Books Favorite non-fiction reads

[2cents]

Tell me about some of your favorite non-fiction books, whether they’ve had a big impact on shaping your thought or you’ve simply enjoyed them for how well they’re crafted.

A couple of mine to get started:

Paul Theroux - The Great Railway Bazaar.
Classic 1970s travel book, Theroux’s account of travelling all over Asia by train. It’s probably the book I’ve re-read more than any other, and inspired a good many train journeys over the years. Begins with this quote which always gets me going:

​

“Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”​

Roy Mottahedeh - The Mantle of the Prophet.
I think it’s the best book on the Middle East I’ve read, certainly the most accessible for the quality of it. It’s an account of the various intellectual currents in modern Iran which combined to produce the Revolution of 1979, told through the story of one open-minded member of the clerical class.

 

[Wittmann45]

For popular history, I like Anthony Beevor's WW2 books, "In the Garden of the Beasts" by Erik Larson, "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick, "I Shall Bear Witness" by Victor Klemperer and "The Fall of Berlin" by Anthony Read and David Fisher.

For more technical/in depth non-fiction, I like "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar," "Scraping By" by Seth Rockman, "Soul by Soul" by Walter Johnston (maybe my favourite non-fiction book), "The Middle Ground" by Richard White, "Bonds of Alliance" by Brett Rushford and "Ordinary Men" by Christopher Browning (although I think some of the conclusions he draws are controversial)

Even a book like "The Pity of War" by Niall Ferguson, which has a nice blend of chapters that are real good historical writing based on solid research and argumentation, some counter-factual history that is fun and interesting, and some chapters that are frankly based on real poor reasoning but are fun to read none the less (ie, his chapter about how soldiers in WW1 were blood thirsty and desperate to keep the war going). It is an interesting read, even if you don't like Ferguson.

 

[2cents]

Even a book like "The Pity of War" by Niall Ferguson, which has a nice blend of chapters that are real good historical writing based on solid research and argumentation, some counter-factual history that is fun and interesting, and some chapters that are frankly based on real poor reasoning but are fun to read none the less (ie, his chapter about how soldiers in WW1 were blood thirsty and desperate to keep the war going). It is an interesting read, even if you don't like Ferguson.

Yeah, Ferguson is a great example of a great writer who is almost always enjoyable to read, who I still inevitably end up disagreeing with.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Dalrymple - Return of a King
On the first Anglo-Afghan war. It almost reads like fiction because the story is so absurd and tragic. Like the Battle of Vienna, those events deserve a big budget HBO mini-series or something.

 

[NinjaFletch]

For popular history, I like Anthony Beevor's WW2 books, "In the Garden of the Beasts" by Erik Larson, "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick, "I Shall Bear Witness" by Victor Klemperer and "The Fall of Berlin" by Anthony Read and David Fisher.

Relatively amusing Beevor's anecdote. He was asked to do the speech at my graduation for my undergraduate. He apparently had not read what he was being asked to do properly. And, so, he got up in front of a hall of about 400 graduates who had done either history or film to say how good it was we'd all done a proper degree like history, and not something pointless and useless like Film.

The tension was excruciating.

 

[Gehrman]

Aldous huxley - "the perennial philosophy" for his insights and commentary on the transcendental experience and the nature of mysticism. Same goes for "The Doors of perception".
Tulku Orgyen - "Blazing Splendour" - a description of Tibet pre the Chinese invasion. A first hand account on what life was like among tibets buddhists masters was like and a great description of what Tibet was like in general.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

It's the story of Nike basically, told by the creator. It was far from an over night success and I was pretty enthralled by the trials and tribulations.

So, you've been publicly shamed - Jon Ronson

Best as an audio book. Really interesting investigation about public shaming. Also from Ronson, The Psychopath Test is great.

Ramble Book - Adam Buxton

I also enjoyed this as an audio book. If you like his podcast, you'll enjoy it. What made it particularly poignant for me is how the he weaves the theme of his fathers troubles and eventual death throughout the book.

 

[BD]

Not as highbrow as some of these recommendations, but Bill Bryson's travel books are always enjoyable.

 

[Maagge]

Akala's book is excellent. Anyone saying racism is largely blunted (especially in the UK) needs to read it.

Not as highbrow as some of these recommendations, but Bill Bryson's travel books are always enjoyable.

I've enjoyed his stuff as well, to be honest. I can't talk/hear about a moose without thinking of his description of one.

 

[2cents]

Not as highbrow as some of these recommendations, but Bill Bryson's travel books are always enjoyable.

Oh yeah, A Walk in the Woods is a personal favorite, but I’ve enjoyed most of his stuff.

 

[2cents]

Tulku Orgyen - "Blazing Splendour" - a description of Tibet pre the Chinese invasion. A first hand account on what life was like among tibets buddhists masters was like and a great description of what Tibet was like in general.

Just added this to the wish list, looks like something I’ll enjoy.

 

[OleBoiii]

I only read one or two books per year these days so my library is probably a bit limited compared to the rest in here, but I really liked Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The plane crash chapter in particular is great(and chilling).

A bit late to the party, but I'm reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari these days and I'm completely hooked.

 

[GaryLifo]

Immediate action by Andy McNab

The story of how he got into the SAS.

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. Read that when I was 13 and it blew my socks off. All about his experiences as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam

 

[berbatrick]

China Shakes the World by Jack Belden, reporting from the civil war in China after WW2. The author is an outsider to China and also not a communist - unlike Edgar Snow he never got interviews with Mao - his reporting explains why the badly out-equipped Communists won that war.
It's interesting to read it in retrospect, and see how the party changed before and after 1949. And having been in China off-and-on for some years, it was also interesting to compare modern China, especially social/religious customs, with his descriptions of feudal China and with India today.

Read it when I was quite young, some of the torture he described I'll never forget.

 

[AkaAkuma]

The Railway Man - Eric Lomax

My Grandpa was a PoW in a Japanese camp, while I have made Japan my home; so Im quite conflicted on how to align this.

The story itself is about the building of the railroads in Thailand, interogations, the camps, Lomaxs love of trains and ultimately a friendship between too enemies.

 

[Stack]

One Summer, America 1927 by Bill Bryson and also his A Short History of Nearly Everything

 

[SirAF]

Oh yeah, A Walk in the Woods is a personal favorite, but I’ve enjoyed most of his stuff.

A Walk in the Woods is one of my all time favorites as well, so much I purchased a signed first edition.

 

[Grinner]

I read Shelby Foote's three volume epic on the American Civil War and just want recognition of my effort. @Carolina Red

 

[Vitro]

One of my favourites is Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Read it a couple of times, but not for a few years now and when I find the time will give it another read.

 

[2cents]

China Shakes the World by Jack Belden, reporting from the civil war in China after WW2. The author is an outsider to China and also not a communist - unlike Edgar Snow he never got interviews with Mao - his reporting explains why the badly out-equipped Communists won that war.
It's interesting to read it in retrospect, and see how the party changed before and after 1949. And having been in China off-and-on for some years, it was also interesting to compare modern China, especially social/religious customs, with his descriptions of feudal China and with India today.

Read it when I was quite young, some of the torture he described I'll never forget.

Hardcover available on Amazon for £2,250.99.

 

[Carolina Red]

I read Shelby Foote's three volume epic on the American Civil War and just want recognition of my effort. @Carolina Red

Nicely done sir! Not an accomplishment to be scoffed at.

How did you like it?

 

[Tarrou]

The Lean Startup by Eric Reis - really useful for anyone looking to start a business

Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn - the book that helped me get into mindfulness after many attempts

City of Djinns by William Dalyrymple - I read this before living in Delhi for a while and it got me super excited for the experience

 

[Mike Smalling]

Sapiens is an obvious one. Might read that again soon.

Also really enjoyed Tribe by Sebastian Junger.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Ian Kershaw's two volume biography on Adolf Hitler's life. Running at around 800 pages or so each, it's fairly exhaustive, but it's full of detail.
Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris
Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis

Mary Beard's excellent book on the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Semi-chronological with more of a focus on the more internal aspects of Roman's life, as opposed to military endeavours and expansion.
SPQR

 

[2cents]

City of Djinns by William Dalyrymple - I read this before living in Delhi for a while and it got me super excited for the experience

Another favorite of mine. Apart from how interesting and well written it is, it’s beautifully crafted, with each chapter moving chronologically backwards to a previous episode or era in Delhi’s history.

 

[berbatrick]

Hardcover available on Amazon for £2,250.99.

given 1949 prices i wonder if he made that much in total.

 

[Carolina Red]

Ian Kershaw's two volume biography on Adolf Hitler's life. Running at around 800 pages or so each, it's fairly exhaustive, but it's full of detail.
Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris
Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis

I’m currently listening to the nearly 60 hour long audiobook version of William Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” if you’re looking for more content of that kind.

Richard Evans’ trilogy on the Third Reich is great as well.

 

[Grinner]

Nicely done sir! Not an accomplishment to be scoffed at.

How did you like it?

Beautifully written and I enjoyed it immensely, but I lugged those books around with me for over a year trying to finish it.

 

[Wittmann45]

Ian Kershaw's two volume biography on Adolf Hitler's life. Running at around 800 pages or so each, it's fairly exhaustive, but it's full of detail.
Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris
Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis

I have not read the biographies but I would highly recommend reading Kershaw's "Working Towards the Fuhrer." It is on jstor and you can sign up for a free account. It is a short read, 16 pages, and it kind of changed my whole view on Hitler as a leader and the Nazi state as a whole.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20081474

 

[Mart1974]

I only read one or two books per year these days so my library is probably a bit limited compared to the rest in here, but I really liked Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The plane crash chapter in particular is great(and chilling).

A bit late to the party, but I'm reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari these days and I'm completely hooked.

Outliers is a brilliant book. I can recommend Bounce by Mathew Syed. The book has caused many enjoyable arguments with my mates until they've read it themselves.

 

[2cents]

I have not read the biographies but I would highly recommend reading Kershaw's "Working Towards the Fuhrer." It is on jstor and you can sign up for a free account. It is a short read, 16 pages, and it kind of changed my whole view on Hitler as a leader and the Nazi state as a whole.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20081474

Thanks for this, just read it. Love reading articles that pack so much insight into such a small space, weirdly enough they can demonstrate the limitations of book-length arguments.

As for the article, while I’m vaguely aware of the debates surrounding the nature of the Nazi regime, Hitler’s role within it, and the path it ultimately went down, I wouldn’t know enough to take a definitive stance of my own. However, I find Kershaw extremely persuasive there.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Failure is an Option - H Jon Benjamin. 99% because of the final chapter where he describes, in great detail, the time he shat himself in a rental car. Incredible literature.

More seriously, most things by Chris Hedges are a good but harrowing read. Particularly Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.

Up Pohnpei - Paul Watson. A football journalist and his mate plot to find the worst international football team in the world and get a cap for them. A light sunlounger read, but it's a really cool story. Even my football-hating missus liked it.

City of Darkness is also great. A photojournal of sorts of the Kowloon Walled City, with lots of info about how people lived, interviews with some of its residents. A fascinating structure that hasn't been documented enough.

 

[The Corinthian]

There's two books that spring to mind that are very engaging reads.

Firstly -

Wild Swans by Jung Chang - it's about three women from the same family (grandmother, mother, child) spanning over a century over China's history from the Ming dynasty to modern times. The grandmother was concubine for a war lord during the Qing dynasty. The mother's life spanned China from the dissolution of the Qing dynasty, to Sun Yat-Sen and the KMT, and through her marriage to a communist leader, we see the communist revolution take hold, and what that really means for China. This is an enthralling book, very well written, and really shows you the hardships and monumental change the nation went through in the last 100 years.

The second book is -

Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore - a biography of one of the most revered and disputed lands in the world, this biography starts from the earliest sources and accounts the history as it moved from pagan stewardship, to Jewish lands, to Christian lands and then Muslim hands. It documents what happened during the crusades, and how the Mamluks protected this land from the hordes of Mongol armies. The book is written largely objectively and doesn't favour any particular party or group. What's interesting is that the Montefiore family were prominent in the pro-Zionist movement in the US from the early 1900s. But overall, an excellent read and highly recommended.

 

[Parma Dewol]

Thanks for the excellent thread. I've started to favour non-fiction and there are some really interesting suggestions in the thread - added plenty of them to my 'want to read' list.

Had a quick look through my reading list and so far Sapiens by Yuval Harari is the only one I've rated as 5/5. The following three managed 4/5, so I really liked these too:

The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
How Not to Die by Michael Greger
Do No Harm by Henry Marsh

 

[Beaucoup]

For popular history, I like Anthony Beevor's WW2 books, "In the Garden of the Beasts" by Erik Larson, "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick, "I Shall Bear Witness" by Victor Klemperer and "The Fall of Berlin" by Anthony Read and David Fisher.

For more technical/in depth non-fiction, I like "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar," "Scraping By" by Seth Rockman, "Soul by Soul" by Walter Johnston (maybe my favourite non-fiction book), "The Middle Ground" by Richard White, "Bonds of Alliance" by Brett Rushford and "Ordinary Men" by Christopher Browning (although I think some of the conclusions he draws are controversial)

Even a book like "The Pity of War" by Niall Ferguson, which has a nice blend of chapters that are real good historical writing based on solid research and argumentation, some counter-factual history that is fun and interesting, and some chapters that are frankly based on real poor reasoning but are fun to read none the less (ie, his chapter about how soldiers in WW1 were blood thirsty and desperate to keep the war going). It is an interesting read, even if you don't like Ferguson.

If you liked Dispatches try The Cat from Hue by John Laurence, unbelievably good read.

 

[VorZakone]

I've always preferred non-fiction over fiction. Reality is just more interesting to me.

 

[groovyalbert]

Recently discovered Stasiland by Anna Funder and was blown away by it.

I've always preferred non-fiction over fiction. Reality is just more interesting to me.

But where/how do you draw the distinction?

 

[2cents]

I've always preferred non-fiction over fiction. Reality is just more interesting to me.

I read very little fiction at all.

 

[esmufc07]

The Case for India by Will Durant is an excellent read (not very long either).

 

[2cents]

The opening page of T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, his famous account of the Arab Revolt of WW1:

There are passages which, it has been claimed, are more fiction than fact, but it’s such an engaging, atmospheric read that I’ve gone back to many times.