What's your favorite Book non-fiction?

Question

Mine: The Cornella Funke series

Oh, me so stoopid: non-fiction

How to Read A Book Adler / Van Doren

Answer 1

Memoirs of an Exorcist by David Devereux

Hell of a good read if you are into the occult & stuff like that .... the fact that the author, a real life exorcist, is a mate of mine is purely incidental to this recommendation.

Blurb from book cover reads

"Level-headed, highly knowledgeable and completely credible, David Devereaux makes his living as an exorcist. He does his work quietly and discreetly in locations ranging from ordinary suburban homes, country pubs and provincial offices to the boardrooms of multinationals and the mansions of household names. He can tell the difference between psychic activity, hauntings by the dead and other entities. He has a long-standing client who has been the target of magical attacks on a regular basis, and he has been able to dissuade the attackers. He has successfully cornered a malevolent ghost, and pushed him across to the other side, and has witnessed violent and terrifying poltergeist activity. In this compelling and fascinating book he recalls his extraordinary experiences in the deadpan, matter-of-fact tone of the unphased professional that he is, approaching the most hair-raising of situations with calm, authority and logic - if often accompanied by a cigarette and a swift whisky. "

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/Memoirs-Exorcist-David-Devereux/dp/0233001824/sr=1-9/qid=1163626570/ref=sr_1_9/026-0372754-5120450?ie=UTF8&s=books for more details

I really can't wait for his first novel to come out next year.

EDIT

KIDS & CATS - THE QUESTION WAS NON FICTION NOT FICTION

Answer 2

'The Island at the Center of the World', by Russell Shorto. It's the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, based on hundreds of pages of contemporary records that were only recently translated out of the medieval Dutch. Shorto's writing style is conversational, and he alternates between past and present in an intriguing way. It's a fascinating read, and not at all boring.

Answer 3

Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Absolutely fascinating insight into how our various world cultures developed and how the West's dominance is based on their early mastery of weapons and technology.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Life isn't fair--here's why: Since 1500, Europeans have, for better and worse, called the tune that the world has danced to. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the reasons why things worked out that way. It is an elemental question, and Diamond is certainly not the first to ask it. However, he performs a singular service by relying on scientific fact rather than specious theories of European genetic superiority. Diamond, a professor of physiology at UCLA, suggests that the geography of Eurasia was best suited to farming, the domestication of animals and the free flow of information. The more populous cultures that developed as a result had more complex forms of government and communication--and increased resistance to disease. Finally, fragmented Europe harnessed the power of competitive innovation in ways that China did not. (For example, the Europeans used the Chinese invention of gunpowder to create guns and subjugate the New World.) Diamond's book is complex and a bit overwhelming. But the thesis he methodically puts forth--examining the "positive feedback loop" of farming, then domestication, then population density, then innovation, and on and on--makes sense. Written without bias, Guns, Germs, and Steel is good global history.

Answer 4

I really don't read much non-fiction but I really liked The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

Answer 5

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Answer 6

I Dream Of Africa; It's a real sad book & the movie had me in tears

Answer 7

Queen by Alex Haley. It's the biography of his grandma or great-grandma. Not sure which anymore.

Answer 8

There is a River
Thomas Sugrue


To the first answerer, The author of that later admitted that he made 99% of that up.

Answer 9

There are lots of good biographies about. But the book that I refer to more often than any other is the Rubber Book.

Answer 10

Dutch by Teri woods