Non-political nonfiction books: recommendations requested and offered

[John_H]

I'm a compulsive reader, but I'm in a rut. After nearly a year of reading almost exclusively political books, I find myself hankering to read some interesting nonpolitical books. My list of novels to read is already too long for a guy past the statistical halfway point, so with the hope of trading a few nonfiction recommendations, here are some from me:

1) Guns, Germs, and Steel: All genes that make us homo sapiens are the same all over the world. So why are some people using satellites while others with the same genes are using stone spears? Why didn't the Iriquois explore and colonize England and France? Tom Delay'll tell you that Caucasian colonizers from Europe are just better folks than all them brown skinned colonizees. But in this book you'll learn that it had to do with environmental, geographic, and even evolutionary factors--in ways nobody's thought if before. Along the way you'll learn why almonds were domesticated by 600 bc and strawberries weren't until 1800, which languages are surprising relatives, and why you can domesticate a cow but not a bison.

2) Seeing in the Dark. This is an expensive book. I guarantee you'll buy a telescope before you read the last page. Until I picked this book up off a friend’s coffee table, my knowledge and interest of the went "Stars. Pretty. Twinkling." But Timothy Ferris does such a great job explaining the mysteries of the universe and describing the wonder of looking across unimaginable distances at things exactly as they were a 5 billion years ago (looking at stars is looking back in time), that you'll be hooked in no time. Astronomy has always been, and remains, the most democratic science--amateurs astronomers with affordable backyard scopes have made some of the biggest discoveries in history, and are contributing solid and important research to this day.


3) Shadow of the Sentinel. A proven vast rightwing conspiracy, a tinfoil hat plated with gold. Between 1865 and 1890 diehard confederates buried billions of dollars of across the south and west in the hope of using it to fund a second civil war, deputizing faithful operatives to both guard it and remember where it is. The group, a Masonic-like cult of wealthy and famous southerners called The Knights of the Golden Circle carved obscure pictographic clues on trees, rocks, on buried metal objects, and even carved into mountainsides--turning the landscape itself into a huge treasure map. After noticing these odd signs while growing up in Arkansas, Bob brewer spent a lifetime deciphering the elaborate system of clues, and has since uncovered dozens of caches of gold, silver, and weapons. Along with Wall St. journal reporter Warren Getler he exposes the group’s members (from vice president Breckenridge to post-war industrialists), operations, and plans, proves that Jesse James was a political operative not just an outlaw, and solves the mystery of the lost Dutchman treasure . Even more chilling: the biggest caches—tons of gold bullion-- remain guarded today.

4)The Emperors of Chocolate: Stolen secrets. Meetings in soundproof rooms. Hired spooks. Secrets guarded in crack proof vaults. The CIA? The war on terra? Nope. Chocolate. Aside from an interesting history of chocolate from the Aztec rituals to Milton Hershey building his own industrial utopia, TEOC is a behind the scenes look at a truly bizarre industry. Candy companies are continually trying to steal each other’s secret formulas and plans while spending millions to protect their own (Willy Wonka is based on the world of candy espionage). Tons of cool candy lore along the way.

Anyone care to add your own?

[bif]

1. "Old London Bridge"

and The Power Broker

[devilgrrl]

2. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Here's a decent reader review from amazon.com:

First of I will talk about the book. Krakauer masterfully explains the history of Mormonism, the fanatical sects that have splintered from it, and the way these religious ideas and beliefs have tainted the minds of the Lafferty boys as well as many others. I was interested from beginning to end. Secondly I will try to disuade some of the negative reviews because from the looks of these reviews either they are Mormons themselves or they actually didn't read the book. In no way does Krakauer say that the murderous Lafferty brothers were affliated with the Church of Latter Day Saints. They were taught the Mormon religion but then abondoned after their beliefs no longer agreed with those of the LDS. They became a fanatical sect of the Mormon religion, similair to the hundred fanatical sects of Islam or of Catholicism for that matter. The reason why Mormonism is so facinating and compelling is because it is only 150 years old and it is bigger the Judiasm. It was founded by a man who had a vision of an Angel and golden plates when he was in his twenties in upstate New York! Amazing! Krakauer explains how through its breif history, Mormon beliefs were changed, manipulated, and misunderstood by many including its leaders which led to murder, polygamy, and some cases the raping of underage woman and incest. It is not a pretty picture, but after 3 years of reasearch and interviews Krakauer explains how these fanatical Mormon fundamentalists came to be. Krakauer is not trying to embarass or put down the Mormons or the Church of Latter Day Saints, he is merely explaining how the history of Mormonism and certain views about being able to communicate with God might have affected the Lafferty brothers to murder their brother's wife and baby daughter. A great book and a intriguing story.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385509510/qid=1066851948/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5532154-2110333?v=glance&s=books

[The Lone Liberal]

11. That is an excellent choice

It is very thought provoking and is most enlightening for anyone who is not familiar with the LDS.

[devilgrrl]

14. I'm almost half way through and let me tell ya...

Those people are looking even scarier than $cientologists... what a bunch of fucking weirdos. Salt Lake City reminds me of an episode of the original Star Trek series, the one with Landru. An old western town filled with pod/stepford people who freak out a the zero hour. Be afraid!!!!

[pmbryant]

3. 'America's Women' by Gail Collins

Just getting started on this one, but it looks like a fascinating book:

Here's the spiel from Amazon.com:

Well researched and well written, America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines is a powerful and important book. Starting with Pocahontas and Eleanor Dare (the first female colonist), this lively and fascinating history records the changes in American women's lives and the transformations in American society from the 1580s through the 2000s.

A history of the oft-marginalized sex must often draw from diaries and journals, which were disproportionally written by whites; as a result, African-American and Native American women are not as well represented as white in the earlier chapters of America's Women. However, Gail Collins writes about women of many races and ethnicities, and in fact provides more information about Native Americans, African-Americans, and Chinese, Jewish, and Italian immigrants than some general U.S. history books. She writes about rich and poor, young and old, urban and rural, slave and slave-owner, athlete and aviatrix, president's wife and presidential candidate--and, of course, men and women. And some of these women--from the justly famous, like Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman, to the undeservedly obscure, like Elizabeth Eckford and Senator Margaret Chase Smith--will not only make any woman proud to be a woman, they will make any American proud to be American.

--Peter

[underpants]

4. "The Catcher was a Spy" and "Who's your Caddie?"

The first is about Mor Berg a pro player back preWWII. He spoke 7 languages and rubbed elbows with the REALLY upper crust. He carried a Tux with him on the road and FDR once yealled "Hi" to him form the stands. He later worked fo rthe CIA until they cut him loose after the War. Not sure of the author's name.

The second is by Rick Reilly a writer for SI and part time caddie. It should be hilarious.

I am buying them for our vacation starting next Saturday.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[mitchum]

6. I read a very entertaining lurid memoir this morning...

"Mr S: My Life With Frank Sinatra" by Greg Jacobs. Jacobs was Sinatra's valet from 53-68 and was privy to a great deal of indulgences. While Sinatra is certainly the central monster in the book, he really comes of no worse than many of his associates. Joe Kennedy (and his sons), Sam Giancana, Peter Lawford, and Mia Farrow are just a few of the guilty parties. Yes, it's trash.

[Catholic Sensation]

7. hmm

"Live From New York" the SNL book

"Moneyball: the art of winning an unfair game" the book that details how Oakland manages to win in Baseball

[Richardo]

8. The Devil in the White City...

A parallel tale of the Chicago World's Fair and America's first urban serial killer.

By Erik Larsen, who also wrote the excellent "Isaac's Storm" about the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed at least 6,000 people. Still ranks as America's worst natural disaster.

[mitchum]

9. Read "The Devil in the White City" last week

I also recommend it

[geniph]

10. The Demon in the Freezer

Richard Preston, of Hot Zone fame. If that book doesn't scare you, you haven't read it yet.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Body of Secrets by Bamford

About the NSA. Incredible book, not profoundly political in any sense.

[slappypan]

13. here are two

Edie: An American Biography by jean stein and George Plimpton
The tragic tale of 60s icon Edie Sedgwick, heiress of an obscenely rich East Coast old-money WASP family not unlike the Bushes. Gives great insight into the depravity of many ruling-class families.

S&L Hell by Kathleen Day
I have been thinking a lot about this acount of the Savings and Loan scandal of the late 80s/early 90s, as we stare into the abyss of the next financial crisis. Nothing was learned, and most of the same crooks are now back in power.

[John_H]

15. Man, they all sound great! Thanks all.

got the other browser window at Amazon as I type.

[Bozola]

16. A great classic on network protocol....

The Story about Ping.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670050415/qid=1066876337/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/103-7306637-6340624?v=glance&s=books


Amazon Review:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ping! I love that duck!, January 25, 2000
Reviewer: John E. Fracisco (see more about me) from El Segundo, CA USA
PING! The magic duck!

Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized.

The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River).

The title character -- er, packet, is called Ping. Ping meanders around the river before being received by another host (another boat). He spends a brief time on the other boat, but eventually returns to his original host machine (the wise-eyed boat) somewhat the worse for wear.

If you need a good, high-level overview of the ping utility, this is the book. I can't recommend it for most managers, as the technical aspects may be too overwhelming and the basic concepts too daunting.

Problems With This Book

As good as it is, The Story About Ping is not without its faults. There is no index, and though the ping(8) man pages cover the command line options well enough, some review of them seems to be in order. Likewise, in a book solely about Ping, I would have expected a more detailed overview of the ICMP packet structure.

But even with these problems, The Story About Ping has earned a place on my bookshelf, right between Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, and my dog-eared copy of Dante's seminal work on MS Windows, Inferno. Who can read that passage on the Windows API ("Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight -- Nothing whatever I discerned therein."), without shaking their head with deep understanding. But I digress. --This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition

[John_H]

18. "This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition..."

LMAO!

[peacefreak]

17. Two for you

Expedition Whydah--Barry Clifford true pirate story, found off the coast of Cape Cod
Confederate in the Attic--Tony Horowitz
oh hell, make that three...
Winterdance--Gary Paulsen

[Bozola]

19. Military Incompetence: Why the American Military Doesn't Win

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0809069288/qid=1066879066/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-7306637-6340624?v=glance&n=507846

[Blue-Jay]

20. Mark Twain's autobiography

Yeah. I'm a Twain freak anyhow, but it's a great read.