Seeking interesting nonfiction book recommendations

[celticdragonfly]

Books read this year so far - 98. Looks like only 11 of them are nonfiction, and one of those was a reread. (and a few of the new ones were, honestly, pretty fluffy) Last year's nonfiction was 28%. And a lot of those were big chunky books, as I got caught up on whatever Research Subject Du Jour had caught my attention.

For that matter, this year's fiction has been pretty fluffy. I'm not all bothered by that as I would once have been - heck with it, I do not have to justify everything. If I'm enjoying it, that's good enough for me. And it's been a busier social year than in the past. Whee.

I have had good luck lately with some odd recommendations - mostly nothing personal, stuff I see mentioned on the Bujold list or stuff I see as a side effect of searching for something else. But now I'm going to downright ask.

What books can you recommend to me? Particularly interesting nonfiction. If you really want to be nice to me, go here
http://www.fortworthgov.org/library/ and toss whatever you think I might like into Search the Catalog over there on the left. If the system has it, I may be able to check it out. (I can check out books from the actual branches with my nonresident card, but not from the associated cities)

If you want to see what I've been reading this year so far, look at my journal page - I went ahead and left this year's list public, but lj-cut.

Comments

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Some of my recommendations will be so common I won't bother searching for them. Example:
Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocquville

Others I will check availability of:
Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes. A bit thick, but very comprehensive. Consider it "Guns, Germs and Steel" written by a more conservative (well, Eurocentric) point of view. Also has strong tie-ins with "Non-Zero", which I know Karl is a fan of.

Shield of Achilles by Philip Bobbitt - An account of the connection between National Security and Constitutions through history, with how countries developed government structures from the extingencies of war, and how new government structures allowed different kinds of war.

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare - Isaac Asimov deconstructs (to some degree) Shakespeare's plays, with lots of glossing of classical or historical references modern audiences may not be familiar with.

I'm afraid all I have to jog my mind at the moment is my own library, which is heavily weighted towards political science, economics and military history at the moment.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Anything by Simon Winchester.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

If you're at all interested in history, I recently read and enjoyed The Reckless Decade, by H. W. Brands; it's a history of the 1890s in the USA. I found it fascinating.

[estokien.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure how much our tastes in non-fiction books coincide (probably not as well as with your husband). Still, I've found that since I tend to zip through fiction books pretty quickly, the history section of the Barnes and Noble bargain books area is my friend. (But your husband may want to look and see if your local B&N has a copy of what I just got- Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat Hans Talhoffer. An actual illustrated Medieval fighting manual reprinted for $7.98)

My favorite readings this year have been The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall, a study of crime and punishment in the medieval era; Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney, a biography of Nicola Tesla; Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar on Crusade by John J. Robinson, an account of the Templars that deals with historical fact rather than mystic connections, and provides a lot of insight into the crusades themselves. Alpha Beta: How 26 Letters Shaped the World by John Man was interesting, but kind of short.

I've also been reading a lot of greek histories and literature, but that is mostly research for my campaign world.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

I recently read Blink and Tipping Point both by Malcolm Gladwell. Great non-fiction. They are very smart, fast reads, keeps your attention, and very much apolitical.