# Seeking book recommendations: real history (non-fiction) that reads like fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672 "2016-11-05T06:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/61 "2016-12-05T15:35:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > For something offbeat try [The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Nobody-Read-Revolutions-Copernicus/dp/0802714153/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478368886&sr=1-5&keywords=owen+gingerich) by Owen Gingerich. He spent 30 years tracking down every copy of Copernicus’ _De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres)_. He writes the story exactly like a mystery novel. He get leads, tracks them down, finds clues to revelations about what really happened, and is at times stymied by false deductions before he makes the big intuitive leaps. It’s delightfully a page-turner despite the subject matter. I, amusingly, had to interlibrary loan this because the Book Nobody Read is out of print. And then my copy had FIVE barcodes and spine labels from other stolen books stuck in it because I assume the thieves took the title seriously. I really enjoyed it, but I’m a librarian. Not sure non-librarians and non-astronomers would have liked it so much, though. I particularly enjoyed the retrospective of how much more of a pain in the ass research in archives and special collections used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/62 "2016-12-05T15:56:30Z")
Alfred Lansing’s 1959 book “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage,” about a 1914 Antarctic expedition, certainly reads like fiction, but it’s not. It’s a very compelling read. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/63 "2016-12-05T16:02:14Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > Alfred Lansing’s 1959 book “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage,” about a 1914 Antarctic expedition, certainly reads like fiction, but it’s not. It’s a very compelling read. I see now that it was mentioned a couple of times upthread – I swear I read it through! ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/64 "2016-12-05T16:32:17Z")
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned any of the [World Without End series](https://www.amazon.ca/Pillars-Earth-Ken-Follett/dp/0451166892/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5TVX7BHVPJXA71AEGZRN) by Ken Follett. Pillars of the Earth was a really engaging book, and I lked the idea of following the path of the families through time. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/65 "2016-12-05T17:34:12Z")
I highly recommend [The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe](https://www.amazon.com/Reckoning-Murder-Christopher-Marlowe/dp/0226580245) by Charles Nicholl. It’s a very carefully researched and gripping account of an Elizabethan murder mystery. How and why did the poet Christopher Marlowe die? It opens up the dark and devious world of criminals, con-men and spies (often the same shady individuals were both criminals and government spies) in the London underworld. If you thought John le Carré novels could be complex and devious, they are nothing compared with the reality of Elizabethan spies - they could teach modern spies a thing or two. And, yes, the evidence seems to indicate strongly that Marlowe was a government spy, and was mixed up in the thick of complex plots, counter-plots, and double crosses. The evidence is presented carefully, and though Nicholl never goes beyond the facts, he brings the whole era vividly to life. It makes for page-turning reading. ---
**Author:** ![Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zuzu_s_Petals)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/66 "2016-12-05T17:37:44Z")
First, thanks to everyone for the recommendations in this thread! Some of them sound mouth-watering to me and I’ve bought several of them. 🙂 I’d recommend _1066:The Year of the Conquest_ by David Howarth. It’s not long, and is absolutely engrossing. I also loved (though it’s a bit earlier than the time period you said you were interested in) _Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild_ by David Stenn. If you’re interested in early Hollywood, it’s riveting, and reads very much like a novel - Stenn saves his final punch for the end. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/67 "2016-12-05T17:46:19Z")
Richard Feynman’s memoirs (_Surely you’re Joking, Mr. Feynman_ and _What do you Care what Other People Think_) don’t read at all like fiction, because they’re not nearly plausible enough. If they weren’t true, they’d be completely unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672/68 "2016-12-05T17:49:51Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I’m surprised no one’s mentioned any of the [World Without End series](https://www.amazon.ca/Pillars-Earth-Ken-Follett/dp/0451166892/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5TVX7BHVPJXA71AEGZRN) by Ken Follett. Pillars of the Earth was a really engaging book, and I lked the idea of following the path of the families through time. You’re surprised that no one has mentioned a book(s) of fiction in a thread asking for non-fiction book recommendations? :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-book-recommendations-real-history-non-fiction-that-reads-like-fiction/770672.md?page=3)