What's a good non-fiction book to read?

Ishmael

Here are some that I've liked:

-Consciousness Explained, by Dan Dennett. I don't agree with his central thesis, but a fun book with lots of cool ideas.

-The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. I find religion-bashing tedious, but Dawkins is awesome when he sticks to his element, which is evolutionary biology. This book has some great writing and tons of awesome ideas.

-Chaos, by James Gleick. Describes the development of the mathematical theory of chaos, and effectively conveys the central ideas to a lay audience.

-The Big Roads, by Earl Swift. About how America's interstate highway system got built. I spend a lot of time driving on highways, and it's fun to know the story of where they come from.

-The Life You Can Save, by Peter Singer. Introduced me to the effective altruism movement and GiveWell.com, which has definitely changed the way I think about moral actions in the world. A much more persuasive book than I thought it would be.

-The Secret Race, by Tyler Hamilton. A very interesting look at the doping culture inside cycling. The book also includes fun sports writing about Hamilton's career as a pro cyclist.

Ishmael is great and more of an informational text than a narrative, but it is still fiction.

1491 by Charles C. Mann is great if you want to learn about how wrong the Native American history taught in US schools is.

Bill Bryson's books are very interesting. At Home is neat since it gives the history of all the little things that we use every day.

Oliver Sack's books, such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, are interesting if you want to learn about psychopathology in a way that is accessible to people without a background in the topic. He also has a book about experimenting with mind altering substances.

If you want an intro into physics, Brian Greene has a couple of excellent books.

"Into Thin Air" by John Krakauer. Might be my favorite book of all time. Account of his expedition to Mount Everest in the Spring of 1996 as a journalist for Outside Magazine. Ended up being the deadliest year on Mount Everest to date (I believe 2014 might have surpassed 1996 though). The story is captivating and totally unbelievable. You'll have it read in a couple of days.

Skeletons on the Zahara

Hard to believe the stuff in that book actually happened.

- Games in Economic Development by Bruce Wydick. A very sophisticated and non-partisan introduction to economics. Emphasis on evolutionary game theory (sort of like Nash equilibriums) and cooperative norms as foundation to a functional economic system.

- Epistemology by Richard Feldman. A non-historical take on epistemology, and the first to actually make sense out of the field. I disagree with his externalism though.

- Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer. The book that "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell (who cited the author) should have been.

- Theory and Reality by Peter Godfrey-Smith. Great introduction to philosophy of science, the problem of induction, Bayes, and some good sociology of science as well.

- The Myth of Monogamy by David Barash and Judith Lipton. A non-dogmatic take on evolutionary psychology.

Some books I've read and enjoyed over the past few months:

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Details the early foray into space by the Americans.

Blind Descent by James M. Tabor. A detailed account of exploring the worlds largest and deepest caves.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Regarding the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the fascinating tale of HH Holmes a serial killer.

The Path Between Seas by David McCullough. Details the building of the Panama canal. Although somewhat tedious at times, the story of the canal is much more interesting than I would have thought.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Bronson. Are you a Psychopath? Probably should read this book to find out.

One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. 1927 was an interesting year, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh, Bryson makes it a fun read.

A few masterpieces of non-fiction for you : )

Robert Fisk: The Great War For Civilisation : The Conquest of the Middle East

Jean Pasqualini: A Prisoner of Mao

Victor E. Frankl: Man's Search For Meaning

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Full Catastrophe Living : Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness.

Given the audience here, surprised "The Sports Gene" by David Epstein has not yet been mentioned.

Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell

The Law - Federick Bastiat

The Road to Serfdom - Friedrich Hayek

Thanks for the suggestions people. I will look into all of them. Only one that I have read already is the Sports Gene.

Other sports stuff:

"The Amateurs", David Halberstam. Pure Olympic amateurism.

"A Dog in a Hat", Joe Parkin. The writing is OK, but the insider perspective on the lower ranks of Belgian pro bike racing is compelling enough. Also gives a bit of perspective on the primitive pre-EPO doping culture in continental racing.

I have a feeling this thread may have some legs ...

Norman Mailer "The Fight"

Ali-Foreman & the Rumble in the Jungle

Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution"

Tolstoy "The Sebastopol Sketches"

"In the winter of 1854 Tolstoy, then an officer in the Russian army,

arranged to be transferred to the besieged town of Sebastopol. "

Michael Herr Dispatches

" The Vietnam War at Ground Zero ... one of the most visceral

descriptions of the Vietnam War."

quotes from Amazon.

Other sports stuff:

"The Amateurs", David Halberstam. Pure Olympic amateurism.

"A Dog in a Hat", Joe Parkin. The writing is OK, but the insider perspective on the lower ranks of Belgian pro bike racing is compelling enough. Also gives a bit of perspective on the primitive pre-EPO doping culture in continental racing.[/quote]

Loved the Halberstam book. Another rowing book I really enjoyed was this one:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Shell-Game-Reflections-Excellence/dp/0963846191

[quote]Filthy Mountain Biker wrote: