I just started reading Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken. She is a terrific writer. I had no intention of reading Seabiscuit but picked up a copy while waiting for someone in a department store and flicked through, reading a bit here and there, and got hooked.
I have 22 books on pi and this one remains my favorite. A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann because the history of pi is a history of math and a history of our scientific progress. Reading it, it becomes apparent how close the ancient Greeks were to discovery calculus or at the least, the theory of limits. An absolutely fascinating read, but don’t take my word for it (I find most everything fascinating). Read a few pages from the excerpt linked above.
And of course, you can’t really talk about pi without mentioning e so there’s e: the story of a number by Eli Maor and published by Princeton University Press. I found it equally interesting, pun intentional.
Well, how else can I decide what to read? I consider the ‘Allies’ to have been a changing set of all the nations who fought against the Axis from 1939-1945. So in 1939 the ‘Allied War’ began with Poland, France and the United Kingdom (and it’s empire) went to war against Germany following the invasion of Poland. Which again makes the statement that 1942-1943 was the start of the Allied War flat out wrong.
That quote wasn’t from a review, it’s from the book description, which I suspect comes from the publisher.If it’s inaccurate that’s their fault. If they’ve left me ignorant of the true tenor of the book that’s also their fault.
I’d heard of Lamarr’s connection to spread spectrum radio. This is a possible.
Yes I’ve read a bit of Singh, I might pick up the Code book one day.
If they’re anywhere near as good as David Bodanis’ e=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation then both will go on the list.
The books that standingwave mentioned about pi and e are both good reads. IMHO the very best popular-level book about mathematics and its history is William Dunham’s Journey Through Genius.
Just thought of another one: At The Tomb of the Inflatable Pig - a book about the amazingly screwed up history of Paraguay. Great read.
Hmmm… haven’t read that one. Now I have one for my list. 
Nice.
This looks excellent, it’s on the list.
As does this.
I’ll second Unbroken - it’s a terrific read and deserves its best seller status. Pretty impressive also that 1819 of it’s 1936 Amazon reviews are four or five stars (i.e. 94 percent!).
If you like modern history, you can’t wrong with In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Ostensibly about the naive American ambassador to Germany circa 1934, it is a great “we were there” account of what we now look back on in horror. As an aside, it’s also packed with suspense as it leads up to the infamous ‘Night of the Long Knives’.
Speaking of modern history, I just started To End All Wars and can already see why it’s made various ‘best of 2011’ lists.