# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/21 "2005-06-28T15:55:57Z")
I nominate Fast Food Nation. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/22 "2005-06-28T15:57:35Z")
Well appart from the Bible (and that is partly fiction anyway šŸ˜‰ ) Guinness Book of Records and if Poetry is allowed Green Eggs and Ham or Cat in the Hat ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/23 "2005-06-28T16:01:26Z")
I donā€™t read a lot of nonfiction. I _have_ read the Bible, and yeah, I do mean the whole thing. I assume weā€™re excluding reference works? The last thing I read that was nonfiction was probably Mike Nelsonā€™s Mind Over Matters, a humorous essay collection. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/24 "2005-06-28T16:01:34Z")
If you remove the word _read_ I would suspect that a whole bunch have _bought_ and may proudly display **A Brief History Of Time**. Would an issue of **World Almanac** count? Would some reading in an encyclopedia count? ---
**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, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/25 "2005-06-28T16:15:48Z")
By ā€œread,ā€ I meant read from start to finish, as a single piece of narrative prose. So, yes, Iā€™d exclude stuff that people havenā€™t read in their entirety (and I strongly suspect the Bible is out on that point). Iā€™m also excluding reference works and collections of factoids, no matter how popular ā€“ so, no dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, or almanacs. Also excluded here is a slew of specific titles: **Guiness, The Book of Lists, The Peopleā€™s Almanac, The Whole Earth Catalogue, The Elements of Style** ā€“ and, sorry Unca Cece ā€“ **The Straight Dope** et al. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/26 "2005-06-28T16:27:40Z")
> [@Twin](#): > > Definitely the Bible Itā€™s fiction, therefore not applicable. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/27 "2005-06-28T16:29:58Z")
Microbe Hunters? (showing my age here) for every Doper kid whose parents hoped would go into medicine? ---
**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, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/28 "2005-06-28T16:31:46Z")
If yā€™all want to talk about whether the Bible is fiction or nonfiction, you can do it in GD ā€“ Iā€™m declaring OPā€™s privilege and excluding it on the basis that most people havenā€™t read it start to finish. If you want to challenge that particular point, feel free to open a poll in IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/29 "2005-06-28T16:33:45Z")
My first thought reading the title was GGaS. Itā€™s cited here on the boards over and over, hell weā€™ve even given it an acronym. My rimshot answer would have been the Bible as well. Now that poetry is mentioned, Green Eggs and Ham is a wonderful choice. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/30 "2005-06-28T16:46:23Z")
Lots of people seem to know the Walter Lord Titanic books, _A Night to Remember_ and _The Night Lives On._ OK, NSM TNLO, but itā€™s definitely worth it. Also some of the more prominent books about war history, the biographies like McCulloughā€™s and Caroā€™s works, and Barbara Tuchmanā€™s \*The Guns of August, The Proud Tower, \* and _The March of Folly._ I would guess most of us have read some of Steven Jay Gould, may he RIP. James Randi and Martin Gardnerā€™s books of skepticism about psuedoscience. Finally, Iā€™ve seen mentioned quite often a book over 150 years old at this point but still as interesting and pertinent as ever: Charles Mackayā€™s [Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/051788433X/104-2171746-9026358?v=glance), still in print. A wonderful readable book and source of great sig material too. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/31 "2005-06-28T16:50:40Z")
Never even heard of the books in the OP. :dubious: I second Hawkingā€™s **A Brief History of Time** and Saganā€™s **Cosmos**. I nominate **Windows For Dummies** Even tho I wanted to answer **The Bible** (parts of it), I think we will have to eliminate any religious works what so ever, as there will be way too debate over the NON fiction catagorising. So, **The Talmud** , **Dianetics** , **Book of Mormon** , **Qurā€™an** , **The Sayings of Confucius** , the four **Vedas** , etcā€¦ are all out of the running. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/32 "2005-06-28T16:55:30Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > I nominate Fast Food Nation. One of my favorites. Iā€™ve actually never even heard of GGaS though. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/33 "2005-06-28T21:39:12Z")
Iā€™ve read (as in, every word) both the Bible and _A Short History of Time_ ā€¦ _Guns, Germs and Steel_ is on my Unread Pile. Also read: Adam Smithā€™s _Wealth of Nations_, Brunvandā€™s _Vanishing Hitchhiker_, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions etc._, Hofstadterā€™s _Goedel, Escher, Bach_ and _Le Ton Beau de Marot_ ā€¦ never read _Cosmos_, but saw the TV series ā€¦ (And, err, why arenā€™t plays and poems fiction? Last I heard, _A Midsummer Nightā€™s Dream_ and _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_ werenā€™t documentaries ā€¦ ) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/34 "2005-06-28T22:04:16Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > ā€œNon-fictionā€ is anything that isnā€™t a novel or a short story. Those are fiction. Everything else, in a library, is non-fiction, including plays, poetry, myths, Holocaust denial literatureā€¦ Plays are non-fiction? In that case, Iā€™d say either _Hamlet_ or _Romeo and Juliet_ would be the most widely read ā€œnon-fiction.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/35 "2005-06-28T22:13:16Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I was telling **CateAyo** about spending the weekend reading Jared Diamondā€™s _Collapse,_ which Iā€™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? Iā€™ve never even heard of either of these two books, much less read them. And I thought I was pretty good with my non-fiction reading. _shrug_ Iā€™d guess something like _A Brief History of Time_ by Steven Hawking, or perhaps (for the American dopers) something like _Walden_ or Benjamin Franklinā€™s Autobiography or even _Uncle Johnā€™s Bathroom Reader_. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/36 "2005-06-28T22:19:38Z")
Does David Sedaris count as a non-fiction author? He probably embellishes a bit, but his books are based on his life, I believe. If so, I nominate Naked. Iā€™ve seen that title pop up almost as often as GGaS (which I bought, started, and gave away). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/37 "2005-06-28T22:27:05Z")
If you polled dopers, Iā€™m pretty sure that more have read **A Child Called It** , **A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius** , **I know Why The Caged Bird Sings** , **The Diary of Anne Frank** , **Angelaā€™s Ashes** or **Native Son** than **Guns, Germs, and Steel**. Biographies are something even people who ā€œdonā€™t like non-fictionā€ can be tempted into picking up now and then. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/38 "2005-06-28T22:28:35Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > ā€“ I was thinking more of a book that you start, er, ā€œin the beginningā€ with and read straight through Well, so much for _Beowulf_, then. ---
**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, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/39 "2005-06-28T23:18:48Z")
Plays and poetry most definitely are fiction. The idea that people even suggest the opposite in a thread about literacy and reading is pretty bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/40 "2005-06-28T23:30:26Z")
> [@Dan Norder](#): > > Plays and poetry most definitely are fiction. The idea that people even suggest the opposite in a thread about literacy and reading is pretty bizarre. My first reaction was ā€œWhat? That canā€™t be rightā€ too, but then I looked up the definition of non-fictionā€¦which is definitely defined as prose. Which poetry isnā€™t, but Iā€™m not sure about plays. hmmm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979.md?page=3)