any good book recommendations? no fiction?

Question

the last book i read were the incas by inca garcilaso de la vega.
i'm thinking of some classics perhaps. any suggestions?

Answer 1

Homer - The Iliad and the Odyssey.
Herodolus - Histories
Geoffrey of Monmouth - History of the Kings of England
And if you can find it The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey

Away from classics, Freakanomics is great

Answer 2

I know you said no fiction, but H. G. Wells writes from a very scientific standpoint, and reads almost like non-fiction (especially War of the Worlds). Dracula(by Bram Stoker) is written as a collection of documents recording the events, and The scarlet letter has a good amount of history in it, especially in the preface. I am giving you fiction because it is very hard to come up with books taht are both non-fiction and classics. As far as just classics, there is always Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand or practically any Oscar Wilde play (especially The Importance of Being Ernest or Lady Windemere's Fan) If you want something witty and hilarious. Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey is still in the same style but deeper, darker, and more complex. Of course there's Shakespeare, and Jane Austen who are both clever in their own ways. Classic American writers tend to be more dark, like Aurther Miller (Crucible, Death of a Salesman, View from the Bridge, The REason Why, All My Sons, etc.), John Steinbeck (The Pearl, Of Mice And Men, Grapes of Wrath), and Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not etc.). There's The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Catcher in the Rye. Another dark classic is Crime and Punishment, or you could read The Count of Monte Cristo, or Frankenstein. I don't recomend The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, but maybe you'll like it better than I did. Of course there's always FAulkner, or Don Quiote by Cervantes. Anyway, I think you got enough for now. Have fun reading, I love classics!

Answer 3

That is a pretty good thing except for the fact that there was only one Inca. The Inca was the ruler of the Tsuwinsayu people of South America. Not sure if that is the correct spelling of the people, but it is close. So, when reading history be sure what you are talking about. Just because everyone calls the people the Inca doesn't make the name of what the people are actually called true. Next you might try reading about the ancient Picts and the people who proceeded them in ancient England. Facinating reads.

Answer 4

'Genes' by Brian J Ford. Perhaps not a classic, but a very interesting read. The diagrams are really good and it's full of interesting facts as well as some unusual ones. eg. Did you know that sex is not so much determined by the chromsomes than it is by the genes on the sex chromosomes? It may sound obvious, but during crossing over in meiosis it is possible for the genes coding for sexual characteristics to be passed from the y or x chromosome to their opposite, x then y. So it's possible to have a boy with xx chromosomes and a girl with xy chromosomes. Strange but true.

Answer 5

Farley Mowat's "People of the Deer" and "Never Cry Wolf" are two excellent non-fiction stories.

Irving Stone's "The Origin" [about Charles Darwin] and "The Agony and the Ecstasy" [about Michaelangelo]; excellent biographies and I don't usually like biographies.

These are four books that I have in my own collection and some of the few non-fiction that I've read numerous times.

Answer 6

Excellent Book..a must read


THE FOUR LAST THINGS
Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven

By Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C.

It has ever been the practice of the Catholic Church to recommend to her spiritual children the meditation on man's ³four last things--death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.² Keeping these sobering aspects of human destiny ever before our eyes, we will be that much less likely to fall into mortal sin and be lost eternally. Gives many facts we should meditate on as we contemplate death. This book has converted numerous Protestants in our day because of its cogent reasons for rectifying our lives.

Answer 7

Read the Histories by Herodotos - it is one of the best books ever written. It describes the deeds of men and the rise and fall of empires. The book is full on digressions and anecdotes and is well worth reading. I have read it around half a dozen times and love it!

Answer 8

Ghost Wars by Steven Coll

Answer 9

Wonderful Life, by Steven Jay Gould. The best book I have ever read on evolution.

Answer 10

John Krakauer- Into thin air (about Mt. Everest expedition)

Jerri Nielsen- Ice Bound (about a Dr. at the South Pole who finds out she has breast cancer)

Antwone Fisher - Finding Fish: A Memoir (about Antwone Fisher's experience in the foster care program in Cleveland,Ohio)