Favorite nonfiction books

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ThankYouJack
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Favorite nonfiction books

Post by ThankYouJack »

What are your favorite nonfiction books?

I enjoy adventure so some of my favorites are:

We Die Alone
Unbroken
No Easy Day (although not a big fan of the author)
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild

Affluenza - The All Consuming Epidemic

Dad is Fat (one of the funniest books I've ever read, great for parents with young kids)
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by nisiprius »

Anything by John McPhee (The Curve of Binding Energy, The Control of Nature)
Anything by Simon Winchester (Krakatoa: The Day the Earth Exploded, The Professor and the Madman, The Meaning of Everything)
Anything by Mary Roach (Packing for Mars)
Anything by Rose George (The Big Necessity, Ninety Percent of Everything)
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Svensk Anga
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Svensk Anga »

I enjoyed Bill Bernstein's "The Birth of Plenty" about the circumstances leading to the growth of material well being and "A Splendid Exchange" about how trade has shaped our economic life.
rec7
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by rec7 »

The Bible
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JMacDonald
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by JMacDonald »

Best Wishes, | Joe
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by gkaplan »

Too many to mention.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by gatorking »

You could read through "What Book are you currently reading? Parts I though VI" for more recommendations.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... st=2271229

The first post has links to parts I through V.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Raybo »

When I first retired, I took on reading Will and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization. 10 volumes from the dawn of civilization to the end of Napoleon (and the authors!) An amazing education!

Ernest Becker's Escape From Evil

I maintain a list of books I've listened to while riding my bike virtually all are non-fiction: http://www.biketouringtips.com/showTipC ... tipID=1447
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Raybo »

[personal comment deleted by admin alex]
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by VictoriaF »

I read mostly nonfiction and I like most of what I read. My all-time favorite is:
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicolas Taleb.

Other books that influenced and enriched me include:
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.

Victoria
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by skjoldur »

ThankYouJack, I think you might enjoy "Endurance" about the Shakleton expedition. It is hands down my favorite adventure book.

I've read a lot of Stephen Pinker books over the years. "The Language Instinct" is a classic.

Victoria, I also enjoy Nassim Taleb's books. I have to say I am partial to "Fooled by Randomness," but I've enjoyed them all. I'm still mulling over "Anti-Fragile" which I read recently.

"The Beak of the Finch," is a remarkable story for anyone interested in the mechanics of evolution and natural history.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by MoonOrb »

Books off of the top of my head that I've enjoyed quite a bit:

About sports: Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissinger; The Summer of '41, and October, 1964, both by David Halberstam; Moneyball, by Michael Lewis.

About history: Latitude, by Dava Sobel; Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason; The Big Burn, and The Worst Hard Time, both by Timothy Egan; The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris.

About the financial crisis: The Big Short, by Michael Lewis.
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Post by Taylor Larimore »

ThankYouJack:
What are your favorite nonfiction books?
Common Sense on Mutual Funds--10th Anniversary Edition by Jack Bogle

Best wishes.
Taylor
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VictoriaF
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by VictoriaF »

skjoldur wrote:ThankYouJack, I think you might enjoy "Endurance" about the Shakleton expedition. It is hands down my favorite adventure book.

I've read a lot of Stephen Pinker books over the years. "The Language Instinct" is a classic.

Victoria, I also enjoy Nassim Taleb's books. I have to say I am partial to "Fooled by Randomness," but I've enjoyed them all. I'm still mulling over "Anti-Fragile" which I read recently.

"The Beak of the Finch," is a remarkable story for anyone interested in the mechanics of evolution and natural history.
I have Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works. I have not read it yet; I should. As for the adventure reading, I trekked in the Everest region in the Fall of 1996, shortly after the events described in Krakauer's Into Thin Air. I did not know about the book before I went to Nepal, but after I have experienced the thin air myself, this was a gripping reading.

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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Ged »

Subtle is the Lord — The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker
Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel Dennett
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by black jack »

VictoriaF wrote:I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.
I recommend From Shakespeare to Existentialism and Existentialism, Religion, and Death by Walter Kaufmann. Kaufmann is one of (if not the) foremost Nietzsche scholars, and is a gifted and bracing writer (I use the present tense, though he's deceased).

For the OP: Kaufmann's books are among my favorite nonfiction works; his The Faith of a Heretic changed my life.

I second the recommendation to look at the "What Book Are You Reading" threads.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by rec7 »

Raybo wrote:
rec7 wrote:The Bible
Is this the only "non-fiction" you read?
I have read many other non-fiction books but The Bible is my favorite. I have read most of these but the Bible is number one for me.

Investor's Manifesto

The Millionaire in You

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Planning Your Financial Future

The Wealthy Barber

Stop Acting Rich: ...And Start Living Like A Real
Millionaire by thomas stanley

The Millionaire Next Door

Consumer Reports Money Book

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Living rich by spending smart

Live well on less than you think

Retire on less than you think

Rags To Retirement

The Four Pillars of Investing

The Wall Street Journal complete home owner's guidebook : make the most of your biggest asset in any market

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

The Wall Street Journal complete retirement guidebook : how to plan it, live it and enjoy it

The Richest Man in Babylon

The automatic millionaire : a powerful one-step plan to live and finish rich

the Armchair Millionaire

The Coffeehouse Investor

How to retire early and live well on less than a million dollar

Cashing in on the American dream : how to retire at 35
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by DigitalJanitor »

Most of Bill Bryson's later books, especially:

A Walk in the Woods
In a Sunburned Country
A Short History of Nearly Everything
One Summer: America 1927
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by VictoriaF »

black jack wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.
I recommend From Shakespeare to Existentialism and Existentialism, Religion, and Death by Walter Kaufmann. Kaufmann is one of (if not the) foremost Nietzsche scholars, and is a gifted and bracing writer (I use the present tense, though he's deceased).

For the OP: Kaufmann's books are among my favorite nonfiction works; his The Faith of a Heretic changed my life.
Thank you, black jack.

I was already interested in Walter Kaufmann, because Shelly Kagan recommends two of his essays, "Death Without Dread" in Existentialism, Religion, and Death, and "Death" in The Faith of a Heretic. Now, I really have to read him.

Victoria
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by mlipps »

Unbroken is undoubtedly one of mine, and it's on sale for the Kindle today for $3. I plan to see the movie with my parents on Christmas Day.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by skjoldur »

+1 for The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker
+1 for Latitude

Also, Ged, you mentioned Daniel Dennett, I was reminded of another compelling book of his: Darwin's Dangerous Idea. I will take a look at Intuition Pumps ... That sounds interesting, thanks!

+11 for John McPhee. Over the last few years he has also written a series of essays in the New Yorker in which he talks about his approach to writing and, in his inimitable way, weaves together anecdotes, facts and ideas. For example, he wrote a fascinating essay about fact checking at the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/ ... heckpoints) that is not only extremely entertaining, but which is also enlightening about the subtle challenges posed by the attempt to remove un-verified implications from written language.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by vv19 »

mlipps wrote:Unbroken is undoubtedly one of mine, and it's on sale for the Kindle today for $3. I plan to see the movie with my parents on Christmas Day.
Same here. Read that book early this year and I am still in awe of that book. Probably the best book I've read in my lifetime.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Fallible »

skjoldur wrote:+1 for The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker
+1 for Latitude

Also, Ged, you mentioned Daniel Dennett, I was reminded of another compelling book of his: Darwin's Dangerous Idea. I will take a look at Intuition Pumps ... That sounds interesting, thanks!

+11 for John McPhee. Over the last few years he has also written a series of essays in the New Yorker in which he talks about his approach to writing and, in his inimitable way, weaves together anecdotes, facts and ideas. For example, he wrote a fascinating essay about fact checking at the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/ ... heckpoints) that is not only extremely entertaining, but which is also enlightening about the subtle challenges posed by the attempt to remove un-verified implications from written language.
Also + on McPhee. The kind of exhaustively detailed writer he is made him the perfect one to write about those who exhaustively edit copy like his - such as Sara Lippincott. The best editors/proofers will do exactly what she did, keep checking smack to deadline and even a smidgen beyond it. In fact, editors like Lippincott may go right on checking long after a story has run because of an insatiable need to question and to know what really happened.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by cinghiale »

I would second all of Victoria's authors and books, and would add the following to that genre:

The Drunkard's Walk Leonard Mlodinow
How We Know What Isn't So Thomas Gilovich
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

And, for other disciplines and areas of inquiry:

Consilience Edward O. Wilson (a must read!)
Status Anxiety Alain de Botton
The Future of Freedom Fareed Zakaria
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Chan_va »

If you are interested in travel memoirs, modern history, or just enjoy being immersed in a foreign land, you must read Ryszard Kapuściński. His writing is simply sublime.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Sagenick48 »

I read a lot of stuff, right now I am reading Mommsen's "The Provinces of the Roman Empire" but I would strongly suggest reading

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.

It is a stark story of what it was like to come of age in the Great Depression ending with, well I wouldn't spoil the ending.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by cfs »

Ancient and Lost Civilizations are some of my favorite subjects and "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" (written by Doctor Jared Diamond) is one of my favorite books. I have no time to read fiction books.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by grap0013 »

ThankYouJack wrote: Into Thin Air
Into the Wild
If you like those you will love "Miracle in the Andes" http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Andes-Day ... 6950790137

Please note the 5 out of 5 stars based on 280 reviews. The best book I have ever read.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by stoptothink »

VictoriaF wrote:I read mostly nonfiction and I like most of what I read. My all-time favorite is:
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicolas Taleb.

Other books that influenced and enriched me include:
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.

Victoria
All among my list of favorites.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by tacster »

jay22 wrote:
mlipps wrote:Unbroken is undoubtedly one of mine, and it's on sale for the Kindle today for $3. I plan to see the movie with my parents on Christmas Day.
Same here. Read that book early this year and I am still in awe of that book. Probably the best book I've read in my lifetime.
In the same vein check out "The Forgotten Highlander", by Alistair Urquhart. An almost unbelievable story of survival and enduring the unendurable.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Ged »

skjoldur wrote: Also, Ged, you mentioned Daniel Dennett, I was reminded of another compelling book of his: Darwin's Dangerous Idea. I will take a look at Intuition Pumps ... That sounds interesting, thanks!
I was fortunate to meet Prof. Dennett while I was a student because I had some friends who were philosophy graduate students at Tufts. They invited me to dinner with them and Dennett. At the time there was talk of a course on artificial intelligence co-taught by him and Minsky.

Alas for some reason it didn't come off at least while I was there. It had the potential to be very interesting.

This reminds me of another non-fiction book I enjoyed some years ago,

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by lightheir »

The Fatal Shore.

It's about Australia, and I have no special interest whatsoever in Australia, but it's so well written and yields so much insight into the nature of man , society, and culture when thrown into a literal hostile wilderness with little support, that you can't help but feeling much wiser from reading it. Plus, it's a fun read despite the fact that it's not written in a 'storybook' style.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Bungo »

Here are a few off the top of my head:

The Power Broker and the LBJ series, by Robert Caro
A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson
The Code Book, by Simon Singh
A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918, by G.J. Meyer
Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson
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chuck-b
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by chuck-b »

All the Light We Can Not See
The Boys in the Boat
anything by Bill Bryson
Unbroken
Wild
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by sevenseas »

The Death and Life of Great American Cities--Jane Jacobs. Of special interest to me as an NYCer; very insightful analysis of the factors that contribute to a vibrant neighborhood.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, For the Time Being, and other books--Annie Dillard. Hard to categorize these books; about nature, spirituality, existential issues...she has a unique voice and writing style that I love.

The World's Religions--Huston Smith. Excellent; easy to read yet comprehensive and impartial review.

Any essay by E.B. White

A Little History of the World--E.H. Gombrich. Really a children's book but readable by an adult; for those who (like me) didn't take enough world history in school! Am starting his "The Story of Art" next.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind--Shunryu Suzuki. Great easy introduction to Zen Buddhism, and mindfulness in general.

Walden--Henry Thoreau. Enough said!
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by TomatoTomahto »

VictoriaF wrote: The Black Swan by Nassim Nicolas Taleb.

Other books that influenced and enriched me include:
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

[snip...]
Those books were appreciated by me, and the only one not in my bedroom bookcase is Frankl's, which is less than a foot from my elbow in the family room, where I was re-reading it shortly before clicking on this thread.

I want to also add +1 to anything by Bill Bryson and John McPhee.

I was surprised not to see anything by Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins on the list, unless I missed them.

I guess I had better charge up the Kindle :D
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by JupiterJones »

I'm on a "deliberate practice" kick these days for some reason.

Just finished Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code and its follow-up, The Little Book of Talent. Really enjoyed both.

Currently in the middle of Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. Covers much the same ground as Coyle, but in a somewhat different way and with more of an emphasis on the workplace. Wouldn't call it a "favorite book" at this point.

More faves, off the top of my head. All about traveling in one form or another:
  • Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz
  • Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck
  • Blue Highways by Williams Least Heat-Moon
  • Nothing by Chance by Richard Bach
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ThankYouJack
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by ThankYouJack »

Thanks for the replies. Some great recommendations and my reading list just got a whole lot longer :)
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Stevee »

Wait Thankyoujack, i would like to add my two cents:

You mentioned Into Thin Air and Into The Wild, those are both on my list. In that vein, anything by John McPhee as has been mentioned earlier. I would add anything by Paul Theroux. Someone mentioned a book on Shackleton's ill fated voyage, that will work too. All are travel/adventure books.

Moving away from travel/adventure, I will add a book I just finished and enjoyed: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Ivygirl »

Farmers of Forty Centuries, Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan, by F.H. King. Originally printed in 1911, it details how Asian farmers fed themselves sustainably for 4,000 years without depleting the soil, by wasting absolutely nothing and using absolutely everything. Many pictures illustrating the farmers' lives and the ingenious methods used to manage their fields. I will never forget the awe I felt when I read how, after the cotton harvest, every single cotton stalk was hand-harvested and bundled for cooking fires, and the ashes returned to the fields.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by GerryL »

I mostly read non-fiction. I was thinking the other day that if I could read only one genre of books, it would be biographical/autobiographical. In that genre you can get everything: history, business, the arts, humor, and on and on.

One that I read recently that falls into the biographical category is No Bone Unturned: The Adventures of a Top Smithsonian Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons (by Jeff Benedict). Good read for anyone with an interest in paleoanthropology.

Another non-fiction title I frequently recommend is Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul (by Edward Humes). It is the best overview (of the many I've read) of the Kitzmiller v. Dover (PA) trial, which was the 21st century version of the Scopes Monkey trial.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by jdb »

A multi volume set written over 225 years ago, still my favorite to re-read parts from time to time. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. History tends to repeat itself, most can be seen in this true saga.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Deep Thoughts »

Great thread!! My reading list has grown! 95 percent of what I read is non-fiction so for me that has been pure gold. I'm always on the lookout for more. Books that
I haven't seen mentioned so far:

Adventure/Exploration:
The Last Place On Earth by Roland Huntford ... The History of Antartic Exploration told thru the contest between Amundsen and Scott.
Burton and Speke by William Harrison ..... The History of the search for the source of the Nile. Incredible accounts of the tribulations suffered by the
Victorian era African explorers
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett (survival in a very desolate place in the Southern Ocean)

Commodity Histories:
Salt by Mark Kurlansky
Oranges by John McPhee (a classic for the McPhee fans)

Just Finished: Pompeii by Mary Beard (interesting view of everyday life in a small Roman city)
Reading: Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by BigJohn »

If you like biographies, I'd recommend anything by Ron Chernow. My personal favorites where Alexander Hamilton and Titan but I also enjoyed The House of Morgan and The Warburgs.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by tadamsmar »

VictoriaF wrote: I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.
Here are suggestions that a normal person can get through:

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel is a good. It may be only book by an existentialist that is comprehensible.

Sartre's (fiction) short stories are good.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by VictoriaF »

tadamsmar wrote:
VictoriaF wrote: I have recently became interested in existentialism and may start reading existentialists. For now, I am reading about their ideas.
Here are suggestions that a normal person can get through:

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel is a good. It may be only book by an existentialist that is comprehensible.
I agree. I've read it two times, the second time recently, and recommended it earlier in this thread.
tadamsmar wrote:Sartre's (fiction) short stories are good.
Right now, I am trying to understand Kierkergaard. In Fear and Trembling, he wrote "For without risk there is no faith, and the greater the risk the greater the faith." I want to relate it to other notions of risk.

Victoria
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by jpmitchell »

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Caduceus »

Thanks.
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by tadamsmar »

VictoriaF wrote: Right now, I am trying to understand Kierkergaard. In Fear and Trembling, he wrote "For without risk there is no faith, and the greater the risk the greater the faith." I want to relate it to other notions of risk.

Victoria
He's claiming that your typical church goer is not getting a risk premium.
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: Favorite nonfiction books

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

I have read some of those posted, not read some others, but disagree with none.

One particular favorite of mine I've not seen above, which depicts the life of a common sailor in the 19th Century, written by a successful politician and lawyer who spent two years of his early adulthood living that life, is the autobiography Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Content warning: the purpose of the voyage was to trade manufactured goods for cow hides, and the purpose of the book was to bring to light and end the brutality intentionally inflicted upon sailors at that time.

PJW
Last edited by Phineas J. Whoopee on Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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