Books Favourite Non-Fiction Books

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Had a look but couldn't find a thread dedicates to Non-Fiction books.

What are your favourite Non-Fiction reads? What have you read that has stayed with you? Any books that made you do a 180 on your previous POV?

 

[VorZakone]

Unfortunately I'm a little bit too busy to read books for recreation. I've mostly been reading work-related books.

But for recreation, I'm eyeing the genres of history, geopolitics and finance in the future. John Carreyrou's book on Theranos seems to be great apparently.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Unfortunately I'm a little bit too busy to read books for recreation. I've mostly been reading work-related books.

But for recreation, I'm eyeing the genres of history, geopolitics and finance in the future. John Carreyrou's book on Theranos seems to be great apparently.

Oh man, that book is great.

Unfortunately I had been reading all of his reporting in the WSJ (I think) or WaPo for the year preceding the implosion of Theranos so knew most of the story.

That being said the book was great and had other snippets and items that were amazing.

The entire story is incredible and I think that, in conjunction with lots of other high profile scams (We Work, Tesla, Enron etc) made me really skeptical of pretty much all start ups.

 

[Bobade]

I like the Tim Marshall books, mainly focuses on geopolitics. Prisoners of Geography, Divided, Power of Geography.
Really opened my eyes on a number of issues affecting the world today in throughout history, stuff that I thought was just down to the people involved was much more influenced by geography than I had appreciated.

 

[Bobade]

Posted too early. There is also the excellent Cold War by John Gaddis, super informative. And Brainwash by Dominic Streatfield, really interesting look at attempts of brainwashing through history that informed a lot of my university work.

For an easy read, I love Bryson. Any of his really, I love his old travel reads, although they are quite dated and he has changed his tone a lot over time. The Body was excellent - super entertaining.

 

[Gavinb33]

The big short - Michael Lewis, probably my favorite ever book have re-read this many times
Moneyball - Michael Lewis, great book on Baseball which i know next to nothing about engrossed from page 1 onward
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage, probably the 1st firsthand account of drugs in cycling from a rider competing
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America - Beth Macy, firsthand account of the opioid epidemic in America from a journalist in one of the hot spots in Appalachia
The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright, about the rise and beginnings of Al Queda and the FBI and CIA missing key issues that pointed to 9/11
Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera, a critical look at the role empire played in shaping Great Britain

I am a bit of a Michael Lewis fanboy I have read everything he has written, i would recommend the above books mostly but Liars Poker by him is superb also, also except for Rough Ride and the Michael Lewis books i read the rest because i watched a TV show that were loosely based around or fully based on the books and wanted to fill in the missing pieces from the TV shows.

 

[Ali Dia]

I love music books.
Just kids by Patti Smith is amazing
Waging heavy peace by Neil young
Chronicles by Bob Dylan
Journey through America with the Rolling Stones by Rob greenfield
Sing Backwards and weep by mark lanegan

true crime:
Killing Pablo - Mark Bowden
The stranger beside me - Anne Rule
In cold blood - capote
Murder Machine - gene mustain

Easy Riders Raging bulls - about hollywoods golden era. Such a fun read.

a short history by bill Bryson

I will add more later

 

[dinostar77]

Fingerprints of the gods by graham hancock. Read it at collage after one of the teachers recommended it to me. An eye opener. That was over 20 years ago and the evidence has been piling up ever since for a martime civilisation cica 10,000-12,000bc that has been lost to us.

 

[BusbyMalone]

The Making of The Atomic Bomb. Excellent, excellent book. What I would say, is that it’s very in-depth and exhaustive. It doesn't merely cover the Manhattan Project, but goes way back to the foundation of nuclear physics in the mid-late nineteenth century, all the way up to the present.

Despite all that, it’s an incredibly interesting and fascinating read if you’re interested in that stuff. Some of it is difficult to parse, and a lot of it will go over your head, but the author does his best to keep it digestible for the layman most of the time.

 

[Irwin99]

I like a lot of Greco-Roman History

Arrian- The campaigns of Alexander the Great
Tom Holland- In the shadow of the sword
Ernle Bradford-Hannibal
The Fall of Carthage- Adrian Goldsworthy

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

I like the Tim Marshall books, mainly focuses on geopolitics. Prisoners of Geography, Divided, Power of Geography.
Really opened my eyes on a number of issues affecting the world today in throughout history, stuff that I thought was just down to the people involved was much more influenced by geography than I had appreciated.

Oh man, have those but never read! Geopolitical stuff fascinates me!

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Posted too early. There is also the excellent Cold War by John Gaddis, super informative. And Brainwash by Dominic Streatfield, really interesting look at attempts of brainwashing through history that informed a lot of my university work.

For an easy read, I love Bryson. Any of his really, I love his old travel reads, although they are quite dated and he has changed his tone a lot over time. The Body was excellent - super entertaining.

Bryson is awesome!

Will check out the Cold War book - looks fantastic

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

The big short - Michael Lewis, probably my favorite ever book have re-read this many times
Moneyball - Michael Lewis, great book on Baseball which i know next to nothing about engrossed from page 1 onward
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage, probably the 1st firsthand account of drugs in cycling from a rider competing
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America - Beth Macy, firsthand account of the opioid epidemic in America from a journalist in one of the hot spots in Appalachia
The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright, about the rise and beginnings of Al Queda and the FBI and CIA missing key issues that pointed to 9/11
Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera, a critical look at the role empire played in shaping Great Britain

I am a bit of a Michael Lewis fanboy I have read everything he has written, i would recommend the above books mostly but Liars Poker by him is superb also, also except for Rough Ride and the Michael Lewis books i read the rest because i watched a TV show that were loosely based around or fully based on the books and wanted to fill in the missing pieces from the TV shows.

This is awesome, thanks! Love these recs. Dope sick looks good, I started Liars Poker but found it a bit tough going, will try again.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

I'm currently reading Get Rich or Lie Trying. Really good, short, punchy and to the point. Really sums up what is going on at the moment.

 

[Hugh Jass]

In Cold Blood.
The Stranger Beside Me.
Zodiac.

 

[Abizzz]

The Power Broker by Robert Caro

 

[Bobade]

The big short - Michael Lewis, probably my favorite ever book have re-read this many times
Moneyball - Michael Lewis, great book on Baseball which i know next to nothing about engrossed from page 1 onward
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage, probably the 1st firsthand account of drugs in cycling from a rider competing
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America - Beth Macy, firsthand account of the opioid epidemic in America from a journalist in one of the hot spots in Appalachia
The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright, about the rise and beginnings of Al Queda and the FBI and CIA missing key issues that pointed to 9/11
Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera, a critical look at the role empire played in shaping Great Britain

I am a bit of a Michael Lewis fanboy I have read everything he has written, i would recommend the above books mostly but Liars Poker by him is superb also, also except for Rough Ride and the Michael Lewis books i read the rest because i watched a TV show that were loosely based around or fully based on the books and wanted to fill in the missing pieces from the TV shows.

I have a few Michael Lewis books on my reading list, they sound excellent. I’ve seen The movies of Big Short and Moneyball but would be keen to understand more of the detail rather than the dramatisation. Looming Tower was also great on Amazon.

 

[Bobade]

Or BBC maybe. Can’t remember where I watched it.

 

[Green_Red]

Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Brilliant author.

 

[Moriarty]

The First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Just started Kleptopia by Tom Burgis. My word, only sixty pages in but it's very illuminating

 

[VorZakone]

Has anyone read Empire of Pain about the Sackler family?

 

[HTG]

Banality of Evil - Hannah Arendt
The Nazi dictatorship - Ian Kershaw
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

 

[njred]

Wiseguy(goodfellas)- Nicholas Pileggi
Fire in the Lake(vietnam war origins)- Frances FitzGerald

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Has anyone read Empire of Pain about the Sackler family?

Really want to read this

 

[FlawlessThaw]

Has anyone read Empire of Pain about the Sackler family?

I’ve read it. It’s brilliant particularly the parts of about Arthur Sackler and the old family. After reading it I started noticing Sackler’s name everywhere which was not great.

I’ve got Say Nothing on the list by the same author as well

 

[Stookie]

Endurance by Alfred Lansing. What a tale about survival.
Lancaster by Mark Nicholl. Life in the bomber crew, those boys had some balls.
And I’ve just finished one called Precision by Simon Winchester. How being so precise changed engineering and shaped the world. Really interesting if you’re into that kind of thing.

 

[strongwalker]

The big short - Michael Lewis, probably my favorite ever book have re-read this many times
Moneyball - Michael Lewis, great book on Baseball which i know next to nothing about engrossed from page 1 onward
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage, probably the 1st firsthand account of drugs in cycling from a rider competing
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America - Beth Macy, firsthand account of the opioid epidemic in America from a journalist in one of the hot spots in Appalachia
The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright, about the rise and beginnings of Al Queda and the FBI and CIA missing key issues that pointed to 9/11
Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera, a critical look at the role empire played in shaping Great Britain

I am a bit of a Michael Lewis fanboy I have read everything he has written, i would recommend the above books mostly but Liars Poker by him is superb also, also except for Rough Ride and the Michael Lewis books i read the rest because i watched a TV show that were loosely based around or fully based on the books and wanted to fill in the missing pieces from the TV shows.

+1 for the Kimmage book, it is an amazing read. There also is a great book on the same subject by Peter Winnen, the german title translates to "Letters from Alpe d'Huez", i don't know if there is an english translation around.

non-fiction books i enjoyed recently or are on my list:

"Homelands" - Timothy Garton Ash, a observation of after-WW2 Europe
"Talking to my daughter about the economy" - Yanis Varoufakis, the guardian calls it "a history of capitalism"
"Honor thy father" - Guy Talese, a portrait of the Bonnano mob family of NY
"Groucho, Harpo, Chico an sometimes Zeppo" - Joe Adamson, a biography of the Marx Brothers, almost as funny and crazy as a Marx Brothers movie

 

[justsomebloke]

Yuval Harari's "Sapiens" changed the way I think about human societies, and combines simplicity and readability with a genuine intellectual challenge.

Adam Tooze's "Wages of Destruction" changed fundamentally my understanding of the Nazi war economy, and is just a brilliant piece of analysis on a subject that ought not to be so ripe for such treatment, after decades of heavy interest.

 

[HTG]

Yuval Harari's "Sapiens" changed the way I think about human societies, and combines simplicity and readability with a genuine intellectual challenge.

Adam Tooze's "Wages of Destruction" changed fundamentally my understanding of the Nazi war economy, and is just a brilliant piece of analysis on a subject that ought not to be so ripe for such treatment, after decades of heavy interest.

Just finished wages of destruction yesterday. It’s brilliant. Wholeheartedly agree with your statement.

 

[narnar]

I'm currently reading Get Rich or Lie Trying. Really good, short, punchy and to the point. Really sums up what is going on at the moment.

Bought this for 99p this morning on kindle, very enjoyable so far.