Can someone recommend a non-political non-fiction?
I have reading mostly fiction this year. Can someone recommend a non-political non-fiction? Preferably general science. Thanks.
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Not general science, but “When Breath Becomes Air” is a good one.
Thanks, read it already. 🙂
“The Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee is one of my favorites
How about “And Then You’re Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling Over Niagara”
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Hey, I tried that one already. A lot of stuff went over my head. I think I need to read it again.
I get that! I love astronomy and definitely had to be in the right frame of mind to understand it…and I’m still working on reading it.
I’m reading this now and am feeling the same way: so much I don’t know!
Gulp, by Mary Roach.. It’s yummy?
Anything by Mary Roach! Halfway through Spook right now and I loved Gulp, Stiff, Packing for Mars, and (especially) Bonk!
“Harpo Speaks” is wonderful
oh my goodness, I read that books years ago and *love* it. Too bad I lost the copy by lending it out.
So many excellent book recommendations! Thanks everyone 😀
The immortal life of Henrietta lacks. (Medical science)
Read it last year. Thanks. Wondering if the TV program is worth watching.
@Shih I started to watch the movie but didn’t get through it. Not sure if I was tired or what.
The Inheritance by Niki Kapsambelis — I describe this as “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks but with Alzheimer’s.” SO good.
Checking it out now. Thanks.
The Boys in the Boat.
Barbarian Days A Surfing Life
The Disappearing Spoon- Sam Kean, The immortal Life of Henrietta Sacks- Rebecca Skloot
The Meaning of It All by Richard Feynman
Napoleon’s Buttons
Lab Girl
On Immunity by Eula Biss
Gulp.
Anything by Sam Keen, also good.
Anything by Loren Eiseley. My favorite is The Firmament of Time, but all of his collections of essays are excellent. He was a scientist who wrote like a poet. ,
Radium Girls
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Hillbilly Elegy, The Air We Cannot Breathe, Born a Crime and Sirens are some I have enjoyed this year.
Oops…not The Air We Cannot Breathe….it is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.
Second Lab Girl
The invisible gorilla, great on audio
Stiff by Mary Roach, The Emperor of All Maladies, The Girls of Atomic City, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.
I second this!
Hidden Figures
Shockingly, the movie was much better than the book. The book was pretty boring.
I liked them both, for different reasons. The movie made the women’s challenges come alive. The book talked more about the history and the work. Liked them both.
I think the Malcom Gladwell books are thought provoking! I started with the book Blink!
The Sixth Extinction
Cannibalism by Bill Schutt
dan ariely’s book
Endurance by Scott Kelly, and any of Sam Kean’s books are good reads.
Stiff by Mary Roach!
Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne
Emperor of All Maladies is excellent. Also The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I also enjoy the annual compilations of The Best American Science and Nature Writing if you want to get a little taste of everything. Every year the collection is edited by a different well-known science writer.
I loved both these books! highly recommend
Shoe Dog, by Phil Night was fascinating.
My favorite book of all 2016 and I am not in to science. Won many awards: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733983-lab-girl
I have not read it yet, but there has been some interesting buzz surrounding a book called Astro physics for people in a hurry…on my tbr list!
Lab Girl was good
The Tiger by John Vaillant.
5 Days at Memorial – absolutely riveting non-fiction account of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at a New Orleans hospital.
Salt: A World History
Not exactly general science, but The Code Book by Simon Singh is excellent.
Try Stiff. Enthralling (and morbid).
Boys in the Boat
Right now I’m finishing The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It is a very interesting book about Ebola.
A Short History of Nearly Everything and At Home: A Short History of Private Life both by Bill Bryson
Boys in the boat reads like fiction.
Boys in the Boat is one of my top ten books ever. Even though you know how it ends up – after all it is non-fiction – it was suspenseful and exciting!
Malcolm Gladwell
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049273-the-elegant-universe
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, The Gene
Check out this book on Goodreads: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910054-the-sixth-extinction
Thank you all so much. That’s a long list to check out. It would keep me busy for a long while. Thanks.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Or “Hidden Figures.”
That’s what I was going to name.
It’s All Relative by A.J. Jacobs, any of his others also
Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct.
The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger .. A sea yarn with a fair amount of boat science and wave dynamics in the mix. Way, way better/more informative than the movie!
Salt, Emperor of All Maladies and The Devil in White City…
Thanks again for you all, I am taking note.
I loved this book! Non-Fiction, Medical! The story and documented facts were pretty startling!
The Radium Girls
On the list at the library for this one. Listened to a great podcast on NPR. Those poor women!
Stiff by Mary Roach
I have two, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” by Chris Hadfield. If you can get the audio I highly recommend it as he reads it himself and I felt like I basically got to have a 9 hour conversation with him as he answered any and all questions I would have wanted to ask him in the book.
And also “Data and Goliath” by Bruce Schneier as a general everyone who uses the internet should read this for knowing what is going on with big data kind of useful non-fiction book.
I’m currently reading ‘Homo Deus’ and enjoying it.
Starvation Heights