# Single nonfiction book read by the most Dopers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979 "2005-06-27T02:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/1 "2005-06-27T02:17:49Z")
I was telling **CateAyo** about spending the weekend reading Jared Diamond’s _Collapse,_ which I’m finding interesting, if not as good as _Guns, Germs, and Steel_. At which point I speculated that the latter book would probably be the one nonfiction book read by more Dopers than any other. Anyone else got another nominee? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/2 "2005-06-27T02:22:01Z")
The Straight Dope, More of the Straight Dope, and Triumph of the Straight Dope. I’ll have to look up the author. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/3 "2005-06-27T02:24:55Z")
Smart ass! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/4 "2005-06-27T02:26:51Z")
The local telephone directory? ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/5 "2005-06-28T03:25:40Z")
Do you mean read some of or read all of? If the former, my bet would be the Bible.\* Lots of Christians here, lots of former Christians, and even many of the never been Christians have read parts of it to see why they don’t want to be. \*For certain values of “nonfiction,” anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/6 "2005-06-28T03:29:48Z")
Yeah, the answer for most read nonfiction work is pretty much always “The Bible.” (Though I raise my hand as being among those who have read _Germs, Guns, and Steel_) ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/7 "2005-06-28T04:16:08Z")
Never read GGaS. I have read parts of the Bible (talk about a preachy book 😛 ). Some suggestions: A Tale of Two Cities Catcher in the Rye Green Eggs and Ham The first two are required reading for most American high schoolers, but Catcher in the Rye maybe a little too Amer-centric. Green Eggs and Ham is just a classic and I believe that Seuss has been translated into a helluva lot of languages. Come to think of it, I read parts of the Bible in English lit junior year… ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/8 "2005-06-28T04:22:36Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > A Tale of Two Cities > Catcher in the Rye > Green Eggs and Ham Nonfiction? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/9 "2005-06-28T04:23:44Z")
Whether the Bible is “non-fiction” is extremely debatable. I would guess that a lot of Dopers have read Carl Sagan’s _Demon-Haunted World_. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/10 "2005-06-28T04:26:02Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I would guess that a lot of Dopers have read Carl Sagan’s _Demon-Haunted World_. I was going to nominate Cosmos. Perhaps Bill Bryson’s Short History of Nearly Everything? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/11 "2005-06-28T04:30:08Z")
“Non-fiction” is anything that isn’t a novel or a short story. Those are fiction. Everything else, in a library, is non-fiction, including plays, poetry, myths, Holocaust denial literature, and tons of other things that aren’t strictly (or at all) factual. I have read both the Bible and GGaS. And also the DS books. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/12 "2005-06-28T06:10:08Z")
I’ve noticed many people mentioning that they have read _Lies my Teacher Told me_ by James W. Loewen. I’ve also read it and thought it was really good. Anyone else want to chime in? ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/13 "2005-06-28T07:08:13Z")
When you say you have read the Bible, does that mean you have read every single word in there? ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/14 "2005-06-28T07:11:43Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > “Non-fiction” is anything that isn’t a novel or a short story. Those are fiction. Everything else, in a library, is non-fiction, including plays, poetry, myths, Holocaust denial literature, and tons of other things that aren’t strictly (or at all) factual. > > I have read both the Bible and GGaS. And also the DS books. 🆒 So A Tale of Two cities and Catcher in the Rye are alright but Catch 22 wouldn’t be? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/15 "2005-06-28T11:56:47Z")
The Bible isn’t really what I had in mind. Plus, as **treis** points out, very, very few of us have actually sat down and read the Bible – I was thinking more of a book that you start, er, “in the beginning” with and read straight through. I personally haven’t read the Sagan books mentioned (the only thing by him I’ve ever read was _Dragons of Eden_, and since I read that after Jaynes’s _Origin of Consciousness…_, I wasn’t particularly impressed. I own the Bryson but haven’t read it yet. It is in the bookshelf right next to me as I type, which is basically the front of the very long queue. ---
**Author:** ![Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/16 "2005-06-28T12:59:31Z")
Definitely the Bible ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/17 "2005-06-28T14:54:23Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of dopers have read Martin Gardner or Douglas Hofstadter. And if you read Cecil Adams you probably have also checked out similar (but lesser I hasten to add) writers in the genre like Joel Achenbach, Jan Brunvald, David Feldman, and William Poundstone. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/18 "2005-06-28T15:02:38Z")
> [@Dan Norder](#): > > Nonfiction? :smack: I never got that right in elementary school either. ---
**Author:** ![Taran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/19 "2005-06-28T15:07:22Z")
I was going to nominate _Guns, Germs, and Steel_, on the off-chance that it wasn’t mentioned in the OP. Indeed, that wasn’t very likely. I’ve read _Lies My Teacher Told Me_, but not anything by Carl Sagan. No Straight Dope books, either. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/20 "2005-06-28T15:53:23Z")
> [@ageless6](#): > > So A Tale of Two cities and Catcher in the Rye are alright but Catch 22 wouldn’t be? I’m not sure I understand the question. Are you asking if the first two are fiction, and _Catch 22_ isn’t? Or the other way 'round? Or what? All three are novels, and therefore fiction. A novel may have history or fact in it, and still be a novel. A novel may feature a historical person as the protagonist and still be fiction, because the author is still writing to tell the story and structuring, adding, writing dialogue, etc. Does that help? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979.md?page=2)