What are your favorite non-fiction books?

Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima by James Bradley

About Face by David Hackworth

And am about to read Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley. (Familiar name in this one!)
 
Of course, the Bible, and Luther's works too.

To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski is a good book.

I love to read history, especially the history of science and technology. Science and technology are a huge part of what makes man unique in the creation, what separates us from the other animals. So, to read the history of science and technology is to read this history of man's uniqueness.

Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 by Charles Murray is a great book.

The Axemaker's Gift by James Burke and Robert Ornstein is a great book of history of science and technology. I've often wanted to have business cards printed listing my title as "Axemaker." But, I think I'll stick with my old title, "Electron Cowboy."

One book that I always encourage people to read is _The Corona Project_ by Curtis Pebbles. This is the history of America's (and the world's) first spy satellites. The thing I love about this book is to see just how advanced these satellites were -- advanced and capable way beyond what anyone in the civilian world thought possible -- and to see how presidents and other leaders were able to use this ultrasecret intelligence, so see the press and the public criticizing presidents for making decisions that were patently wrong, but were, in fact, clearly right if you only knew all the facts.
 
There really are just too many.

I think modern (1970 and later) writers don't hold a candle to their predecessors.

Some of my favorites:

Something of Value by Robert Ruark.

The Frontiersman by Allan Eckert.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

Rabble in Arms by Kenneth Roberts.

Stories of the Old Duck Hunters by Gordon MacQuarrie.

American history and stories by hunters or about hunters are my favorite topics.
 
m1marty said:
Sympathy for the Devil
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... by Kent Anderson is one of my all time favorites, but is a fictionalized memoir (I think).

Cat's Paws and Catapults by Vogel
Culture, People, Nature by Harris
 
The Face of Battle by John Keegan
Deep Survival by Lawrence Gonzales
Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight
Extreme Alpinism by Mark Twight
Bushcraft by Ray Mears
In Search of the Warrior Spirit by Richard Heckler
Your Baby and Your Child by Penelope Leach
Climbing Ice by Yvon Choiunard
 
Any first hand account of any military conflict from a soldier's perspective. Side of conflict not relevent, the account will still be good even if I don't agree with the soldiers ideology. African hunting stories are great too. Cartridges of the World by Barnes and books about firearms and other weapons. Fishing books. Instrument and music history. Tools and woodworking.
 
Hardscrabble - John Graves

Texas High Sherrifs - Thad Sitton

Triggernometry - Eugene Cunningham

Vaquero of the Brush Country and Tongues of the Monte - J. Frank Dobie

The Oxford English Dictionary

American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story - Cynthia True

Among others.

James
 
Ashes said:
How could I have forgotten to mention: "Running With Scissors" and "Dry", both by Augusten Burrows. Very funny and kind of sad at the same time.

~ashes
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I just finished reading the next one by Augusten called Magical Thinking. Excellent.

Some of you who know me best know I read non-fiction exclusively, and am frequently reading two books at the same time.

I loved "Devil in the Details; Diary of an Obsessive Girlhood" about a girl growing up with OCD.

"Sickened" was really good too.
The first of its kind, this compelling memoir recounts the story of a childhood affected by Munchausen by proxy disease, a.k.a. MBP, a psychological disorder in which caretakers, usually themselves the victims of traumatic abuse, "make an otherwise healthy child sick" as a way of gaining attention and approval. This impressive and disturbing memoir uncovers the truths of this elusive and disturbing form of child abuse that is often overlooked and misdiagnosed.

"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer is my favorite non-fiction book. From Amazon:
"God, he was a smart kid..." So why did Christopher McCandless trade a bright future--a college education, material comfort, uncommon ability and charm--for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in the woods of Alaska? This is the question that Jon Krakauer's book tries to answer.

And for history buffs, you can't beat "Fatal North : Adventure and Survival Aboard USS Polaris, The First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole". I read this book in one afternoon, completely unable to put it down.
"The Polaris expedition, the failed first U.S. expedition to the North Pole, is one of the strangest in the history of Arctic misadventure. It was marked by the mysterious death of its leader, Capt. Charles Francis Hall, and by bickering between different factions of the crew, both before and after their leader's death. After marooning 18 of its members, including officer George Tyson, on an ice floe (where they drifted for six months until rescued by another ship), the expedition ended when the vessel was abandoned by the remainder of the crew."

Happy Reading!!
 
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