# Please recommend nonfiction that a teenager would enjoy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208 "2003-07-22T19:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/41 "2003-07-23T23:12:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > > * * * > > The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100\* by Colin Evans \*\* I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. That author freaks me out because my first and middle names are Colin and Evans. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/42 "2003-07-23T23:17:01Z")
Boy did you come to the right place. My thoughts **Travels with Charlie** by John Steinbeck is a good 'un for youngsters. There is a scene in the South, a black girl being walked to school by a White [Southern Accent] Law Enforcement Officer[/Southern Accent] he may never forget - I didn’t Which brings to mind **The autobiography of Malcom X** by … well Malcolm X. Back along the further History lines, I can recommend \*\* Benjamin Franklin : An American Life \*\* by Walter Isaacson which is pretty readable and for someone who liked “guns and germs” it is a similar, though more narrow read. Finally **In Search of Moby Dick: Quest for the White Whale** by Tim Severin. Severin re-traces the Moby Dick voyage and looks at the natives situation compared today vs. Meville’s time. He looks for a modern white whale too. If the teenager likes other cultures, history a bit o’ adventure this isn’t an awful one to try – if he hasn’t read the cliff notes of Moby Dick or seen the movie - I’d give it a miss. ---
**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/43 "2003-07-24T03:04:19Z")
**Go Ask Alice** by Anonymous… maybe for the older teenage crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/44 "2003-07-24T03:57:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\*Well, if he wants to be like me (and who doesn’t?), \*\* Hee! May I heartily recommend: [Donbas](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595150438/qid=1059017842/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8331824-1347820?v=glance&s=books) Some Guy At Amazon: > [@](#): > > Amazing story. I’m glad it wasn’t lost and is being republished. I bought two copies. This would be a great story for teenagers to read about endurance and survival (for all ages, but the story is easy to read and the guy is a teenager when he was captured by the Russians and sent to the slave camp). It is very remarkable story if even mostly true and now one of my favorite books. Another book that I, a female and self educating myself about 'Nam, adored and loved in high school and made the colassal mistake of giving my copy away is [The Sunshine Soldiers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0963518569/ref=cm_wl_ovu-pg.1-pos.15/103-8331824-1347820?v=glance&coliid=I4FBRQ0P4I5EZ&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER) I want to buy this book again and re-read it to see if it stands up to the hilarity that sticks in my mind. Some Guy at Amazon wrote: > [@](#): > > Leaving for Navy Basic Training in September of 1973 I needed some reading material. The cover art of this book caught my eye and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. A M.A.S.H. for my generation or even better a survival guide to Basic Training. I reread the book many times until I lost it to a friend who was on his way to Army Basic Training for the Reserves just as Mr. Tauber was. I hope it helped him as it helped me. A great read and example of just what the military was like during the Vietnam Era from an author who like many of us was a peacenik trying to do the right thing. – A book I haven’t read yet, but it is on my list is:[Bringing down the house: how six MIT students took Vegas for millions](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743225708/ref=cm_wl_ovu-pg.3-pos.12/103-8331824-1347820?v=glance&coliid=I2GPLHTMNDJQ9O&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER) It was recommended in Maxim with a three (out of five) rating. Looks interesting. May I plug two book sites: [Chinaberry Books](http://www.chinaberry.com) Which is an excellent source for infants to adults. With a good chunk of books for teenagers. (at least all the books I want to get are for teens.) [Bas Bleu](http://www.basbleu.com) This is an excellent little company that has the knack for finding gems and making them so enticing and yet, being the tightwad I am, I go to the library with their little catalog. If they go out of business, I am to blame. ( I just got my fall catalog in and have alread 10 books that I have to have.) And lastly, for the physcotic teenager that lurks in all of us, may I heartily recommend my favorite book in my teen angst years: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087131777X/qid=1059019067/sr=2-1/ref=sr\_2\_1/103-8331824-1347820]Bloodletters and Bad Men. A compliation of the criminals in America from the Pilgrims to present. ( I don’t know if its been updated, but it ended at 1980 before.) It was so fascinating to my young Catholic School Girl mind. And lastly last, [Tobacco: A Cultural History of how an exotic plant seduced civiliation](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802117058/qid=1059019258/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-8331824-1347820?v=glance&s=books) Very fascinating and I am not even up to our time period. (It’s a bathroom read, if you must know 🙂 ) I’ll shut up now. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/45 "2003-07-24T11:03:03Z")
Since he’s a Straight Dope fan, he’s probably already at least three-quarters skeptic, so why not push him over the edge? Try him on The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan. Also anything by the utterly adorable Michael Shermer – I recommend Why People Believe Weird Things to start. And books about Urban Legends are bound to be a hit. I recommend Jan Brunvand’s books for that – he’s _the_ authority, really the grand old man of the subject. Is there a sport or hobby he’s particularly interested in? My 17 year old son is all about boxing right now, so I’ve gotten him (from the library mostly) a stack of books on boxing that he’s enjoyed very much. And keep an eye on what he seems interested by on TV. My son and I watched _The Six Wives of Henry VIII_ on PBS last night and, afterward, I saw him heading up to the bathtub with my copy of Antonia Fraser’s The Wives of Henry VIII. That may be a one-time thing, or it could spark an interest in the British Monarchy, or in the English Reformation or in Tudor history, or who knows what all. Another time, we watched a cable special about hurricanes that prompted Nick to tear through all my books on Great Disasters, plus a bunch more we found at the library. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/46 "2003-07-24T12:54:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Topaz \* > \*\ ***Go Ask Alice** by Anonymous… maybe for the older teenage crowd. \*\* Just being nitpicky but this is not non-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/47 "2003-07-24T15:02:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck Oooh, seconded. Read that one several times from when I was 13 on, and got something new out of it each time. Its pace is leisurely and there’s real warmth and humor, along with the keen observations. I’ve long wanted my own Rocinante (the truck, not the horse). There are so many good suggestions in this thread. I have a hankering to hit the library this weekend and just work my way through the list. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/48 "2003-07-24T15:48:21Z")
2 by Stephen Ambrose… “Undaunted Courage” - The Lewis & Clark Expedition “Citizen Soldier” - From Normandy to the end of the war through the eyes of ordinary soldiers. “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe “Yeager: An Autobiography” by Chuck Yeager And one I first read as a teenager and still read occasionally… “The Rough Riders” by Theodore Roosevelt ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/49 "2003-07-24T18:42:15Z")
I would also like to heartily recommend anything by **Dave Barry**. I discovered him when I was about 18 and nearly peed my pants reading _Babies and other hazards of sex_. His sophomoric goober mentality has never failed to make me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/50 "2003-07-24T23:05:28Z")
He might like **Maiden Voyage** , the story of an 18 year old Ausie who solo-sailed a 26’ sloop around the world. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/51 "2003-07-24T23:11:30Z")
isaac’s storm and devil in the white city, erik larsen. to sleep with the angels, david cowan and john kuenster the proving ground, bruce knecht in our defense, ellen alderman and caroline kennedy the gift of fear, gavin de becker ship ablaze by ed o’donnell ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/52 "2003-08-15T05:02:08Z")
merejane, if you are still out there, how went the book selection? ---
**Author:** ![RNWebner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@RNWebner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RNWebner)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/53 "2003-08-15T05:22:19Z")
Has anyone recommended Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose yet? It might be a little heavy for a 13-year-old, but it is a wonderful book. ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/54 "2003-08-15T06:56:12Z")
Hi, **Shirley Ujest**! Yes, we’re still out here. Actually, we’re on vacation in Vancouver, Canada, across the continent and in another country, but we’re still online, checking the SDMB! The day you posted about Dave Barry, I took my son to Barnes & Noble to use some gift certificates he had. He has actually been a fan of Dave Barry for quite some time, but hadn’t read any of his books recently. Well, your post reminded my son how much he did like Dave Barry’s books, so when we got to the bookstore, he made a beeline for the humor section. He ended up buying **Dave Barry’s Not Making This Up** and **Dave Barry Turns 50**. He enjoyed them both! When I gave him **Seabiscuit** , back when I started this thread, he had not yet finished **Guns, Germs, and Steel**. So, since the thread started, he has read the two Dave Barry books, finished **Seabiscuit** , and returned to **Guns, Germs, and Steel**. He is about three-fourths through that book. (He just told me he got a bit bogged down with the discussion comparing food production in America with food production in Mesopotamia, and then we left for vacation. He does have the book here, and is getting back into it.) So, we still have a long ways to go with the list! I think when we get back from vacation I’ll type up a WordPerfect list of the books to take with us on trips to the library. Working through the list will probably take a while, but my son is looking forward to it. I’ll be happy to report back! And thanks, **RNWebner** , for the **Band of Brothers** recommendation. My husband has read that book, and he agrees that my son would likely also enjoy it. And thanks again to everyone else for all the great recommendations! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/55 "2003-08-15T07:47:21Z")
_A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons_ by Robert Sapolsky is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in the past several years. It’s the story of Sapolsky’s research on the effects of stress on wild baboons in Kenya. About half the chapters are about the baboons - the other half are about the people he encountered. The parallels between baboon and human behavior are fascinating. Sapolsky is an entertaining writer, and the book is fun to read as well as educational. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/56 "2003-08-15T12:52:14Z")
Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNabb. Story of a SAS guy in Iraq during the first gulf war. That’s probably one a 13 year old guy would get into. Immediate Action is the autobiographical story of his life, and actually quite a fascinating read of a smart kid that grew up poor and became a soldier’s soldier cum writer. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/57 "2003-08-15T15:34:20Z")
If he’s into history I would suggest **The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad** by Harrison Salisbury. It describes the ordeals of the citizens of Leningrad during the Nazi blockade in WWII and their attempts to build a road across a frozen lake in order to procure supplies from another town. **The End of the World: A History** by Otto Friedrich describes various disatrous historical events from the fall of Rome to the Holocaust and discusses some of the people involved and how these events affected people’s perception of the world. Pretty much anything by Barbara Tuchman has my recommendation. She mostly wrote books about various periods of history, from the late middle ages to the pre WWI era. And don’t miss out on Charles Mackay’s **Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.** ---
**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:** [August 15, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/58 "2003-08-15T16:38:50Z")
Just re-read my post and realized I misattributed **“10,000 Miles By Dogsled”** to Bernard Hubbard. It was actually written by Hudson Stuck, another missionary and first white man to summit Mt. McKinley. Another book of his (but _very_ expensive and hard to find) is **“Ascent of Denali”** , which recounts the climb. Hubbard wrote **“Mush You Malemutes”** , which is also very readable. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/59 "2003-08-15T17:30:10Z")
**[Lies My Teacher Told Me](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684818868/qid=1060968755/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7625159-2104727?v=glance&s=books)** **[A Civil Action](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679772677/qid=1060968850/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-7625159-2104727)** Both of these were very popular with the teenager I mentor, who also liked **Guns, Germs, and Steel**. I also heartily second **The Hot Zone** , **The Demon-Haunted World** , and **Into Thin Air**. ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208/60 "2003-08-16T05:55:20Z")
Fotos sez that **ALONE** by Adm. Richard Byrd is perfect! A chronical of 6 months in Antartica, in the mid 50’s He said it’s one of his favorite books of all times!!! My favorites are biographies/autobiographies - just about anyone! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-nonfiction-that-a-teenager-would-enjoy/190208.md?page=2)