# Recommend some entertaining nonfiction, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139 "2006-09-18T03:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/1 "2006-09-18T03:03:48Z")
The title pretty much says it all. I’m looking for some nonfiction to read. I like history, social science, biography – that sort of stuff. Not so much for hard science because it tends to lose me, but if you give it an “A” for “accessible” then good enough. What’s your favorite nonfiction book? Which one have you read recently that you would recommend? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/2 "2006-09-18T03:17:31Z")
Are you into actual knowledge, or is shallow trivia deep enough for you? Hey, shallow works for me, often enough. For trivia, you could do worse for entertainment than the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series. No, they don’t need to be kept in the bathroom, nor read in one sitting (har). The hardest part is admitting to anyone just where you picked up a particular nugget of information. Otherwise, I’ve enjoyed the “Don’t know much about” series by Davis. He’s got books on Geography, American History, the Bible, and (I think) Astronomy. All pretty readable. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/3 "2006-09-18T04:09:35Z")
_Hidden Minds: A History of the Unconscious_ by Frank Tallis. It’s the best book on consciousness I’ve ever read by far. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/4 "2006-09-18T04:12:20Z")
The Devil in the White City Cod Salt Guns, Germs and Steel ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/5 "2006-09-18T04:44:51Z")
Bill Bryson. I really enjoyed his book about walking around England, and about the Appalachian trail. The one about the US was a little disappointing–too much driving. For some reason, I’m bogged down in the Australian one. But the England book, I really, really enjoyed. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/6 "2006-09-18T05:10:03Z")
_Dreadnaught_ by Robert Massie is a good read ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/7 "2006-09-18T06:54:54Z")
[The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Mistook-His-Wife-Hat/dp/0684853949/sr=1-1/qid=1158562341/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0295786-5942307?ie=UTF8&s=books) and [An Anthropoligist on Mars](http://www.amazon.com/Anthropologist-Mars-Paradoxical-Tales-Vintage/dp/0679756973/sr=1-2/qid=1158562417/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-0295786-5942307?ie=UTF8&s=books) both by Oliver Sacks. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/8 "2006-09-18T07:07:12Z")
[A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons](http://www.amazon.com/Primate-Memoir-Neuroscientist-Unconventional-Baboons/dp/0743202414/sr=1-1/qid=1158563047/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2203652-6108162?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Robert Sapolsky. ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/9 "2006-09-18T07:16:42Z")
[Is There No Place on Earth for Me](http://www.amazon.com/There-Place-Earth-Me-Vintage/dp/0394713788/sr=1-1/qid=1158563469/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7542551-6290351?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Susan Sheehan. Follows a schizophrenic woman for more than a decade. Starts out hilarious, then moves into depressing. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/10 "2006-09-18T07:41:18Z")
Under the Banner of Heaven & Into Thin Air: John Krakauer Garlic & Sapphires: Ruth Reichl (about being the NY times food critic) Lost Daughters of China: Karin Evans (about the Chinese adoption phenomenon) The Ethical Brain: Michael Gazzaniga (healthcare law is a minor hobby that I keep up with and I thought this was interesting from a policy perspective since I’m usually reading about the law side of developments) The Science of Good and Evil: Michael Shermer (morality and human beings) Friday Night Lights (about football in small Texas towns) I’m working my way through Collapse (Jared Diamond) and have Guns, Germs & Steel (same) under my table right now. I do like Collapse though I’ve heard it’s slower reading than Guns, Germs & Steel. I usually have about 10 books going at once and I’ve been slacking off on a lot of the non-fiction on my floor so I’m determined to read at least 5 of my abandoned books before buying any more. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/11 "2006-09-18T08:00:05Z")
**Parliament of Whores** by PJ O’Rourke **The Double Helix** by James Watson **On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft** by Stephen King ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/12 "2006-09-18T09:09:45Z")
History, crime, murder, espionage, literature and intrigue. It’s all there in [The Reckoning](http://www.amazon.com/Reckoning-Murder-Christopher-Marlowe/dp/0226580245) the Murder of Christopher Marlowe. A prize winning non-fiction book so good, I wish I’d written it. > [@](#): > > Winner of both the British James Tait Black Prize for biography and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award, this highly speculative study provides an extraordinary glimpse of the seamy Elizabethan underworld of espionage replete with double agents, disinformation, torture and murder. Illustrated. ---
**Author:** ![FrantzJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7c8e57/32.png) [@FrantzJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrantzJ)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/13 "2006-09-18T09:29:21Z")
Hey, want to read about the issues that really matter, and, in the process, become hopelessly depressed? Good! Read **The Party’s Over** by Richard Heinberg. If that doesn’t do it, read **The Long Emergy** by James Howard Kunstler. You won’t be able to use the SDMB without feeling like Satan after reading those two. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/14 "2006-09-18T10:03:27Z")
All of mine have been mentioned; Sacks, Krakauer, Diamond…although if “Guns, Germs and Steel” is too much science all at once (although it IS accessable) try his “Why is Sex Fun?” ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/15 "2006-09-18T10:04:47Z")
A few I read recently: [The Dinosaur Hunters](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaur-Hunters-Scientific-Discovery-Prehistoric/dp/1857029631/sr=8-1/qid=1158573209/ref=sr_1_1/026-5060088-2113262?ie=UTF8&s=gateway) the story of the original research into dinosaurs, from Mary Anning’s finds through to Darwin’s publication of the Origin of Species and the opening of the natural history museum. [Zulu](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zulu-Saul-David/dp/0141015691/sr=1-1/qid=1158573737/ref=pd_bowtega_1/026-5060088-2113262?ie=UTF8&s=books) was a very good read, and interesting as it does remove a lot of the spin and propoganda that has been applied to Rouke’s Drift, as well as putting the events in context. Paul Britton’s books “The Jigsaw Man” and “Picking up the Pieces” are interesting works on psychology and criminal profiling, but there seems to be some bias towards the author (understandably) and the author’s personal beliefs (moreso in the second book) and the cases covered mean the books are not suitable for younger readers. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/16 "2006-09-18T10:34:49Z")
**The Washing Of The Spears** and _The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom_\* are both excellent non-fiction works (the former about the Anglo-Zulu Wars, the latter being Lawrence of Arabia’s account of the Arab Revolt). **Papillon** is arguably non-fiction (and a great story), and pretty much anything Bill Bryson has ever written should be on your “Must-read” list, too… ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/17 "2006-09-18T10:39:39Z")
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. It was a book before it was a TV series, and one of the best reads I’ve ever had. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/18 "2006-09-18T10:43:15Z")
My two standard recommendations are _The Botany of Desire_ by Michael Pollan and _The Song of the Dodo_ by David Quammen. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/19 "2006-09-18T12:56:20Z")
I recently enjoyed \*Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America \*by John Barry. I don’t know if it’s _entertaining_ exactly, because it’s about a terrible flood, but I thought it was very interesting. The first third or so has a lot of technical information about flood plains and flood control, which did a decent job to explaining the basic set up of the Mississippi, and to be honest, there were parts where I skimmed a bit when it got more detailed with the engineering stuff. The rest of the book was more about the social and political situation, before, during and after the flood. The Klan, Hoover, and New Orleans high society are all on the scene, which made for some pretty dramatic reading. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/20 "2006-09-18T13:08:36Z")
I’m currently reading [The White Nile](http://www.amazon.com/White-Nile-Alan-Moorehead/dp/0060956399/sr=8-1/qid=1158584518/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9639833-0585610?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Alan Moorehead, about the search for the source of the Nile River in the mid-19th century. Great reading, filled with interesting characters like Sir Richard Burton (explorer, not actor), Livingstone, Stanley, etc. Written in 1960, the language is a bit dated, but Moorehead is a complelling writer. I’m finding it fascinating. It has shocking details of the slave trade and the white man’s first glimpse of life in Central Africa. Moorehead discusses the differences between Burton’s affinity with the Arab slave traders and Livingstone’s love of the African people he spends time living with. He seems to be the only white explorer of the time who care enough to live with the native people and learn their culture and languages. Man, those Victorians were intrepid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139.md?page=2)