I second Guns, Germs and Steel, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Godel, Escher, Bach. I also recommend anything by Carl Sagan.
I just finished The Nine Parts of Desire by an Austraian journalist whose name eludes me at the moment. The book is about her life spent reporting in the middle east and the muslim women she met there. Very engaging and topical. Now I’m starting The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, which is a fantastic retelling of US history from a populist perspective. I’m only a few chapters in, but it’s already got me hooked.
**Media Unlimited: How The Torrent Of Images And Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives ***by Todd Gitlin *
“Media Unlimited author Todd Gitlin sees the “media torrent” as the inevitable byproduct of an industrialized society driven by a “money economy.” His vaguely Marxist thesis, often invoked but rarely fortified, states that the current media state developed as a balm for a workaday world tyrannized by mental and physical compartmentalization. As workers waste away in soul-crushing conditions, their need for sensation is fulfilled by various media, which deliver disposable emotions through ready-made narratives and escapist drama. The book picks up speed with convincing illustrations of the way the media’s stultifying effects serve conservative policy, which thrives on inaction, while progressivism depends on the lost art of mobilization.”
Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda*
by Dan Russell*
“Dan Russell traces the roots of the modern Drug War back to their ancient unconscious origins. Beginning with the evolution of Paleolithic proto-hominids, Russell presents one example after another in support of his thesis that the Drug War is a psychological inheritance from ancient times, one which is now deeply embedded in and, in some cases, the driving force of our culture of power and profits. Russell draws extensively from archeological evidence, presenting object after object engraved with archetypal symbols of shamanic travels, and he deconstructs countless ancient stories and myths to show that many of them alluded to visionary states elicited by the ingestion of psychoactive plants and potions.”
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic*
by John De Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor *
" The definition of affluenza, according to de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor, is something akin to “a painful, contagious, socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” This book takes a hard look at the symptoms of affluenza, the history of its development into an epidemic, and the options for treatment. “To live, we buy,” explain the authors–everything from food and good sex to religion and recreation–all the while squelching our intrinsic curiosity, self-motivation, and creativity. They offer historical, political, and socioeconomic reasons that affluenza has taken such strong root in our society, and in the final section, offer practical ideas for change."
Into Thin Air (Krakhauer) The Everest tragedy Perfect Storm (Junger) The Grand Banks tragedy Think to Win (Cannavo) The power of logic in everyday life Schindler’s List (Keneally) The Holocaust Citizen Soldiers (Ambrose) From D-Day to the end of the war The Right Stuff (Wolfe) The story of the Mercury astronauts Metamagical Themas (Hofstadter) A collection of essays Godel, Escher, Bach (Hofstadter) Brilliant, but difficult. A Distant Mirror (Tuchman) A look at my favorite period, the Dark Ages Undaunted Courage (Ambrose) The Lewis and Clarke expedition Lies My Teacher Told Me (Loewen) History: the real story The Long Walk (Rawicz) Unbelievable true story of imprisonment and escape Dancing Wu Li Masters (Zukov) Quantum physics explained Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) Technology, relationships, quality, love, nature, …
(they say this book has been life changing for some; I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ve read it three times and have gotten something different out of it each time.) Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat (Sacks) Fascinating essays from a neurologist/psycologist The Demon Haunted World (Sagan) Science vs magic, paranormal, etc Bully For Brontosaurus (Gould) The best of his essay collection books Full House (Gould) His second best collection … Sophie’s World (Gaarder) Philosophy … and I still can’t keep ‘em straight Incomplete Education (Jones, Wilson) All the stuff we should know … but don’t Guns, Germs, and Steel (Diamond) Why did the Europeans conquer the Americas, and not vice versa The Metaphysical Club: The Story of Ideas in America (Menand) A quadruple biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey
Wow, this thread is a treasure trove of great suggestions!
I just wanted to strongly second Algernon’s suggestion of **The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat ** by Oliver Sacks. I also enjoyed Sacks’ books An Anthropologist on Mars and The Island of the Colorblind.
I adore Tracy Kidder, especially his books Among Schoolchildren, about a year in the life of an elementary school teacher and her (2nd grade?) students in Holyoke, MA, and Old Friends, about two neat old men who are roommates in a nursing home. House, about a couple building a brand-new house and the architect, the contractor, the carpenters, etc. is also good. I was kind of disappointed by Home Town, which is about various people in the town of Northampton, MA, where Kidder lives.
Since you’re interested in medicine, I highly recommend Atul Gawande’s book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science (unless you’ve already read his pieces in The New Yorker, where I believe these essays all first appeared).
I also enjoyed a collection of essays by Lewis Thomas called The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition was the best adventure story I’ve ever read, bar none.
I’ll also second The Perfect Storm, Kitchen Confidential, Into Thin Air, Newjack, The Right Stuff, and especially Seabiscuit.
Also, The Story of the Irish Race by Seumas MacManus - Irish history from the arrival of the Celts through the Easter Rising (which the author was involved in) and Irish partitioning and partial independence.
William Wallace: Brave Heart by James Mackay - well researched and engaging (once you wade through the first chapter, that is…) biography of the man.
Rob Roy MacGregor by W H Murray - very interesting biography, and surprising how much of Scott’s Highland Rogue (about Rob Roy) and the Liam Neeson movie were…well, crap, actually.
Anything and everything by Nigel Tranter - not exactly history, but not really “historical fiction” either. Well researched and historically accurate, but novelized and slightly dramatized. Kinda like the Right Stuff with Scots instead of astronauts. Each of his novels has a different “feel” to it, so he never gets boring.
I just finished a novel based on the true story of a woman who sailed around the Horn, New York to San Francisco, on a clipper ship with her husband, the captain, and took command when he fell ill. She had to deal with a mutinous first mate and support an inexperienced second mate, while enduring the storms off the tip of South America. Details in the historical record are sketchy, so the author fills in a lot of stuff, but I liked it anyway.