Done with Everything, I need something
I saw a horrifying thing this morning: I saw that I only have two pages left in A Short History of Nearly Everything. The length of non-fiction books can be tricky to judge because of all the notes and appendices, so while my right hand kept reporting that there was still a hefty amount of pages left, it clearly didn't have the full story. So I'm just about bookless.
Here's where you come in. I need a book recommendation, preferably a page-turning non-fiction book in the same lines of Into Thin Air or Devil In The White City. I'm not at all picky about the subject, but the more I can learn, the better. Fiction is okay, too, but it should be really, really good fiction.
What do you recommend? Beyond recommendations, what are you reading?
8 comments:
I'm reading The Satanic Verses right now. I'm only a little ways into it and haven't seen anything jihad-worthy, but I'm absolutely loving it and highly recommend it so far.
I'm assuming you've read Guns, Germs, and Steel (Best Book Ever). Collapse was also interesting but not as compelling. I also really enjoyed Annals of the Former World by John McPhee, a geological history of North America; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a history of Lincoln's cabinet; and pretty much anything by David McCullough.
I really liked Guns, Germs, and Steel, although it dragged in places. I went and heard the author speak a few years ago which was pretty fascinating. It also got made into a PBS miniseries, which I believe you can Netflix, but I haven't seen it yet.
Right now I'm finishing up See No Evil by Robert Baer. Complete page turner (the movie Syriana was loosely based on part of it, with Clooney as Baer). On a similar note, John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was excellent. I may have mentioned it on here before. Both books have been out for a while...most of my reading these days involves textbooks, so I'm behind on my pleasure reading list.
Next up on my nightstand are Devil in the White City (hope it's good) and The Devil's Teeth. Hopefully the book I read after that will not involve devils at all, otherwise I may start to worry.
I read lots of non-fiction these days and have been on a food book kick lately. I recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and would highly recommend it. Basically the book traces three meals from three different food chains (industrial corn, grass-fed organic farm and hunter gatherer). It's great...perfect mix of informative and entertaining. It kind of reminded me of Fast Food Nation, but I liked it more. I also really liked The United States of Arugula by David Kamp which I think I told you about awhile ago. Heat by Bill Buford is also good. This guy trains to be a kitchen slave in Mario Batali's restaurant and then travels to Italy to seek out his niche as an amateur butcher and pasta maker. The only good fiction I have read recently is The Road by Cormac McCarthy which is now an Oprah book so, as a dude, you may no longer be allowed to purchase it. ha.
As the resident Africanist lurker (I'm the only one, right?), I'd recommend King Leopold's Ghost about the colonial-era Belgian Congo. A nice companion/sequel fiction to that non-fiction is The Poisonwood Bible.
I'd vote against McCullough, though I'm prejudiced based on only reading part of one book. He came to speak at the college where I teach, and I wasn't keen on his 'tude. For one thing, the fellar didn't know what a blog was. For another, his speech was really just an elaborate version of "kidz these dayz," and he got paid 25,000 clams for the talk, if the rumors are true.
I like the McCullough books - but I finished reading "Truman" not so long ago (well, okay, I put it down after I got through his presidency part-but that was most of it). It was really long, but much more interesting than I thought it would be - if mostly because it covered a really fascinating part of US history. Also recently read "1776", which was a page-turner - highly recommended. I really like his style though - even if his sort of a crumudgeon.
I already did this, but I also recommend the 2 Michael Lewis books "The Blind Side" (football) and I'm now reading "Moneyball" (baseball). I think you'd enjoy both - especially "The Blind Side".
And yeah, anything by John McPhee - especially the geology/environmental stuff...it's very accessible.
I think my next stops are "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson, "Team of Rivals", and maybe "Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks.
B-thought "The God Delusion" was quite the page turner.
In the man vs. nature category, B- recommends: "Paddle to the Amazon" about a father and son who paddle in a canoe from Canada to South America! He also notes "This Game of Ghosts" by the Touching the Void guy - he says it's a bit of a memoir. And another: "This Accursed Land" (could be a different name in the US, he says) is the story of Sr. Douglas Mawson, an Antarctica explorer who got stuck. B- says "It's really good."
One of my favs is "The White Rock, An Exploration of the Inca Heartland" by Hugh Thomas. Is about a guy who explorers Inca trails less traveled, and intersperses Incan history - I liked a whole lot. Was sad when I finished it.
"Special Topics in Calamity Physics"!! Or "Black Swan Green". Both amazing books.
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