# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/41 "2006-09-18T20:51:02Z")
These are things I’m looking forward to in my To Be Read pile: Remember me : a lively tour of the new American way of death, by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen Packaging girlhood : rescuing our daughters from marketers’ schemes by Sharon Lamb Hit by a farm : how I learned to stop worrying and love the barn, by Catherine Friend Service and style : how the American department store fashioned the middle class by Jan Whitaker Jeans : a cultural history of an American icon, by James Sullivan Brainiac : adventures in the curious, competitive, compulsive world of trivial pursuits, by Ken Jennings Rumspringa : to be or not to be Amish, by Tom Shachtman McLibel : burger culture on trial by John Vidal Prisoner of Trebekistan : a decade in Jeopardy! by Bob Harris Not a genuine black man, or, How I learned to be black in the lily-white suburbs, by Brian Copeland Fierce food : the intrepid diner’s guide to the unusual, exotic, and downright bizarre by Christa Weil Dirty sugar cookies : culinary observations, questionable taste, by Ayun Halliday No Touch Monkey : And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, by Ayun Halliday Blessed are the bored in spirit : a young Catholic’s search for meaning, by Mark Hart _happy sigh_ I love the To Be Read pile… ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/42 "2006-09-18T21:07:24Z")
Way back in the early 1980s, when I was in college, journalism students were required to read Theodore White’s “In Search of History.” One of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read. It was particularly compelling for me because it began with a time period prior to my birth and continued through events I remembered from my childhood (most notably, the Kennedy assassination.) A lot of the book is about the communist takeover of China, how the U.S. got into Vietnam, and the political scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. White covered all of that period as a reporter for various publications. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/43 "2006-09-19T01:08:30Z")
“Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis… the true story of the 1980’s bond market. Sounds dry and boring I know, but trust me it’s anything but. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/44 "2006-09-19T01:34:21Z")
_The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature_ by Steven Pinker. _Lies My Teacher Told Me_ by James W. Loewen. _Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology_ by Steven Levy \*Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain \* by Antonio Damasio Another recommendation for _Darwin’s Dangerous Idea_. ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/45 "2006-09-19T15:15:44Z")
I am currently about half way through, and really enjoying, **Ballad of the Whiskey Robber** by Julian Rubinstein, a story from 1990’s Hungary. The longish subtitle gives a hint at what the reader will find within: “A true story of bank heists, ice hockey, Transylvanian pelt smuggling, moonlighting detectives, and broken hearts” ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/46 "2006-09-19T15:26:38Z")
I’ve recommended it before, but if you think that working at the South Pole might be fun, you should read [Big Dead Place](http://bigdeadplace.com/index.html). It’s a book about [McMurdo Station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station), written by a guy who cleaned dishes there for several years. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/47 "2006-09-19T15:44:58Z")
I just finished Kurt Eichenwald’s “The Informant”, and James Stewart’s “Disneywar”. The Informant is about the government’s investigation of price fixing at Arthur Daniels Midland in the 90s, and especially the FBI’s relationship with Mark Whitacre, who was their main source inside ADM, and who turned out to be the informant from hell. Disneywar is about the Walt Disney Company during the Eisner years. It looks at how Eisner’s personality and management skills both revitalized Disney and came close to dooming it. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/48 "2006-09-19T15:59:59Z")
I strongly recommend _The Safeguard of the Sea_ and _The Command of the Ocean_, Volumes 1 & 2 of N.A.M. Rodger’s naval history of Britain. Those books cover from 660 A.D. to 1815. Volume 3 is still in the works. I’m not a naval buff, but I found these books fascinating. The beauty of the books, besides overturning a lot of assumption I had about English history, is how Mr. Rodger explains the interaction and mutual influence of British naval history on British social, economic, and political history. Sua ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/49 "2006-09-19T18:17:30Z")
I’ll second [Assasination Vacation](http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-Vacation-Sarah-Vowell/dp/0743260031/sr=1-1/qid=1158689225/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6547350-4617461?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Sarah Vowell. Some others: [Endurance](http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackleton-s-Incredible-Voyage/dp/078670621X/sr=1-1/qid=1158689368/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6547350-4617461?ie=UTF8&s=books): Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing. The single best non-fiction story I’ve read – I felt compelled to read whole passages out loud to anyone nearby. [Undaunted Courage](http://www.amazon.com/Undaunted-Courage-Meriwether-Jefferson-American/dp/0684826976/sr=1-1/qid=1158689302/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6547350-4617461?ie=UTF8&s=books): Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen Ambrose. Draws heavily from the journals of both men, as well as those kept by men on the expedition. [The Curve of Time](http://www.amazon.com/Curve-Time-Children-Northwest-Adventura/dp/1580050727/sr=1-1/qid=1158689495/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6547350-4617461?ie=UTF8&s=books): The Classic Memoir of a Woman and Her Children Who Explored the Coastal Waters of the Pacific Northwest, by M. Wylie Blanchet. Just one of those magical reads that’s like a vacation. Widowed mother taking her young kids in their small boat up and down the coast of the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s. [Two in the Far North](http://www.amazon.com/Far-North-Terry-Tempest-Williams/dp/088240489X/sr=1-1/qid=1158689648/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6547350-4617461?ie=UTF8&s=books), by Margaret Murie. Raised in Alaska before it was a state, Mardie married biologist Olaus Murie and the two spent much of their married life together taking dogsleds through the wilds to observe caribou. The book takes large passages of the diaries she kept at the time, and then Mardie herself weaves them into an overall autobiography of her life. It’s full of joy and wonder and appreciation for natural beauty that I found irresistable. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/50 "2006-09-19T19:47:41Z")
[QUOTE=SuaSponte] I strongly recommend _The Safeguard of the Sea_ and _The Command of the Ocean_, Volumes 1 & 2 of N.A.M. Rodger’s naval history of Britain. Those books cover from 660 A.D. to 1815. Volume 3 is still in the works. I’m not a naval buff, but I found these books fascinating. The beauty of the books, besides overturning a lot of assumption I had about English history, is how Mr. Rodger explains the interaction and mutual influence of British naval history on British social, economic, and political history. Sua [/QUOTE] \*\*Sua[/]b, have you read _To Rule The Waves_? I’m not much of a naval history buff myself, usually, but I really enjoyed it. The description of Nelson at Trafalgar was nothing less than thrilling. And **thanks, everyone** for all the recommends. I’m going to print this thread out and work my way through it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/51 "2006-09-19T20:34:19Z")
Ooh, this is a good thread for me too. Coincidentally I just got _Devil In the White City_ from the library so I am excited to read it now that I see others’ reviews of it. I just finished _The Tipping Point_ and I really enjoyed it - it’s about how trends and ideas catch on to become mainstream. A quick read. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/52 "2006-09-19T21:34:02Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] For humor and entertainment value with a bit of actual knowledge thrown in, I’ll second Bill Bryson, especially [A Walk in the Woods](http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-Appalachian-Official/dp/0767902521/ref=ed_oe_p/104-7813837-2739133?ie=UTF8), and add [The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World](http://www.amazon.com/Know-All-Humble-Smartest-Person/dp/0743250621/sr=1-1/qid=1158587354/ref=sr_1_1/104-7813837-2739133?ie=UTF8&s=books). [/QUOTE] Thirded. I loved _From a Sunburned Country_. How about David Sedaris? I made the mistake of trying to listen to the _Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy_ audiobook while driving across the country. I had to turn it off in the middle of _“Six to Eight Black Men.”_ I was laughing so hard I almost veered right over the Hoover Dam. Also, it’s a little dated but you really can’t go wrong with _The Florence King Reader_. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/53 "2006-09-19T21:49:07Z")
Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy and Unholy History by H.E. Jacob. I really enjoyed it - probably cementing my space in DorkyNerdville when it’s finally built. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/54 "2006-09-19T23:41:27Z")
Vindication - a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft has been facinating. Its really interesting to start to understand how small the intellectual world was during her time - that a governess from a fairly low status family could meet great men. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/55 "2006-09-20T12:01:27Z")
Any and all books by [Dan Savage.](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/102-6067159-7499344?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&keywords=dan+savage&Go.x=10&Go.y=9) ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/56 "2006-09-20T13:27:44Z")
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/57 "2006-09-20T14:21:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] **Sua** , have you read _To Rule The Waves_? I’m not much of a naval history buff myself, usually, but I really enjoyed it. The description of Nelson at Trafalgar was nothing less than thrilling. [/QUOTE] No, but I’ll look it up. Thanks. Sua ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/58 "2006-09-20T22:01:22Z")
The best non-fiction book I’ve read recently is “The End of Faith” by Sam Harris. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, however. It’s a rather “frank” discussion of the role religions have played in the world. J. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/59 "2006-09-21T14:20:49Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Any and all books by [Dan Savage.](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/102-6067159-7499344?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&keywords=dan+savage&Go.x=10&Go.y=9) [/QUOTE] I just finished reading Dan Savage’s **The Kid** and **The Commitment**. They’re great - hysterically funny, and very touching. **Angela’s Ashes** , by Frank McCourt, is very good. It’s a memoir about his miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Funny in spots, heart-breaking in others. There’s a sequel, **'Tis** , that is not as good, but still worth reading. I liked **Queen Victoria’s Gene** - it discusses the likelihood that Victoria was illegitimate versus the likelihood that her hemophilia gene resulted from a spontaneous mutation in one of her parents. I also liked **The Doctors’ Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever, and the Strange Story of Ignac Semmelweis**. It’s about the man, in 1840’s Vienna, who figured out why so many women contracted puerperal fever following childbirth, and the trouble he had getting anyone to believe him. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139/60 "2006-09-21T21:11:11Z")
I am halfway through _Duel for the Golan_ and while the book itself isn’t particularly suspenseful, the first-person viewpoints of the unfolding of the War are riveting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-entertaining-nonfiction-please/373139.md?page=4)