[noumenal]

Recommend some non-fiction books that you like.

Here are some from me:

Paul Griffiths - Modern Music and After

Alasdair MacIntyre - After Virtue

Donald Kroodsma - The Singing Life of Birds

Roger Scruton - The Aesthetics of Music

Douglas R. Hofstadter - Godel, Escher, Bach

Daniel C. Dennett - Consciousness Explained

[truncated]

Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War

Any Greek or Roman historical accounts. Extremely entertaining.

[khchris]

Just finished reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

loved it

actually any Oprah book of the month is good reading.

You can't go wrong with Hitler's Mein Kampf either.

[whorefrost]

haha
my girlfriend actually bought a million little pieces... and i actually read about a third of it... it's not completely terrible... pretty trite but strangely enjoyable... like watching bad TV whilst mindnumbingly bored....

i'm reading a philosophy of boredom just now which isn't bad but not great... some interesting stuff but some irrevelevant waffle as well....

has anyone read guns, germs and steel? i got it a little while ago, haven't got round to it yet... it seems quite interesting....

[truncated]

Originally Posted by khchris

Just finished reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

loved it

actually any Oprah book of the month is good reading.

You can't go wrong with Hitler's Mein Kampf either.

I will say, you can actually get some entertaining novels from Oprah's Book Club. She has Joyce Carol Oates in there a lot, who I tend to like (but sometimes hate).

[truncated]

Another fantastic book (these are probably of only the remotest interest to people who give a shit about Roman history): Livy's The Early History of Rome. (I decided to observe the formal rules of book titles for once, instead of just putting them in quotes.)

[Iain]

I almost bought that History of the Peloponnesian War book not so long ago. But damned if I can recall which book shop I saw it in.

Jerry Manders 'Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television' is a good one. It's not as angry and confrontational as the title suggests. He writes in a pretty level headed and balanced way.

I liked Ray Kurzweils 'The Age of Spiritual Machines' a lot. Although I'm not really sure I totally agree with his stance. (That it's inevitable that machines will one day exceed human intelligence).

[Sheriff Rhys Chatham]

death be not proud.
A journalist wrote it about his sons life after he died of some disease.

[Alex's Trip]

Originally Posted by khchris

Just finished reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

loved it

actually any Oprah book of the month is good reading.

You can't go wrong with Hitler's Mein Kampf either.

Didn't that book turn out to be not all that non-fiction...

[schizophrenicroom]

David Foster Wallace's Consider The Lobster is a good read.

Anything by Chuck Klosterman is good, too.

[dietzer123]

i've read guns germs and steel. it's fucking fantastic

[Hip Priest]

One of my prized possessions is a copy of Oliver Cromwell; A History by Samuel HArden Church, Litt. D, A.M. It's the 1899 edition, celebrating the 300th anniversary of Cromwell's birth, and was limited to 600 copies, each hand-signed and numbered. Mine is number 487. So I have to say that as one.

Other non-fiction books I'm most fond of include:

Synchronicity by C G Jung,

Wally Hammond: The Reasons Why by David Foot,

A Mirrror of Witchcraft by Christina Hole,

The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer,

and two books about my local area, both late 19th century, by Hilda Gamlin; namely 'Twixt Mersey and Dee and Chronicles or Memories of Birkenhead

[Iain]

Whaaaaa? 1899 edition. Ltd to 600? That must be worth a shitload. There must also be a good story as to how a book such as that came into your posession. And there I was salivating over a 1st edition of Philip K Dicks Ubik in a bookshop window just the other day.

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Iain

Whaaaaa? 1899 edition. Ltd to 600? That must be worth a shitload. There must also be a good story as to how a book such as that came into your posession....

Not much of a story; I'm a Cromwell fan, and I love antiquarian books. I spend so much time in antiquarian bookshops that occaisionally something special comes my way (that's exactly why I spend quite so much time there). And the dealers know me, thyey'll keep stuff for me to see, and give me a discount. That's how the book world works, it's nice.

[Felicia Funbags]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

Not much of a story; I'm a Cromwell fan, and I love antiquarian books. I spend so much time in antiquarian bookshops that occaisionally something special comes my way (that's exactly why I spend quite so much time there). And the dealers know me, thyey'll keep stuff for me to see, and give me a discount. That's how the book world works, it's nice.

I never buy valuable editions of books, because there's no hope of me keeping them in good condition.

I'm one of those people who dog-ear books, drop them in the tub, spill tea on them, bend the covers, etc.

Same with vinyl - I could NEVER leave an album unopened in its original packaging. I could never resist the satanic pull to play it.

[LifeDistortion]

Rotton-The John Lydon autobiography was pretty good.

[schizophrenicroom]

I liked that, LifeD. In sort of the same vein, Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil is a good read too.

[golden child]

pretty funny how oprah went horseshit on frey, i wasnt really interested in it at all previously. now that everyone hates him and its not all the non-fiction its sparked my interest and im gonna be reading that.

right now im reading a heartbreaking work of staggering genius by dave eggers and its pretty good.

bob dylans book was good

i cant really think, but ill post more as they come to me...

OH YEAH

i night by elie wiesel was really good, my mom bought it for me after she saw it on oprah

[sonikold]

bruce chatwin- what am i doing here?
(travels the world, meets amazing people, one of the best writers i've ever read)

[noumenal]

Originally Posted by Felicia Funbags

I never buy valuable editions of books, because there's no hope of me keeping them in good condition.

I'm one of those people who dog-ear books, drop them in the tub, spill tea on them, bend the covers, etc.

I am exactly the same way - I coonsume books and shit them out.

But in my experience, people who are interested in Greek and Roman history keep their books in pristine condition....