posted
I've been off fiction for a while, mainly because I'm not particularly motivated to write. But I'm also depressed, and scaring myself with attempts to leave the realm of reality. (don't ask, but yeah that's what getting into a good fiction story would be for me right now and I really don't want to do that.)
That probably didn't make sense. But anyway, I'm interested in non-fiction at the moment, especially those that go into length on human nature and perception. So just wondering if anyone could recommend any. On my list so far are:
Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, Sissela Bok Nixon: The Triumph of A Politician, 1962-1972, Stephen E. Ambrose The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent, Robert A. Caro In the Shadow of the Dome: Chronicles of a Capitol Hill Aide, Mark Bisnow Writers in Hollywood, 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton The Ages of Gaia, James Lovelock Ice Time: Climate, Science, and Life on Earth, Thomas Levenson The Lost Country Life, Dorothy Hartley Almost Human, (not sure) Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin
You may know all of these as recommended by OSC, but I've just gotten started and am planning to read way way more than this. Interesting history books would also be appreciated, but nothing directly political, sociological, and especially not Sigmund Freud.
Thanks for your help.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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If I may be so bold, why not take a crack at some Classic literature? If you like history, read Herodotus and Josephus. Or philosophy ... well, take your pick. I find that kind of stuff some of the most enjoyable non-fiction. But then, I am somewhat odd.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I highly reccommend All the Shaw's Men by Stephen Kinzer. It was one of the assigned texts in my history of Iran class a few years ago, and is excellent. Kinzer is a New York Times correspondant, and therefore enjoyable to read (unlike some of the other texts I had to read for that class). The book details the 1953 CIA coup which deposed democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadiq in favor of Mohammad Resa Shaw--an event which greatly tarnished America's image in the Middle East, but one which I was completely ingorant of before reading this book.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
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The Professor and the Madman was good, as was The Meaning of Everything, both about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Simon Winchester is an entertaining writer, and these books are both charming. Also if you're into biography, David Starkey has written a very good one called Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne about Elizabeth I as a princess and a young queen.
Also, I'm reading an absolutely fascinating book called Strangers: Homosexuality in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb--so interesting to read because of all the things it says about cultural assumptions back then about homosexuality and the codes people used and whatnot. Or if you could find Oscar Wilde's Last Stand by Philip Hoare--it's about a libel trial over one of Oscar Wilde's plays, and the trial is just farcical. It's so funny.
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Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter is a good read on human perception.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Nathan scored some 1960s historical collections for youth at a give-away and has been inseperable today from stories about the Civil War and Vikings.
It really is a lot of fun to watch him dig into the written word.
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I adored Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women's Memory. It's about the French Revolution from the point of view of women who lived during it, so you learn a lot more about what life was like during that time period.
I'm trying to find The Travels of Ibn Battuta. If my library has it, that's next on my reading list.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Reading Lolita in Tehran (by Azar Nafisi) was fantastic. I can't recommend it enough. Also The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad.
I third (?) the recommendation of Freakonomics. It raises a lot of questions that are fun to explore.
I'm reading a book about writing by Ann Lamott right now called Bird by Bird. She has a funny way of phrasing things (haha funny, not peculiar funny) and makes me feel like I'm not the only discouraged person in the world. I'm looking forward to reading her book about faith called Traveling Mercies. She's unconventional, and I relate.
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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