# Random Recommended Book Lists are Useless to Me. Please Dopers, Recommend Me a Book. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080 "2016-10-19T22:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/41 "2016-10-24T14:16:59Z")
For a different spin on non-fic I finished _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond and found it was one of those books that really makes you re-evaluate social interaction in a whole new light. For a cheesecake of a book (something you can only eat in small slices) Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Very thought provoking. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/42 "2016-10-24T15:03:10Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > For a different spin on non-fic I finished _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond and found it was one of those books that really makes you re-evaluate social interaction in a whole new light. For a cheesecake of a book (something you can only eat in small slices) Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Very thought provoking. Dude, I devoured The Black Swan and started a thread about it: [Philosophy, Business/Finance, Math/Probability Types: The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606104) It is a chewy book, indeed, but if you are in the right mindspace, really fun. He is an arrogant SOB to the extreme, but fun to read while he gets all “Edna Mode” dismissing other thinkers like they wear Hobo Suits, dahling. This thread has devolved to a “list cool books” thread - fine, but **Two Many Cats** , I have no sense if you have picked a book or have what you need to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/43 "2016-10-24T17:24:47Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > This thread has devolved to a “list cool books” thread - fine, but **Two Many Cats** , I have no sense if you have picked a book or have what you need to do so. Oh, I’ve picked up some ideas: For instance, **WordMan** , I may look into the Masters of Rome series. _Delusions of Gender_ sounds interesting. Thanks **jsgoddess**. **Puddleglum** mentioned Somerset Maugham, whose stories have been made into movies I’ve seen, but I’ve never read his stuff. Might be cool to do so, and compare. _How to Fight Presidents_ sounds like just my style. Thank you, **Thudlow Boink**. And thanks also to **Little Nemo** for noticing I like food titles. I have _Good to Eat_ on my list. Thanks everyone, and feel free to add more. :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/44 "2016-10-24T17:27:05Z")
This is one I think you might enjoy: \*\*Erik Larson The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America\*\* This is a beautifully written narrative nonfiction piece that explores two very disparate lives at the time of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It is not only well written but chock full of fascinating and little known facts about life during that era. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/45 "2016-10-24T17:44:41Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Just thought of another: My Father’s Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD by Brian McDonald. Basically the history of the NYPD through the eyes of one family of cops. That sounds really good. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/46 "2016-10-24T18:47:04Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Oh, I’ve picked up some ideas: > > For instance, **WordMan** , I may look into the Masters of Rome series. > > _Delusions of Gender_ sounds interesting. Thanks **jsgoddess**. > > **Puddleglum** mentioned Somerset Maugham, whose stories have been made into movies I’ve seen, but I’ve never read his stuff. Might be cool to do so, and compare. > > _How to Fight Presidents_ sounds like just my style. Thank you, **Thudlow Boink**. > > And thanks also to **Little Nemo** for noticing I like food titles. I have _Good to Eat_ on my list. > > Thanks everyone, and feel free to add more. :):)🙂 Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/47 "2016-10-24T19:10:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That sounds really good. It is. McDonald’s grandfather was one of the first responders at the General Slocum and his dad was (IIRC) captain of the 41[sup]st[/sup] Precinct, aka “Fort Apache”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/48 "2016-10-24T20:32:15Z")
Looking at what I’ve read this year and given five stars on Goodreads, I loved _The Supper of the Lamb_ - it’s a food book, but much more than that. I’m not religious but the author is (he’s an Episcopalian priest) and I guess I’d call it partially a meditation on the spirituality of food, but also a guide to eating a leg of lamb over seven meals, if that makes sense. I’ve given a few copies of it away. I’ve also loved everything I’ve read by N. K. Jemisin, who recently won the Hugo for _The Fifth Season_, which is excellent. It’s… I mean, I guess it’s technically sci fi. It’s the kind of book that takes you into a completely alien human culture and you live there for a bit. (Most of her characters tend, refreshingly, to be people of color, which is interesting in that kind of fantasy book wherein people keep getting introduced and described by where they’re from, and it helps you realize just how much diversity you don’t see in genre fiction even in minor characters.) _The Friends of Eddie Coyle_ is a tight little crime novel; very spare, nothing wasted. Has a hell of a twist, I thought. All of Atul Gawande’s books on improving the way we do medicine are excellent and I recommend all of them. I’ve read the first two of Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead books; you probably want to start with the first one, _Gilead_, but the second one really gutted me. Well, they both did. They’re very quiet little novels, very personal, about family. The second one, _Home_, was mostly people walking in and out of rooms and worrying about things, but I cried like a baby at the end of it. (Both also about aging and death, and my father has only been gone a year, so it was a little close to the bone.) Oh, and I read some YA books that I absolutely adored, but since you think there’s nothing at all there for you… ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/49 "2016-10-24T21:13:17Z")
Excellent non-fiction: Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat (Bee Wilson) The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (Sam Kean) All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/50 "2016-10-24T22:00:13Z")
Mary Roach writes amusingly about subjects that we usually take seriously, like Stiff about corpses, or Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/51 "2016-10-25T01:04:53Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > [Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America’s First Nuclear Accident](https://www.amazon.com/Idaho-Falls-Americas-Nuclear-Accident/dp/1550225626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476927555&sr=1-1&keywords=idaho+falls) > The title is slightly inaccurate, but it’s still an in-depth and intriguing look at a lesser-known and somewhat mysterious nuclear reactor accident. Oh, I gotta read that now. In a (somewhat) similar vein, “Command and Control” by Eric Schlosser (the Fast Food Nation guy) explores the history of nuclear weapons and distressing number of incidents which could have accidentally led to World War 3. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/52 "2016-10-25T02:25:25Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I recently finished [The Nix](https://www.amazon.com/Nix-novel-Nathan-Hill/dp/110194661X) by Nathan Hill. I think it may be my favorite book ever. It’s just completely delightful, and sorta historical. I can’t imagine anyone not loving it. I finished this just recently too. Not my normal type of book, but I really liked it. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/53 "2016-10-25T07:13:43Z")
_The Late Shift_ by Bill Carter, about the Leno-Letterman “conflict” in re: the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson retired. Might be a little too pop culture for your taste, but great reading nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/54 "2016-10-25T14:29:59Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > \*\*Erik Larson > > The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America\*\* > > This is a beautifully written narrative nonfiction piece that explores two very disparate lives at the time of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It is not only well written but chock full of fascinating and little known facts about life during that era. I can’t recommend this one enough. I rarely read non-fiction, and was incredibly surprised to find that I was as immersed in the story of the Fair as I was in the part with the murders. For historical fiction, I always recommend _ **The Alienist** _ by Caleb Carr. 1896 New York, serial killer, assorted personalities trying to solve the murders using little-known forensic methods and psychological profiling. There was a followup called _ **The Angel of Darkness** _ that just makes me sad there has never been a third book. Carr was known for his non-fiction before this book’s publication, and had to sell it to his editor as actual historical fact in order to get the go-ahead to write it. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/55 "2016-10-25T15:32:05Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > …For historical fiction, I always recommend _ **The Alienist** _ by Caleb Carr. 1896 New York, serial killer, assorted personalities trying to solve the murders using little-known forensic methods and psychological profiling… It’s a good 'un, all right - with a cameo appearance by New York Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt! ---
**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080/56 "2016-10-25T23:04:52Z")
I just enjoyed The Year We Disappeared, a father daughter memoir detailing the year after an attempt on the police officer father’s life. [https://www.amazon.com/Year-We-Disappeared-Father-Daughter/dp/1599904543/ref=sr\_1\_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477436140&sr=8-1&keywords=the+year+we+disappeared](https://www.amazon.com/Year-We-Disappeared-Father-Daughter/dp/1599904543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477436140&sr=8-1&keywords=the+year+we+disappeared) Double Cross is captivating, although I fear it might contain too much WW II German content. It is a fascinating story about double agents in England. [https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770/ref=asap\_bc?ie=UTF8](https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) I will recommend a book I mean to read, The Day the World Came to Town. [https://www.amazon.com/Day-World-Came-Town-Newfoundland/dp/0060559713](https://www.amazon.com/Day-World-Came-Town-Newfoundland/dp/0060559713) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-recommended-book-lists-are-useless-to-me-please-dopers-recommend-me-a-book/769080.md?page=2)