# Recommend me some entertaining non-fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309 "2011-02-23T02:17:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/41 "2011-02-24T18:08:52Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America](http://www.amazon.com/Island-Center-World-Manhattan-Forgotten/dp/1400078679/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1298564314&sr=8-5). > > Great stuff. I’m a big fan of history myself, and I agree with many of the other suggestions here. If you liked this one, try [Nathaniel’s Nutmeg](http://www.amazon.com/Nathaniels-Nutmeg-Incredible-Adventures-Changed/dp/0140292608/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298570900&sr=1-1). ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/42 "2011-02-25T02:57:44Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Totally not historical nonfiction, but it’s a really interesting read: > > **Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void** , by Mary Roach. > > Really hysterical summation of all sorts of little basic things you didn’t know about the space race, and how things really work up in the shuttles and space stations. Speaking of Mary Roach, her book **Stiff** , about dead bodies, is one that I couldn’t put down. I’m also reading **Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife** , which is also pretty good, but not as entertaining as **Stiff**. I’m getting some pretty good ideas from this thread too. To the Kindle! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/43 "2011-02-25T03:23:48Z")
A history recommendation: [A History of the World in Six Glasses](http://www.amazon.com/History-World-Six-Glasses/dp/0802714471). Examines history through six phases: agriculture (beer), civilization (wine), science/feudalism (spirits), colonialism (tea), mercantilism (coffee), and capitalism (Coca Cola). The epilogue suggests what the signature drink will be for the world’s next phase. A very interesting book. I also quite enjoy Steven Pinker’s writings. His book [The Blank Slate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate) is one of the books that has most changed my mind on some pretty fundamental issues: in it he very persuasively argues that our DNA has a tremendous impact on our mindsets, both as a species and as individuals. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/44 "2011-02-25T04:00:11Z")
_Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War_ by Dora Costa & Matthew Kahn ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/45 "2011-02-25T04:19:08Z")
[The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl](http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Hard-Time-Survived-American/dp/0618773479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298607468&sr=1-1), by Timothy Egan. Picked it up in an airport bookshop and couldn’t shut it until I’d finished, one eight-hour flight later. Absolutely riveting. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/46 "2011-02-25T19:44:43Z")
[Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man who Pursued Him, and the Age of Filmflam](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1851568.Charlatan) by Pope Brock. This book focuses on the snake oil medicine that was incredibly sought after in the nineteen-teens, especially the work of one “Doctor” John R. Brinkley who made a fortune inserting goat testicles into folks. This book inspired me to insert the words “goat testicles” into as many conversations as possible. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/47 "2011-02-25T19:48:34Z")
William Manchester’s [A World Lit Only by Fire](http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562) is an entertaining, though hardly scholarly, review of the Renaissance and Reformation. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/48 "2011-02-25T20:41:26Z")
[The Making of the Atomic Bomb](http://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-Rhodes/dp/0684813785/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298666209&sr=1-1) by Richard Rhodes. This Pulitzer prize winning book reads like a fascinating novel. Besides bringing academic rigor, it includes numerous amusing asides. Gripping. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/49 "2011-02-25T20:58:57Z")
[The King of California](http://www.amazon.com/King-California-Boswell-Making-American/dp/1586480286/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman. It is, in a word, brilliant. Not many people know that the largest lake (Tulare Lake) west of the Mississippi used to lie in the southern San Joaquin Valley. This book tells the story of what happened to it and paralleling the rise of one family to become the largest cotton producers in the world. Politics, environmental devastation, economics, technology, labor, etc. It really is great. [Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage](http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/078670621X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298667368&sr=1-1) by Alfred Lansing. It was written in the 1950s and Lansing had access to many of the journals kept by the members of the expedition. It is one of those stories that simply has to be true. If it were fiction it will be summarily dismissed is improbable, if not impossible. Has to be read to believed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/50 "2011-02-25T21:26:11Z")
[War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to al Qaeda](http://www.amazon.com/War-Nerves-Chemical-Warfare-al-Qaeda/dp/0375422293) is a fascinating read, if you’re into that kind of thing. Aaaand…for an odder (!) one, [Idaho Falls: the untold story of America’s first nuclear accident](http://books.google.com/books?id=ATkLIZ06YJQC&pg=PA19&dq=idaho+1+nuclear&hl=en&ei=jx1oTZ_aE5D4swPHp-CmBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=idaho%201%20nuclear&f=false) about the [SL-1 reactor accident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1), which killed three people. Odd in that I haven’t actually _read_ this one, yet, but I have read the online preview bits, which were just gripping. Especially the section on the autopsies of the operators. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/51 "2011-02-25T23:00:46Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > William Manchester’s [A World Lit Only by Fire](http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562) is an entertaining, though hardly scholarly, review of the Renaissance and Reformation. His three volume biography of Churchill is entertaining as well. Really gossipy and bitchy, especially concerning how Churchill’s mother slept her way through British high society and thereby advanced Churchill’s career. Pity Manchester never finished Volume 3, but the first two volumes left me staggered by Churchill’s genius, drive, and gifts. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/52 "2011-02-26T00:02:46Z")
The old BBC series **The Secret Life of Machines** with Tim Hunkin. [http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/](http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/) ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/53 "2011-02-26T00:51:44Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You could just [read Malcolm Gladwell books and drink](http://xkcd.com/863/). +1 on Gladwell, especially **Outliers**. He reads his own audiobooks and does an excellent job adding emphasis in the right places to convey extra meaning. The chapter in \*\*Outliers \*\*on airline crashes was unbelievable. His reading of it literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/54 "2011-02-26T20:41:50Z")
Not quite in the pure historical genre you like but these two are worth a read: [Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea](http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523904) by Barbara Demick. The author interviews a handful of North Korean defectors and reconstructs daily life there. An indirect look at the cult of Kim, some history, psychology, economics, and a lot of heart-rending reality. [The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack](http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/dp/1400052181/)s by Rebecca Skloot. Follows the life of a woman and her descendants; some cancer cells taken from her tumor have been instrumental in modern medicine. History, sociology, oncology, medicine, and more. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/55 "2011-02-27T04:34:52Z")
I’m reading [Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra](http://www.amazon.com/Cleopatra-Life-Stacy-Schiff/dp/0316001929) and digging it a lot. Not much is known about her, but she gives us what is known, expands on it by describing what is known about the aristocracy and her family (and they were a weird bunch, too, marked by incest and regicide). What I liked best is that I’m getting to see Cleopatra as a woman of her time, someone you’d expect to be successful at statecraft and diplomacy. And if you want to help a fellow Doper out, [there’s my book](http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Gone-Wild-Literatures-Misanthropes/dp/0399536183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298781201&sr=1-1) about famous writers as well. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/56 "2011-02-27T17:08:24Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > [The Wild Trees](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees) was a little slower to catch my imagination, but grew into a compelling read. I didn’t think I’d be interested in the recreational climbers of redwood trees, but it turns out they are documenting ecosystems that were never imagined to have existed. I’ve read this one and happily second it. I’ll add [The Snakebite Survivors’ Club](http://www.amazon.com/Snakebite-Survivors-Club-Travels-Serpents/dp/0156013673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298825982&sr=8-1). Travel writer with a pathological fear of snakebite travels to Australia, the United States, India and (IIRC) Kenya to hear the stories of people who work with, live with, and have been bitten by venomous snakes. It’s rather awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/57 "2011-02-27T20:14:42Z")
Mental Floss’ History of the World. Just what the title says it is but very readable and entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/58 "2011-02-28T18:21:11Z")
[Life in a Medieval Castle](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Medieval-Castle-Joseph-Gies/dp/006090674X) An easy and interesting read. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309/59 "2011-02-28T19:16:31Z")
I highly recommend Colleen McCullough’s series on ancient Rome. It covers most of the first century BC, with great attention to Marius, Sulla, Caesar(s), Antony, and Cleopatra. She invents dialog and takes a bit of poetic license, so it’s not really non-fiction, but the historical details are accurate, and by the time you finish reading it, all those famous names you could never quite sort out will be old friends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-entertaining-non-fiction/572309.md?page=2)