The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/470367.The_Chalice_and_the_Blade)_. Speaking of true crime: _[Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25898216-stamped-from-the-beginning)_ takes on the biggest true crime of them all. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/6 "2025-06-09T15:29:53Z")
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ve read some of these, but keep 'em coming! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/7 "2025-06-09T15:33:19Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I’m fly fishing in Montana from Friday to Wednesday and looking for something to read on the flights and in the evenings on the deck. Given the destination and what you’ll be doing, how about [A River Runs Through It](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_River_Runs_Through_It_(book))? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/8 "2025-06-09T15:35:05Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Given the destination and what you’ll be doing, how about [A River Runs Through It](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_River_Runs_Through_It_(book))? I’ve read it many, many times. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/9 "2025-06-09T15:37:44Z")
I enjoyed _Ingenious_. A good, easy to read history of things I didn’t know about Franklin. [Amazon.com: Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist: 9780393882230: Munson, Richard: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Ingenious-Biography-Benjamin-Franklin-Scientist/dp/0393882233) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/10 "2025-06-09T15:52:03Z")
You might try some of Hampton Sides’ books. I recently read “Hellhound on his Trail”, which is about the hunt for MLK’s killer. Very well researched and reads like a novel. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/11 "2025-06-09T15:57:34Z")
Thanks that is right in my vacation read sweet spot, especially the one on the polar expedition. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/12 "2025-06-09T16:04:13Z")
Disastrous expeditions and explorations, along with general survival stories are my favorite reads. This interest was sparked when I read “White Nile”, about the various explorations for the source of the river by several ill-fated British men. I’ve read several books about polar exploration, including the riveting journey of Shackleton and crew to Antarctica, and the horror that was the John Franklin exploration of the Arctic. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/13 "2025-06-09T16:20:25Z")
You’d enjoy the Lost City of Z about a failed expedition. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/14 "2025-06-09T16:51:21Z")
“In the Reign of Rothstein” by Donald Henderson Clarke **Arnold Rothstein** (January 17, 1882 – November 6, 1928),[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Rothstein#cite_note-Katcher-1) nicknamed “ **The Brain** ”, was an American [racketeer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeering), crime boss, businessman, and gambler who became a [kingpin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_boss) of the [Jewish Mob](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish-American_organized_crime) in [New York City](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City). - [Arnold Rothstein - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Rothstein) An entertaining read of long dead gangsters written by a newspaperman. It’s on Internet Archive. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/15 "2025-06-09T17:17:58Z")
I recommend: [Indian Creek Chronicles](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156956.Indian_Creek_Chronicles) by Pete Fromm. A good book to read on a Montana fishing vacation – or any other vacation. [The Sex Lives of Cannibals](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11077.The_Sex_Lives_of_Cannibals) by J. Maarten Troost. I re-read this when I take vacations to the coast. Be prepared to be heartbroken at the utter level of filth and poverty the natives of Kiribati live in. [Mary Celeste](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1651943.Mary_Celeste) by Paul Begg. A good overview of the Mary Celeste mystery without fanwanking the outlandish theories (aliens, time travel, etc.) while also going into a bit of the ship’s pre- and subsequent history. [Survivng the Extremes](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/359434.Surviving_the_Extremes), by Ken Kamler. This one’s a bit different. Kamler is an MD and adventure junkie who has joined several/many expeditions to remote locales as the expedition doctor. In that capacity he’s treated all manner of illness and injury, all occurring miles away from any hospital or clinic. He recounts many of those incidents in the book and discusses why some people make it out alive and some die of seemingly innocuous injuries or maladies. [Dig](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4615413-dig), by Frank Clune. It’s about the Burke and Wills expedition which, if you are unfamiliar with it, was an attempt to map part of the interior of Australia between Melbourne and the Gulf of Carpentaria ca. 1860. Think the Lewis and Clark expedition but led by unprepared morons. I confess it’s been a handful of years since I’ve read this one but I remember it being an absolutely wonderful book about a very sad tale. And since you asked for my opinion on fiction, I’ll throw in [Bucking the Sun](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/165419.Bucking_the_Sun) by Ivan Doig. Historical fiction, northern Montana… it has it all. Plus, it’s Doig – he never wrote a stinker. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/16 "2025-06-09T17:27:14Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I’m a sucker for the kind of nonfiction that started life as a long magazine article and then was expanded into a book. The kind of “accessible” history that drives my history prof friend into a rage. Into Thin Air ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/17 "2025-06-09T17:28:57Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > You’d enjoy the Lost City of Z about a failed expedition. Read it. I’ve read most survival and exploration books out there. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/18 "2025-06-09T17:31:33Z")
The second post in this thread had a recommendation for _Confederates In The Attic_ by Tony Horwitz. He also wrote _Spying On The South_ about a trip he took retracing the path of Frederick Law Olmstead’s trips around the antebellum South, which is a good read. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/19 "2025-06-09T17:55:43Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Into Thin Air Read it and everything else by him. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/20 "2025-06-09T17:56:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Read it. I’ve read most survival and exploration books out there. IMHO, the best ones have a healthy dose of colonial hubris mixed in. Got my pith helmet flag and tea, let’s conquer a continent. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371.md?page=2)