Along the same lines, I recently read and enjoyed Mary Kingsley’s Travels in West Africa. She was a proper Victorian spinster – who, well, traveled in West Africa. Alone.
For humor and entertainment value with a bit of actual knowledge thrown in, I’ll second Bill Bryson, especially A Walk in the Woods, and add The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World.
I’d add “1491,” about the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans and “Our Bones Lie Scattered,” about the Indian Mutiny. (The latter is one of my favorite books ever, a fact that I fear labels me as somewhat morbid.)
Thanks! I see several I’m going to check out, literally. I also see lots I’ve already read, not surprisingly: Bryson, Sacks, Krackauer. I really enjoyed Devil In the White City and A Primate’s Memoir, but I found Guns, Germs & Steel pretty rough going. :dubious:
Any other recommendations?
Stephen King’s two nonfiction works “Danse Macabre” and especially “On Writing” are really really worth reading.
While Peg Bracken is most known for writing cookbooks, she has written several other non-fiction books: I Didn’t Comer Here to Argue; I Wouldn’t Have Missed It for the World; A Window Over the Kitchen Sink; and On Growing Old for the First Time.
And Robert Fulghum’s works are good reading.
Everyone should read Strauss & Howe’s Generations. It has a lot of insight into what’s happened and what’s happening in America. In particular, their predictions of social trends over the last 15 years reads a lot like a brief social history of the 90s and early 2000s.
I am reading The Miracle of St Anthony about high school basketball in New Jersey and how Bob Hurley has won 22 state titles and several national titles coaching an impoverished school with 200 students and no gym. I am deliberately reading slowly because I am enjoying the daily pep session.
I like Diamond’s stuff myself, but I agree with betenoir, that if Guns Germs & Steel didn’t grab you, you might try “Why is Sex Fun,” or (better, I think) “The Third Chimpanzee,” which is about human evolution.
A Mind of Its Own by David Friedman.
It’s about penises! And it’s really, really good. In fact, it’s so good, it’s inspired me to do an undergraduate research project on the role of the penis in Herman Melville’s works, principally Benito Cereno.
Though I have to admit a lot my joy in this book came from being able to shout in my friends’ ears, “I’m reading a book about penises and it’s fantastic!”
Yes, I’m am ultimately about twelve years old. And my parents are very proud of my interest in penises.
Oh dear, you have certainly asked for a mouthful, Jodi!
Mine are mostly historical biographies, or books about royalty and the like-I hope that’s okay:
Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy -Paul Preston
Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece -Hugo Vickers (Alice was the mother of Prince Phillip)
Our Own Backyard: The United States In Central America, 1977-1992 -William M. LeoGrande
The Empress of Farewells: The Story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico -Prince Michael of Greece
The Corset: A Cultural History -Valerie Steele
The Last Romantic: a Biography of Queen Marie of Roumania -Hannah Pakula
An Uncommon Woman: the Empress Frederick, Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm -Hanna Pakula
The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II -Giles MacDonogh
Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England -Judith Flanders
Born To Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria -Julia P. Gelardi
Audrey Hepburn -Barry Paris
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World -Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Inventing the Victorians -Matthew Sweet
Queen Mary 1867-1953 -James Pope-Hennessy
Victoria’s Daughters -Jerrold M. Packard
Michael and Natasha: the Life and Love of Michael II, the Last of the Romanov Tsars -Rosemary & Donald Crawford
The Flight of the Romanovs: a Family Saga -John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov
You might like Dr Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation.
Don’t laugh. I recently finished a fascinating book called In the Wake of the Plague about the effects of the great plagues of the 1300s on society. It was absolutely terrific. *Jodi, you might particularly enjoy the bits where it talks about the effect on religion at the time.
Many excellent recommendations so far (just finished “Our Bones Lie Scattered” a few weeks back!). These aren’t new, but at least that means they’re in paperback:
Elizabeth’s London, by Liza Pickard; good, informative writing on day-to-day life of common Londoners. I’ve also enjoyed the same author’s Victoria’s London.
The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works, by Roger Highfield–a scientist who writes informed and often amusing essays on sujects like “how could we create a flying broom?” Not as good as his earlier The Physics of Christmas, which examined why brussel sprouts are bitter, for example. Great Doper books, IMHO.
Haw Haw : The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce, Nigel Farndale. Very detailed, balanced examination of why William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,” was hanged for treason by the British.
Beneath Flanders Fields, beautifully produced book on the relatively unknown war of the tunnelers and miners–sometimes hand-to-hand with German tunnelers–underneath the battlefields of WWI.
Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin, Francis Spufford. A sort of stiff-upper-lip “Right Stuff,” with the inside story of British rocketry, the Concorde, and the il-fated “Beagle 2” Mars lander.
I’ve shilled these next two several times before on the Dope, but I will continue to push them–excellent reads!
Quartered Safe Out Here, by George MacDonald Fraser, better known for his long-running series of historical novels featuring the misadventures of Harry Flashman. This is his nonfiction account of his British Army in Burma in WW2: told exceptionally well, a real ground-eye, platoon-level book–and very readable for non-military history buffs.
Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz. Funny and touching by turns, an examination of how the War Between the States still fascinates–even obsesses–many Americans. Should be mandatory reading for US high schools, in this Canadian’s opinion.
Check out these books. Fun and informative. I’ve never heard of the author, “Adam” something, but they are enjoyable reading
I’ll add Sacks’ book Awakenings. That’s my personal favorite.
Also Stem Cell Now : From the Experiment That Shook the World to the New Politics of Life, by Christopher Thomas Scott. He’s a scientist, but his skills at explaining a complex subject to a lay audience are outstanding.
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. She makes these rather creepy subjects both amusing and interesting.
Anything by Augusten Burroughs. Most of his books are based his life, which has been … interesting, to say the least. Dry and Running with Scissors are my favorites.
For recent history and biography combined can I recommend the trilogy
- Strange Places, Questionable People (1998)
- A Mad World, My Masters (2000)
- News From No Man’s Land (2002).
by veteran BBC World Affairs editor John Simpson? He’s been around the block a few times, and writes engagingly and often amusingly.
I’ve been going through a cynical period, and enjoyed these books:
*Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right * and *The Truth (with Jokes), * by Al Franken
Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter
Conservatives without Conscience, by John Dean
Misquoting Jesus, by Bart Ehrman
Also, based on radio interviews, I plan on picking up
Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
and
Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization, by W. Hodding Carter
The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck and Drums Along the Congo by Rory Nugent*
This House of Sky* by Ivan Doig
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett
Wonderful Life by Stephen J. Gould
From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies by Molly Haskell*
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity *by Bruce Bagemihl
Just finished that one a couple of weeks ago. Very good, though disturbing.
Currently reading:
No more bull! : the mad cowboy targets America’s worst enemy, our diet, by Howard F. Lyman
Vegan freak : being vegan in a non-vegan world by Bob Torres
With apologies to my family, I think I’m about to give up eating meat again.
Also just finished Inside : life behind bars in America, by Michael Santos. Maybe things are different in womens’ prisons, but if I were a guy on my way to the penetentiary, after reading this book I think I’d just kill myself instead.
Oh, I also recommend Assasination Vacation by Sarah Vowell about the life and times of presidential assasins (I’ve heard Take the Canoli is even better but haven’t gotten around to it). It is written as a series of personal travel memoirs. I really liked it.
You know, in all the recent brouhaha in the polyamory thread I wonder why WhyNot and Lilairen took all the time to evoke polygamous and polyandrous societies in radically different societies but didn’t take the time to reference the Oneida Community (far closer to modern polyamory). My apologies if they did.
Believe me, it makes you think twice about your teacups!!!