Recommend books.

[GirlinContempt]

Recommend a non-fiction book to me. If you'd like, I'll recommend one back to you.
Word of mouth has found me some of the best books in my collection. It can be a real eye opener. So, go to!

[enigmatic]

1. "Wisconsin Death Trip" and "Real-Life:Louisville In The 20's"- Michael Lesy

http://www.amazon.com/Wisconsin-Death-Trip-Michael-Lesy/dp/0826321933

http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum125.php

[GirlinContempt]

4. Awesome! Thank you

[RetroLounge]

36. "Wisconsin Death Trip"

Great book...

I have reprints of a few of the photos in the book that I bought from the Wisconsin Historical Society...

RL

[Casper Alabaster]

58. Wisconsin Death Trip

is an entirely fascinating look back into how the rituals surrounding death by whatever cause in that time are juxtaposed to the rituals of today, or at least the 1990s, when the book was photographed/written. WDT documents how it was entirely common for family members to be undertaken right in their own homes.

[AlCzervik]

2. 1776 by David McCullough, War reporting for cowards by Chris Ayres

Team of rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and the one i just started LBJ by Randall Woods.

[GirlinContempt]

6. I didn't hear much good about War reporting for cowards

You liked it though? :) I don't even remember what bad I heard, so I'm open

[AlCzervik]

9. i thought it was funny, he lasted 9 days before he went back to his nice hotel.

he's also a hypochondriac. He won't be winning any pulitzers but it was a quick read especially compared to the other books i listed.

[Richardo]

38. You took my answer, crs

1776 was the best history book I've read in years.

[pokerfan]

3. 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' by Feynman

And 'Thinking Physics' by Lewis Carroll Epstein
http://www.appliedthought.com/InsightPress/ThinkingPhysics.html

[GirlinContempt]

7. Physics are fun

Thanks :)

[LSK]

5. Fiasco - Thomas Ricks, anything by Thom Hartmann

[GirlinContempt]

8. Looks interesting

Hadn't heard about it before. :)

[LSK]

14. heres an older book.....

Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget
by Tim Weiner

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780446514521&itm=2

[Zoigal]

10. John mcphee's

Uncommon Carriers...great read

[GirlinContempt]

17. Travel, right?

[Bullwinkle925]

11. "Under the Banner of Heaven" , "the Devil in the White City",

"Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell" ...

3 that we've read in my book club and enjoyed.

[GirlinContempt]

18. Awesome

:)

[CrownPrinceBandar]

44. "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a great choice.........

not the most uplifting of stories, but certainly a fascinating subject matter.

Almost anything by Jon Krakauer is a good read!

[Horse with no Name]

12. An Innocent Man

John Grisham.

[GirlinContempt]

16. Reading about it, it sounds like

it might be a John Grisham book I'd actually like! Thanks :)

[Redstone]

13. Salt. Or Oysters. By the same guy, whose name I forget. But read both of them.

Redstone

[GirlinContempt]

19. Mark Kurlansky?

[Redstone]

22. Bingo! Yes, either or both of his books are fascinating reading. And I say that as someone

who is hideously allergic to shellfish, but could NOT put down his book about oysters nonetheless.

Thanks for bringing up the name I couldn't remember.

Redstone

[eppur_se_muova]

62. Also "Cod", a good read. And "1968", which I actually haven't read yet.

And "A Basque History of the World".

[Redneck Socialist]

15. Here's two

Blood Ties by Ted Kerasote. Best book on hunting that you've never read. I highly recommend it, especially to non-hunters.

And on a more DU friendly note, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson (RIP). Hands down the best campaign book ever written.

[GirlinContempt]

20. Neat, thanks

[PassingFair]

21. Burning Rainbow Farm

Mrs. Grumpy gave it to me for X-mas.

I'm half way through it. I'm going SLOW, because
I already know the unhappy ending.

[GirlinContempt]

25. Sounds interesting.

American drug laws & stuff about them interests me.

[ghostsofgiants]

23. An indirect recommendation...

I haven't read this, but my friend highly recommends "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss. It's a book about grammar and punctuation, haha. http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/B000IU3E5A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7344144-2845644?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175321710&sr=8-1

[GirlinContempt]

26. I remember looking at that one

a number of times, but I never bought it. :)

[grannylib]

24. I've been reading "First Break all the Rules" and "Now Discover Your

Strengths" and "Good to Great"
First two by Marcus Buckingham; last one by somebody Collins? I think?

Reading them for work; really enjoying them.

[GirlinContempt]

27. Cool, thanks

[ScreamingMeemie]

28. Don't laugh... Road Trip USA...

Cross Country Adventures on America's Two Lane Highways, by Jamie Jensen.

It's fascinating. It describes several different cross country and coastal trips you can take with the many really cool waysides, restaurants and hotels you can stay at along the way. If I can't actually take a vacation at least I can read about one.

[GirlinContempt]

29. Sounds neato

Does it have anecdotal stuff too?

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. Yes, that's what makes it such an interesting read. At least for me.

Lots of really great pics and stories. :hi:

[GirlinContempt]

31. I do enjoy travel stories.

Some of my favorites are probably Seven Years in Tibet, Anna and the King, The Motorcycle Diaries, and Back on the Road.

[YankeyMCC]

32. "Our Ecological Footprint" by

Mathis Wackernagel and others

Or if you'd rather history:
"Changes in the Land" William Cronon
or
"Divided Ground" by Alan Taylor (you might appreciate this one a bit more since it involves Canadian history as well, well US/British/Canadian history through native american view point in a way)
or
"Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick

On Edit: I can't believe I left this out, it really should be my number 1 recommendation "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

[GirlinContempt]

53. thank you

:)

[cobalt1999]

33. A few good reads...

Rubicon: The last years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland. Excellent read, informative, entertaining, and you really can see some parallels with our own government.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Probably the best book explaining evolution ever written. If you think you understand evolution and you haven't read this book, you don't.

Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh. You wouldn't think a book about solving a mathematical problem would be very interesting, but WOW! It's a page turner. I think it should be made into a movie...it's that interesting.

The Path between the Seas by McCullough. The building of the Panama Canal is a great story on many levels...political, technical, medical, personal stories...the Apollo program of the time.

[GirlinContempt]

54. I have to say it.

I. Fucking. Despise. Richard. God damn. Dawkins.

With that off my chest, thank you! :) Fermat's Enigma sounds especially good.

[eppur_se_muova]

63. If math interests you, I recommend John Derbyshire's "Prime Obsession".

Once Fermat's "Last" Theorem was proven, a lot of people (including publishers) noticed that the Riemann Hypothesis was the biggest remaining unsolved problem in mathematics, and there have been several recent books on it. Dan Rockmore's "Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis" is also good.

[XemaSab]

34. Deep Survival

The Botany of Desire

War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

[BurtWorm]

35. An African in Greenland

http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=278



By Tete-Michel Kpomassie
Translated from the French by James Kirkup
Introduction by A. Alvarez

Tété-Michel Kpomassie was a teenager in Togo when he discovered a book about Greenland—and knew that he must go there. Working his way north over nearly a decade, Kpomassie finally arrived in the country of his dreams. This brilliantly observed and superbly entertaining record of his adventures among the Inuit is a testament both to the wonderful strangeness of the human species and to the surprising sympathies that bind us all.

Read the introduction

Reviews

Was there ever an odyssey like this one, from the palm forests of Togomote jumble of silence and ice of northern Greenland? It is a long way in miles, but even longer in resilience, adventurous persistence and uncanny charm... His book contains a catalogue of his impressions, combined with striking passages of fine writing. The result is the curious double perspective of a naïve visitor, combined with the controlled distance of a writer.
— Paul Zweig, The New York Times Book Review

Kpomassie is indisputably a man of extraordinary charm; he is also sharp and perceptive and honest—unencumbered by a sense of obligation to his hosts that might have prevented him from telling us what they are really like. His honesty, while occasionally brutal, in the end serves the Greenlanders well: he pays them the compliment of showing them as they are.
— Katherine Bouton, The Nation

A book with cultish standing…
— Lonely Planet

[BlueIris]

37. "The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists." nt

[Richardo]

39. The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell, by John Crawford

An Army reservists account of his time (and several extensions) in Iraq. Harrowing.

[jane_pippin]

43. I second this one.

Harrowing, but well worth it.

[Richardo]

40. There's another book called 'fiasco' that's not about Iraq

It's about big-budget Hollywood flops and how they got made: Popeye, Cotton Club, and others I can't remember right now. Came out about 2-3 years ago I think. I found it very entetaining.

[av8rdave]

41. Vice: Dick Cheney and the hijacking of the Presidency, by Lou DuBose

[jane_pippin]

42. "Lipstick Jihad" by Azadeh Moaveni...

It's a memoir by a young Iranian woman who grew up in California and always felt left out, who becomes a journalist and travels back to Tehran and lives there for a few years. As an American she also feels left out there. It's a fascinating look inside Iran and what it's like for young people there. It ends just around 9/11 so while it's not quite current it's still an illuminating read.

If you're interested in that at all I'd also recommend the Persepolis graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi--she's slightly older than Moaveni and grew up in Iran--Tehran, I think. It's a similar story, but a different perspective. I'd actually read those first if you want to go chronological.

I actually don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I think memoirs by Iranians, particularly women, are fascinating. Oh, and another one is a tiny little book of essays by young Iraninans, men and women, called "Brother Guard Your Eyes, Sister Guard Your Veil." It's got essays by both the authors I mentioned and Reza Aslan, (who wrote No God But God) and some other writers whose names escape me now.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

45. "Among the Thugs" by Bill Buford..........

"Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan

[hellbound-liberal]

46. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a very interesting non-fiction book

At least I think it's non-fiction! It's the story of a man's journey in search of himself.

From the author: What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although much has been changed for rhetorical purposes, it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either.

"And what is good, Phædrus,
And what is not good...
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"

[EFerrari]

47. Collected Joan Didion: We tell ourselves stories in order to live.

:loveya:

[Reverend_Smitty]

48. If you like books about travel...

have you read anything by Bill Bryson? A Walk in the Woods, Notes from a Small Island and In a Sunburned Country were all pretty enjoyable and funny

[Left Brain]

49. Okay,

I recommend books. :hi:

[bridgit]

50. Christopher Buckley's "Boomsday"

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/book/story/9DBC5A0C94CFEAD2862572AF0004FE0A?OpenDocument :)

[Richardo]

51. I'm a big CB fan and just read the jacket blurb yesterday - it's good, then?

I was disappointed with his last one - I'm blanking on the title, but took place in the Middle East.

[bridgit]

52. heard the premise while driving through the bay area, classic Buckley dry-ness...

baby boomer's are to "voluntarily transition" (out of life) at age 65 to alleviate SSA impacting due to drains upon the system and receive tax credits (a classic republican perk, with substantial penalties if one should opt out after 'the agreement'), the first part of the interview played very dry as the interviewer & Buckley played it to the max,

a quirky/funny premise i must say :)

[terrya]

67. I'm a fan of CB also. The name of his last one was "Florence of Arabia"

My very favorite book of his was "The White House Mess". Funny stuff. :-)

"Florence of Arabia" had its moments, but it was sort of disappointing.

[GirlinContempt]

55. Thanks everyone!

I've read all the replies and hope for more recommendations! Everything sounds so good I don't know where to start.

[Hosnon]

56. "Following the Equator" - Mark Twain. NT.

[Casper Alabaster]

57. "Auschwitz", copr. 1960, Miklos Nyiszli;

Nyiszli became Dr. Mengele's premier forensic pathologist in Auschwitz, made to try to prove the Nazis pseudoscientific study of what they considered inferior races, at gunpoint. In Auschwitz. It's one of the most horrible accounts into the descent into human depravity I've ever read. I have an old dog-eared copy.:puke:

[izzybeans]

59. Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy

I's an edited volume on contemporary political philosophies. It has an older companion piece called Iconoclash.

[NightWatcher]

60. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

It's the story of a guy who drops out of college and hitchhikes cross country. He ends up in Alaska. I read the whole thing in one sitting.

I also really like anything by Edward Abbey. I think that his best is a non-fiction titled Desert Solitaire, about Ed's job as a Forest Ranger and getting in touch with nature.

Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac is a great story of his season ass a fire watcher in a tower out in the middle of nowhere.

Be warned, all of these will make you wanna ditch your job and hit the road. I'm reminded of a bumper sticker..."Not all who wander are lost."

[Skittles]

61. I just ordered this book from BuzzFlash

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/items/500

[ismnotwasm]

64. A People's History of the United States

1482-Present--by Howard Zinn (Originally published in 1980, with regular new editions)Gets your blood up to say the least
"Standing Alone" (A American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam) by Asra Q Nomani. Inspiring, awesome book.

[Left Is Write]

65. Eats Shoots and Leaves

[Hugin]

66. "Warped Passages" by Lisa Randall

"Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions."

I found this book by accident. But, I'm enjoying it immensely, although, I rarely read non-fiction
books.

If you pick it up to flip through, you'll end up reading the whole thing. I did.

Physics is on the cusp of a transition in paradigm and Dr. Randall is way out there in front.
This is one of those books which is of a type only produced a few times during our lifetimes.

<snip-of-jacket>
"Warped Passages" is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks
the arc of discovery from the early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern
scientific theory.
<snip-of-jacket\>

That snip hardly does the book and it's author justice. It's much more than that.

[Connonym]

68. 1984

It's weird how Orwell knew all this in advance but then went and got the year wrong. :silly:

[Hugin]

69. Not if you're in the...

It all began with Reagan and Supply-Side Economics camp.

It was right on schedule. ;)