Recommend me some brilliant non fiction books

Gustavo Kuerten · 27-01-2014 5:27pm #1

As per the title please recommend non fiction books which you thought were a brilliant read.

spoofilyj · 27-01-2014 5:32pm

Touching the void by Joe Simpson
I though it was brilliant story of survival and friendship.

Mad bad and Dangerous by Ranulph Fiennes
A great read about one of the worlds finest living explores/adventurers.

GLaDOS · 27-01-2014 5:33pm

A short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

mosstin · 27-01-2014 5:34pm

Gustavo Kuerten wrote: »

As per the title please recommend non fiction books which you thought were a brilliant read.

Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

Dravokivich · 27-01-2014 5:36pm

The Bible.

2smiggy · 27-01-2014 5:37pm

The damage done - warren fellows , aussie in thai jail for drug trafficking , great read

SeaFields · 27-01-2014 5:38pm

Tom Crean - Unsung Hero

Shenshen · 27-01-2014 5:40pm

"Guns, germs and steel" by Jared Diamon
"The selfish gene" by Richard Dawkins

4zn76tysfajdxp · 27-01-2014 5:45pm

As an relentless espouser of the truly logical and scientific on internet forums from my dusty, dank bedroom, I must recommend The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens and the World of Warcraft: Official Strategy Guide by Bradygames.

TheBody · 27-01-2014 5:45pm

SeaFields wrote: »

Tom Crean - Unsung Hero

That is a FANTASTIC read.

My favourite book is a biography of Ramanujan.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Knew-Infinity/dp/0671750615

buck65 · 27-01-2014 5:47pm

Fermat's Last Theroem - Simon Singh

Hitchens · 27-01-2014 5:47pm

Kursk Down - Clyde Burleson (the true story of the sinking of a Russian Nuclear Submarine)

Auldloon · 27-01-2014 5:52pm

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor.

TwoShedsJackson · 27-01-2014 5:53pm

Karl Marx by Frances Wheen.

Tombo2001 · 27-01-2014 5:53pm

ScienceNerd wrote: »

A short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

Read it last week. Brilliant - while I wondered how much poetic licence was used (I suspect a lot) nonetheless a fascinating book. Indeed I would say it is 50% fiction.

I would throw in:

7 Years in Tibet (Heinrich Harrer)
The Brendan Voyage (Tim Severin)
Full Tilt (Dervla Murphy)
Personal History (Katharine Graham)
Russia at War (Alexander Werth)

ceadaoin. · 27-01-2014 5:54pm

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It's a first hand account of a disastrous ascent of Mount Everest which took place in 1996.

Leviathan,or The Whale by Philip Hoare is full of interesting facts about whales and their history with humans and a good read.

Ruu · 27-01-2014 5:55pm

Moved to the books forum.

Gustavo Kuerten · 27-01-2014 5:55pm

buck65 wrote: »

Fermat's Last Theroem - Simon Singh

What makes this book so good?

weldoninhio · 27-01-2014 5:58pm

The Ice Man by Philip Carlo. Excellent book about one of the most notorious serial killers in the US. Don't watch the recent movie, its awful.

The Graves are Walking - John Kelly. Book about the Famine in Ireland, very well researched and written.

Irelands Arctic Siege by Kevin Kearns. About the winter of 1947 when Ireland got a really bad winter, not just a week or so of bad weather.

Charles Manson: Coming Down Fast - Simon Wells. Great read about Manson and his followers. I couldn't put this book down.

McMafia - Misha Glenny. Great book about how crime is like an international franchise. Glenny looks at how criminal gangs from all over the world are interlinked.

Dead Drunk - Paul Garrigan. Sad, but rewarding read about an Irishman and his struggles with the drink, his visit to a Thai monastary to help him and his recovery.

Stasiland - Anna Funder. I found this book crazy, considering the Wall only came down in 1989. Its an insight into life in East Germany and the search for history in it.

Blue Bloods - Edward Conlon. Great book about a NYPD cop chronicling his career from Rookie to date. Well written and easy to read, with some great insights

landsleaving · 27-01-2014 5:58pm

Friday Night Lights by HG Bissinger

Nothing to do with the TV show (other than the name) in case you're put off! It's about a small town high school American Football team alright, but focuses on how important the team is to the town, a brilliant look at life in small town America.

HeidiHeidi · 27-01-2014 6:11pm

Longitude - Dava Sobel. About the guy who invented the chronometer, which allowed seafarers establish their position. A lot more interesting that it sounds, trust me!

Anything at all by Dervla Murphy

Left for Dead - Nick Ward. About the Fastnet Race disaster in 1979.

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst - Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall. About a competitor in the first single-handed round the world sailing race.

biko · 27-01-2014 6:15pm

Tristan Jones - The Incredible Voyage (1977)

Aenaes · 27-01-2014 8:43pm

Generation Kill by Evan Wright.
A journalist who joined the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the early stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These guys were basically told to drive their Humvees through towns and cities and if they drew fire, then command could send in tanks and other forces into the area. This book documents the weeks/months he spent with them.

American Desperado by Evan Wright and Jon Roberts.
Jon Roberts was born John Riccobono and was a member of a mafia family in New York. In fear for his life, he fled in the late 1970s and ended up in Florida. He got involved with cocaine smuggling in 1979, just before it ballooned into the billion dollar industry of the 1980s. He became a transportation chief for the Colombian Medellin Cartel, devising ways of getting cocaine delivered into the USA. The roster of Roberts’ friends and acquaintances reads like a Who’s Who of the latter half of the 20th century and includes everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, and O.J. Simpson to Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, and Manuel Noriega.

FunLover18 · 27-01-2014 8:50pm

ScienceNerd wrote: »

A short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

Anything by Bill Bryson. The man is a genius!

DMcL1971 · 27-01-2014 8:51pm

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
The true story of the sinking of the whaleship Essex and the desperate attempt of the survivors to make it back to land. The story was also the inspiration for Moby Dick.

weldoninhio · 27-01-2014 9:33pm

Aenaes wrote: »

Generation Kill by Evan Wright.
A journalist who joined the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the early stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These guys were basically told to drive their Humvees through towns and cities and if they drew fire, then command could send in tanks and other forces into the area. This book documents the weeks/months he spent with them.

American Desperado by Evan Wright and Jon Roberts.
Jon Roberts was born John Riccobono and was a member of a mafia family in New York. In fear for his life, he fled in the late 1970s and ended up in Florida. He got involved with cocaine smuggling in 1979, just before it ballooned into the billion dollar industry of the 1980s. He became a transportation chief for the Colombian Medellin Cartel, devising ways of getting cocaine delivered into the USA. The roster of Roberts’ friends and acquaintances reads like a Who’s Who of the latter half of the 20th century and includes everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, and O.J. Simpson to Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, and Manuel Noriega.

Generation Kill is brilliant, as is the miniseries that HBO did on it, i'd highly recommend it.

American Desperado, i haven't read, but i have the audiobook and i'd recommend it too.

david75 · 27-01-2014 9:40pm

Endurance by Albert Lansing
The account if Shackletons expedition to Antarctic. It's gobstoppingly mind boggling what they went through.
Couldn't put it down.

HeidiHeidi · 27-01-2014 9:42pm

FunLover18 wrote: »

Anything by Bill Bryson. The man is a genius!

+1

DMcL1971 · 27-01-2014 11:12pm

david75 wrote: »

Endurance by Albert Lansing
The account if Shackletons expedition to Antarctic. It's gobstoppingly mind boggling what they went through.
Couldn't put it down.

The story of the Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition is absolutely fascinating and definitely worth finding out about. There are several books on the subject. I haven't read Endurance myself and someone earlier recommended Unsung Hero by Michael Smyth which is about Tom Crean the famous Irish explorer who was on this expedition with Shackleton. Personally I read 'South', the book Shackleton himself wrote about it but it is extremely long.

The story is well worth reading no matter which book you choose. There is a Shackleton exhibition at the Dun Laogharie Ferry Terminal which is definitely worth a look. It has some beautiful photographs that were taken by the crew on their expedition.

david75 · 28-01-2014 12:06am

DMcL1971 wrote: »

The story of the Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition is absolutely fascinating and definitely worth finding out about. There are several books on the subject. I haven't read Endurance myself and someone earlier recommended Unsung Hero by Michael Smyth which is about Tom Crean the famous Irish explorer who was on this expedition with Shackleton. Personally I read 'South', the book Shackleton himself wrote about it but it is extremely long.

The story is well worth reading no matter which book you choose. There is a Shackleton exhibition at the Dun Laogharie Ferry Terminal which is definitely worth a look. It has some beautiful photographs that were taken by the crew on their expedition.

I found myself in a basement of a little church in central London beside the Tower of London, and downstairs, they have the crows nest (a barrel. Literally) from another of shackletons ships(think it was the aurora) it was mad being that close to such an Artifact.

He was from Kildare. Explains his calculated madness:)

The book on Tom Crean is also great but Endurance wins out if you ask me

Carawaystick · 28-01-2014 8:22pm

Chronicles, vol 1 by Bob Dylan is very good, great prose, almost poetry

There's a lot of great sports writing, if you stay well away from ghostwritten autobiographies
David Remnick wrote a great book king of the world, about the heavyweight championship, when Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Ali
George Kimbal wrote 4 kings about the main middleweight champions during the 80's
Boxing has some great books written about it, even if you're not into sports that much

Someone mentioned Joe Simpson earlier, he's several other books, apart from Touching the Void

Mark Kuansky has written some great books, Salt,
Cod,
1968
A Basque History of the World

Last one for now,
Dave Eggers wrote the true story Zeitoun
About an innocent Lebanese immigrant in New Orleans being locked up for helping neighbours in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina

Recommend me some brilliant non fiction books

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