Non-fiction Books

[Eomer]

Okay, looking for some book suggestions of the non-fiction variety. Fiction I increasingly find boring, and if I'm gonna spend 30 hours reading something I may as well learn. To give an idea of my tastes, here's a list of some of the books I've read in the past couple years.

Collapse - Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
Culture of Fear - Barry Glassner
Lying Liars.... - Al Franken
Stupid White Men - Michael Moore (it's an entertaining read okay!? pre-emptive fuck you!)
Understanding Marijuana - Mitch Earlywine(?)
No Logo - Naomi Klein
Fences and Windows - Naomi Klein
History of Islam - Karen Armstrong
Against All Enemies - Richard Clarke(?)
Bushwhacked!
Hegemony or Survival - Noam Chomsky
Ice and Fire - Michael Adams
Fast Food Nation

That's most of them, might be missing a few.

Basically just looking for suggestions of books you've read in the past little while that were good reads, but informative as well. Obviously you can somewhat tell my politics from reading that list, but if you've got a good book from the other side of things I'd be interested to hear of it if it's not too far out there (if you suggest Ann Coulter, Hannity, or O'Reilly I will slap you in the face with my dick, be warned).

Right now not really looking for books on politics themselves, however ones on socio-economic issues are cool. Also science oriented ones I really enjoy reading, so that I can further annoy people with knowing everythign there is to know. Please, suggest away.

[Bralkan]

"Everything You Know is Wrong" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097...Fencoding=UTF8

Other then that - I've only read much older non-fiction. I enjoyed all these books but I could just be an intellectual masturbator. /shrug

1)John Locke's Two Treatises of Government
2)Thomas Hobbes' The Leviathan
3)Most of the writings by Plato
4)I've read plays (while fiction, the Greeks talk about social and political structure through plays) by Aeschylus and Sophocles.
5)The Peloponessian War by Thucydides (fantastic book. Real interesting)
6)The political writings of St. Augustine are really interesting too. Here is a man who is a Saint and tells you Christianity does not have all the answers! Its fantastic and really insightful into a really interesting form of christianity. If your interested in religon at all I'd suggest reading these. His theory on Just War is used frequently to this day.
7) Again, if your interested in religon and specifically myths of all cultures pick up anything by Rene Girard. The Scapegoat has influenced my life more than ANY single piece of literature I've read. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...lance&n=283155

If you had to read one book in your life, It would be The Scapegoat in my opinion. I just can't descirbe it.

Fredrick Douglass' book is really good. If you want to read some primary source documents that are really interesting, check out "For the Record" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...Fencoding=UTF8

I'm currently reading Jean-Jauque Rousseau's Origins of Inequality and his Social Contract.

There is also Darwin's Origins of Species.

Most of this shit was for school, but it will still good none the less.

[TheGoat]

If you liked Fast Food Nation you will probably like Reefer Madness as well. It too is written by Eric Schlosser

[Eomer]

Yeah, that's one of the ones I forgot. Thanks though!

[Fammaden]

You might want to try C.S. Lewis' non-fiction works, usually referred to as his "Christian apologetics". He is a pretty cool thinker and an amazing writer. His simple and accessible eloquence really brings all the most beautiful and respectable things about Christianity to the page. If half of the Christians in the world were half as astute about their faith as Lewis I might even be persuaded to return to the fold myself. "The Screwtape Letters" is a good starting point that is fairly brief and easy to read although it is technically fictional in nature. "The Abolition of Man" would be considered a classic example that is more strictly non-fiction though.

Since I saw a couple more lighthearted examples on your list, have you read anything by P.J. O'Rourke? Brilliant political/social comedic commentary/satire. He leans to the right I suppose but it should be more of a common sense approach than anything partisan for most normal readers. More of an American viewpoint I guess, but I think a Canuk would appreciate him just as well.

[GaliemVaelant]

"Are Universes Thicker than Blackberries" - Martin Gardner

It's an entertaining read. You'd probably like the first part of the book that deals with the multi-universe theory. The book is really a collection of articles and musings. He has a parody I like of a poem:

Originally Posted by Martin Gardener

Jackson Pollok (With apologies to Rudyard Kipling)
When Pollock's last picture was painted,
And his brushes were tiwsted and dried,
And his youngest critics were silent,
And his oldest detractor had died,
He shall rest, and faith he deserves it.
His dribblings are such a big bore.
It is said the best of his pictures
Were those that dripped off on the floor!

[Cathan]

I don't think it fits your tastes but I like reading R.A. Salvatore's "Legend of Drizzt" books. I've paused at the 1000 orcs mini-series but I'll pick it up once this semester ends I'm sure.

I like the Drizzt character's sense of morality. In our society I like the reminder of what good morals should look like. It's inspiring for me to have that reminder. That's my take anyway...

[Tea on tuesday]

Well, I'll be damned. All this time I thought elves weren't real.

[Bralkan]

lol

[Eomer]

[EnigmaticParadigm]

Brief History of Time
Universe in a Nutshell

Not really "abosorb in one sitting books," but very interesting if you go for that sort of thing.

[James]

State of Fear. Yeah, it's fiction. But you will learn a shit ton about politics, environmentalists, scientists, etc, reading it. It's a win/win!

[Eomer]

How do you distinguish from fact and fiction in State of Fear, though?

Thanks Enigmatic, read Brief History as well, I'll look into the other one. I live a block from the biggest library in the city, looks like I'll be heading there this weekend.

[Tea on tuesday]

Oh, and to contribute a couple of books I've read recently and liked:

Feynman's Rainbow- Leonard Mlodinow. It's a really short book, about a guy who was on the faculty at Cal Tech with Feynman it's pretty interesting.

And a couple of Geology books that are for the most part fairly non-technical.

Life on a Young Planet- Andrew Knoll. A really compelling look at the first 3 billion years of life on earth.

The Map That Changed the World- Simon Winchester. Much more oriented towards the beginings of geology.

[Zaniel]

Universe in a Nutshell is basically A Brief History rewritten for the layman's layman with cool pictures to explain ugly mathematics, it's quite good. Hyperspace by Michio Kaku is also good.

I think I generally find history books more instructional than contemporary socio-political musings. A lot of the drivel written today is partisan/wrong/retarded/guesswork whereas reading a proper history book really does let you say "Hmmm, so that's what actually happens when we install a Shah/vote into power short Austrian men/let Caesar bring his armies into the city".