What non-fiction book could you just not put down? Was it a biography? Some obscure textbook? A collection of papers or speeches? Share your suggestions below!

  • angelsomething@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    “Man’s search for meaning” is both profound and a must read imo. “Gödel, Esther, Bach” is a tome that I love to say I’ve read but it’s been 5yrs and I’ve only got to 60%. The follow up, however, “I am strange loop” is much more digestible.

  • Leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch is a popular science book about physics. Sounds like a dry read I know but it’s one of the most upbeat and fascinating books about science I’ve ever read. Concepts I never thought I’d be able to grasp were easily explained…sometimes to the point where you’re in danger of having an existential crisis when you realise how very fragile the entirety of existence is.

    The author works for CERN on one of the experiments at the LHC so he knows his stuff and he’s an excellent communicator of ideas without dumbing it all down in the slightest.

    If you enjoyed Bill Bryson’s ‘Short History Of Everything’ you’ll enjoy this too.

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I have read these multiple times:

    A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold, the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine shooters. It’s a heavy book.

    How much of it is nonfiction is up in the air, but I love Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter is sharp and observant and funny as hell. It’s eerie how little has changed in American elections in 50 years.

  • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon.

    Dude was a natural history book REVIEWER. Never left England in his life. Editor got the wild idea to pack him up and send him to Borneo for a month.

    It is a funny, delightful, very fast read. Could not put it down.

    When he survived, got back, turned in the manuscript, the editor liked it so much, he packed him off to the Amazon for TWO months.

    “In Trouble Again” is the 2nd book.

    Third book was called “No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo” and it’s not funny. At all. In the least little way, he and his crew were almost all killed in a nascent civil war.

    4th book was “Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic” - embedded on a fishing boat. The literary equivalent of “Deadliest Catch”.

  • 0ddysseus@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    I’m going to give you two because I pretty much only read nonfiction and I can’t decide.

    Outlaws Inc Which is a lot of fun tales of the adventures of post-soviet aerial smugglers.

    The other is Topsoil and Civilization which you can request a copy of here. This is about how all (from memory) great civilizations have collapsed in part due to the degradation of their topsoil. Its very good, highly relevant, and many years ago started me on the life path I’m now on

  • etceterar@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I enjoyed Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger so much I stopped reading it for a couple weeks when I noticed I was almost through it. Did not want it to end.

    Alison Weir is one of my favorite authors; two of her best (I think) are Queen Isabella (what a fuckin story) and The Lost Tudor Princess, which sounds vague and flighty but is like a high-beam flashlight into the time period.

  • learnbyexample@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

    Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people – including himself – to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer’s eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

  • LiberalSoCalist@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The Divide by Jason Hickel is a good short read on global inequality.

    The Making of Global Capitalism by Panitch and Gindin goes into historical detail on the emergence of the modern financial/trade system, but it’s fairly academic and not super exciting.

    Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis is an account of the famines and mass social murder overseen by colonial governance in the 19th century.

    Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous People’s History of the United States is self explanatory.

    For books on America’s commitment to defending democracy around the world, pick any one of:

    • Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad
    • The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
    • The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
    • Killing Hope by William Blum
  • EntropicalVacation@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    Cosmos by Carl Sagan. A little dated, but a classic. Sagan’s enthusiasm for his subject is inspirational.

    Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Part memoir, part reflections on how to repair humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The author is a botanist and a Potawatomi, and brings both perspectives to her work.

    The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. Thoughtful, heartfelt observations of humanity and its effects on the planet and the other beings that live on it, from a kind, decent, engaged, and nevertheless hopeful person.

    The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. Really more personal reflections on octopuses the author has known and loved than an objective look at consciousness, but the tales are very moving.

  • RoboRay@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan is an amazingly informative and entertainingly written examination of how and why the US got to where it is without even really trying. This and his later books also discuss the rise and now beginning decline of globalization in a destabilizing world.

    The guy (and his research team) has a pretty good track record of predicting geopolitical trends and even specific events that are coming 5 or 10 years down the road. I don’t necessarily agree with or accept all of his ideas and analysis, but he definitely makes you think.

    Wall Street Journal review: https://archive.ph/dFe6u

  • marketsnodsbury@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks

    The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford

    Hometown by Tracy Kidder

    House by Tracy Kidder

    The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

    Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

    Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

  • HipPriest@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    If you’ve not already read it, the Theranos expose Bad Blood is pretty gripping.

    I found Millennium by Tom Holland a history on the formation of Europe fascinating

    Martin Amis’ non-fiction is also very readable, his collections of journalism and book reviews The War Against Cliché and The Moronic Inferno are very good.