# 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:** 3
**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, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/41 "2005-06-28T23:31:43Z")
**Elfkin** ’s pick of **Diary of Anne Frank** is probably a major contender. Around here, every adult I know had read this book as a school assignment. (Yep. One day I got together with every single person I’ve ever known and asked them if they had ever read this book. 100% affirmative. ) \<— hyperbole ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/42 "2005-06-29T00:11:52Z")
All I’m saying is, go to the library and look up the plays. You’ll find them in the 800’s, not alphabetically by author in the fiction section. Arguably that’s a grey area, since plays and poetry both go under the 800’s, which is general literature (you’ll find biographies of writers, criticism, and humor writing there too), so I’m sorry I muddied the waters with those two. But still, fiction is prose stories. And lots of stuff that isn’t factual is non-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/43 "2005-06-29T00:37:17Z")
[QUOTE=chatelaine] I was going to nominate Cosmos. QUOTE] Dam decent of you…and insightful. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/44 "2005-06-29T01:06:29Z")
I think **elfkin** may have a winner with **The Diary of Anne Frank**. OTOH, I haven’t read any of the other titles she nominated. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/45 "2005-06-29T02:17:53Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > 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? I have. Good readin’, that. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/46 "2005-06-29T02:38:59Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > If you polled dopers, I’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** , **Angela’s Ashes** or **Native Son** than **Guns, Germs, and Steel**. Biographies are something even people who “don’t like non-fiction” can be tempted into picking up now and then. Nitpick: If you are talking about Richard Wright’s _Native Son_, that’s fiction. I think you meant to say _Black Boy_, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/47 "2005-06-29T03:59:11Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Whether the Bible is “non-fiction” is extremely debatable. Same could be said for any biography (certainly all autobiographies) and any history book. Many science books would qualify as well. ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/48 "2005-06-29T12:51:57Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I think **elfkin** may have a winner with **The Diary of Anne Frank**. > > OTOH, I haven’t read any of the other titles she nominated. 😉 Around the same time I read **The Diary of Anne Frank** I remember reading Elie Wezel’s **Night.** It was later assigned reading in one of my High School lit classes. This is also a book I find most people I mention it to, have read. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/49 "2005-06-29T13:10:39Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Same could be said for any biography (certainly all autobiographies) and any history book. Many science books would qualify as well. We’d agreed to leave the facticity of the Bible out of this discussion. Feel free to take it up in Great Debates. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/50 "2005-06-29T19:01:47Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > 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? I see what you’re saying, but it seems to me that all science books are fiction since they’re all theory and theories are subject to change at any given time. [sup]I have a feeling you’re going to rip me up on this one, too.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/51 "2005-06-29T19:35:52Z")
I nominate **Into Thin Air** by Jon Krakauer. I’ve heard it mentioned more than a few times here on the boards and just about everyone I know has read it. Usually more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/52 "2005-06-29T19:49:53Z")
Of the books mentioned so far, I have read _The Demon-Haunted World,_ _A Brief History Of Time,_ _Fast Food Nation,_ _Green Eggs and Ham,_ _Walden,_ and Gould’s _Ever Since Darwin_ (among others by the same author). You can add me to the tally for each of these volumes. Of those listed above, I can’t recommend _The Demon-Haunted World_ strongly enough. It should be required reading, for everyone. More people reading that volume might not necessarily halt our society’s slide into neo-medievalism, but it couldn’t hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/53 "2005-06-29T22:03:14Z")
I hesitate to admit that I’ve read almost _nothing_ mentioned in this thread (leaving aside the ridiculous notion that poetry, drama, and _Green Eggs and Ham_ count as non-fiction). I have read most of Steven Jay Gould’s books and Hofstadter’s _Godel Escher Bach_. How about the _Tao Te Ching_? That’s a lot easier to get through than the whole Bible. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/54 "2005-06-30T06:55:37Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > We’d agreed to leave the facticity of the Bible out of this discussion. Feel free to take it up in Great Debates. Thanks. We hadn’t read the whole discussion - time constraints and all. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/55 "2005-06-30T15:25:37Z")
> [@ageless6](#): > > I see what you’re saying, but it seems to me that all science books are fiction since they’re all theory and theories are subject to change at any given time. > > [sup]I have a feeling you’re going to rip me up on this one, too.[/sup] Let me try this again. “Fiction” means a prose story–a novel or short story. “Non-fiction” just means that it _isn’t_ a novel or short story, not that it’s absolutely factually true. Thus, Greek myths, astrology, any scientific theory no matter how crack-brained or accurate, _Dianetics_, urban legends, and all sorts of other things are classed as non-fiction (urban legends go in the 390s). Go to a library and look through the non-fiction stacks, and see what you find. The term “non-fiction” is not a synonym for “proven fact.” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/56 "2005-06-30T15:54:57Z")
trust her on this, as I recall, she’s a trained librarian. Though given that she has the right definition, the discussion may want to change to “what book regarding science/social sciences or current events has been read by the most Dopers.” ---
**Author:** ![GKW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@GKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKW)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/57 "2005-06-30T17:33:04Z")
I wonder if most of the women here have read **Our Bodies, Ourselves**? ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/58 "2005-06-30T17:40:10Z")
Considering the large number of dopers from the Chicago area and that it was a recent best seller, how about **Devil in the White City** by Erik Larson. ---
**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 30, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/59 "2005-06-30T17:44:19Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Let me try this again. “Fiction” means a prose story–a novel or short story. “Non-fiction” just means that it _isn’t_ a novel or short story, not that it’s absolutely factually true. Thus, Greek myths, astrology, any scientific theory no matter how crack-brained or accurate, _Dianetics_, urban legends, and all sorts of other things are classed as non-fiction (urban legends go in the 390s). Go to a library and look through the non-fiction stacks, and see what you find. > > The term “non-fiction” is not a synonym for “proven fact.” Inteesting. Then perhaps we should narrow the OP down some. Because if we’re not going to include religious works (which is fine by me), then we probably shouldn’t include philosophy, collections of essays, or any of the poems and plays already discussed. How can we word it so that the responses are geared to **factual** (reasonably so, anyways) popular literature? ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979/60 "2005-06-30T17:53:36Z")
\*\*The Elegant Universe \*\* by Brian Greene gets a lot of recommendations whenever a theoretical physics thread is started. About 1/3 through, but I’ll finish it this summer, I promise! 🙂 No votes for **The Joy of Sex?** Oh well, this is a smart crowd and you folks probably already knew that stuff already… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-nonfiction-book-read-by-the-most-dopers/309979.md?page=4)