Non-Fiction

[Anonymous No.7017036]

Name your favorite Non-Fiction books.

[Anonymous No.7017040]

My diary, tbh

[Anonymous No.7017052]

the bible

[Anonymous No.7017080]

Guns, Germs, and Steel

[Anonymous No.7017081]

>>7017052

[Anonymous No.7017097]

>>7017036
Teaching A Stone To Talk by Annie Dillard

[Anonymous No.7017189]

>>7017036
What is History? - E.H. Carr

[Anonymous No.7017197]

The God Delusion

[Anonymous No.7017198]

the creature from jekyll island

[Anonymous No.7017227]

>>7017080
great book, important to read for any wannabe intellectual.

>>7017197
try"the selfish genne" also by dawnkins

anyone read any of the 100+ chomsky books? planning to buy one next

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » No.7017249]

Not picking a favourite.

Still a great book.

[Anonymous No.7017270]

Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships. Half way through it, pretty good.

[Anonymous No.7017282]

>>7017227
Just get the Chomsky Reader, if it's your first Chomsky book.

[Profane !!aA0k1/YgCq9 No.7017299]

>>7017227
Just learned that Dawkins actually coined the term 'meme' in that book. I never knew.

Pic related. Just finished it the other day. Hard to pick an all time favorite, but I highly recommend this. Let me copy/paste an intro summary I posted the other day:

It's a book called the Pyrotechnic Insanitarium and it's a collection of essays that addresses possible reasons why our culture is so obsessed with things like conspiracy theories or aliens. From what I've read thus far (im 150 pages in but I'm loving it, finally got it by mail today) it's fascinating. It talks about McCarthyism, and the Oklahoma bomber, and Area 51, and The NSA, and media's influence on our fragile minds and how much of this is baseless conspiracy, and how much of this holds weight.

I especially love when he speculates on the psychological. For instance, one theory is that man must always ascribe order to something. When he stops believing in Christianity or what have you, he merely finds a system elsewhere. Man is not content with the random or the chaotic. In ascribing seemingly unconnected events to an underlying system, to a battle between forces or to a war unseen by the masses, man can boil things to do to simplistic and orderly 'good vs evil', in which *someone* is in charge and *someone* is calling the shots. Man hates chaos. Man needs order.

He calls upon and references Pynchon, Deleuze, Adorno, Chomsky, Eco and the like in a mish-mash of literary, philosophical, historical, and journalistic evidence and frequently returns to Coney Island as a figurehead for the turning point that results in our current cultural 'Pyrotechnic Insanitarium': a place in which our minds stopped seeing the external as reality and internal as fantasy, but vice versa. He then argues that this mindset of Coney Island has slipped its way into and become apart of our entire culture.

It is a little dated because it was published in 1999 and fails to address the current digital age or 911, but survives nontheless as a terrific attempt in rationalizing America's current unstable and consumer culture.

Sorry if my thoughts seems schizophrenic, im on mobile and a little drunk. But I think it's a wonderful read.

[Anonymous No.7017387]

Selected Tweets

[Anonymous No.7017390]

>>7017282
Yes it is sir, thanks
>google returns "the anti-chomsky reader"
sounds good

I read non-fiction exclusively, and since I just started out a year ago I read a lot of "basic" on a wide range of topics. Most of these are written by professors, since I trust professors to teach me these things. Only after learning about the finkelstein doszowitz incident my trust in professors had a bit of a rough ride.

Some recommendations:
>the selfish gene -- richard dawkins
again mentioning it, it explains natural selection definitely. Exciting new ideas every dozen pages. And also why incest is actually bad (just a teaser). I'm very happy I read this book first, natural selection is fundamental idea that permeates a plethora of ideas and concepts and is therefore fundamentally intellectual. Nearly every book I read afterwards picked it up at some point, especially:

>guns,germs and steel -- jarred diamand
explains europes historical predomination. Why northamerica was crushed by the technologically more sophisticated europeans when they "first" settled over. The author is heavily concerned with "the first principles" - the ultimate causes. Which is a driving force why I myself read non-fiction, so it resonates well with me. If you covertly harbor irrational racist thoughts, this read will intrigue you too.

>the omnivores dilemma -- michael pollan
explains where our food comes from, there is actually an "axiomatic" food (corn) that sustains a whole production chain. For example cattle are being fed corn to get us meat, all the sugar in candy comes from corn

>thank you for arguing -- jay heinrichs
great introduction to rhetorics (the science and art of persuasion), if you have no clue about rhetorics this is a great broad introduction. The founding fathers of America where mad with rhetorics and the ancient greeks. It is great brain food if you never read anything about it

>the ascent of money -- some economy professor, can't bother to look him up
Explains basic economics from the viewpoint of money. From its inception all the way to predicting yet another speculation bubble (it was written in 2007 iirc). I feel like it is my duty to understand economics at least at a basic level.

>a brief history of time -- steven hawkins
just read a book on basic physics prepared for casual reading by distinguished professor in the (sub)field of physics himself, and make everyday life even more exciting by adding all the amazing facts of quantum mechanics, relativity and optics to it.

[Anonymous No.7017410]

>>7017390
This reminds me. I'm looking for a basic book on electricity, just can't find any. I'd like to know about some of its inventors (the whole history would be best) all the way to explaining the phenomenon including magnetic-fields, transistors, voltage etc

In one book for coherence sake, would be awesome

[Anonymous No.7017412]

>>7017390
>I read non-fiction exclusively
Then you do a fucking piss-poor job of it.

Every single one of these is a meme book. They're simplified, pop nonfic designed to rope people into believing things that make them feel like they've somehow seen the truth of things and can snobbishly hold it over others.

You're not a nonfic reader, you're a pop reader.

[Anonymous No.7017414]

>>7017390
All of this is standard dogma that tells one what to think. Do you read anything to help you think for yourself? Just curious.

[Anonymous No.7017452]

>inb4 me me me

>>7017412
>pop reader
affirmative. I seek out these book for curiosity, and I hope to explore a knowledge landscape by learning the basics from these books.
Every single one of these books left me wanting to read further, meme, books. But I want to cover all my areas of interest first before I go for my second lap

>>7017414
no, mum said I'm not allowed to read anything that isn't a bestseller

[Anonymous No.7017467]

>>7017299
>a meme scientist coins the term meme

What a life.

[Anonymous No.7017474]

>>7017227
Is the the selfish gene also 300 pages of god bashing? Because you have to have lobotomy to actually read a book like "the god's delusion" even if you're an atheist.

[Anonymous No.7017503]

Pop-sci I know. But none the less I really enjoyed it and found it simple enough to be accessible.

[Anonymous No.7017671]

>>7017410

The Art of Electronics. this might help

[Anonymous No.7017679]

Le Mort d'Arthur tbh
No but what are some good non-fiction texts on the Middle Ages or Renaissance?

[Anonymous No.7017691]

>>7017474
No, it talks about genes

[Anonymous No.7017696]

>>7017036
GOODBYE TO ALL THAT

GRAVES IS GOAT

[Anonymous No.7018234]

>>7017474
that book has some cool facts though

the suicide bombers 40 virgins are a mistranslation actually meaning 40 crystal clear raisins for the family after you die. Yes, you don't even get your raisins in afterlife.

In the same vein of mistranslation the virgin mary, is just "the young lady" mary. It is still bashing, but the information is still entertaining.

>>7017467
Genes transform information from generation to generation. Memes transport cultural information from brain to brain. Building such a analogue mind-experiments is what scientists do.

>>7017671
It's a textbook, looks too hard for a casual read. I once tried to read a book on optics aimed at undergraduates, but it is to much of a hassle for an amateur. All the math introduced for one, just ain't comfy for an afternoon stovefire read.

[Anonymous No.7018263]

>>7017410
Try Asimovs New Guide to Science. It starts by saying the basic idea of old scientists and works its way up through history and explains the modern understanding of it. It includes all area of science but I think there's some electricity stuff.

[Anonymous No.7018284]

>>7017474
It's not really God bashing - in fact, most of Dawkins' popular science books like Climbing Mount Improbable, The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene *, The Extended Phenotype have very little to no religion-bashing

It's a shame he's focusing so much on religion and being atheism's nutjob nowadays, the guy can legitimately write well - he's one of the best writer of explanations of complicated circumstances I've ever read.

But then again, The Selfish Gene may bore you - it's written as a reaction to the then-prevalent "group selection" (natural selection acts to preserve a group or even a species) but tries to show that selection on the level of an individual (or on the gene level) can be used to explain the same things, but even more

* The Selfish Gene is parts pop sci, parts a treaty on a novel hypothesis, so "proper" science

[Anonymous No.7018327]

Philosophical Investigations & Blue and Brown Books.

[Anonymous No.7018379]

>>7018284
I remember in one of his chirstmas lectures in the 90s he made several anti-religion statements. The antagonism been there since then at least. I could imagine he got confronted with religious people or at least when he visited the usa throughout his career

>>7018263
great reason to read some asimov if you haven't yet too

[Anonymous No.7018519]

I know this isn't /sci/, but what's a good introduction book to physics/chemistry that doesn't require a strong knowledge of math? I've seen the Feynman Lectures and Asimov's Understanding Science, but I'd like to know if there's any up-to-date guides for laymen.

[Anonymous No.7018548]

John Julius Norwich's three volume history of the Byzantine Empire

[Anonymous No.7018655]

>>7017036
The Tao of Pooh.

In story driven non fiction
The Last Battle (about the end of WW2. Forgot author)

[Anonymous No.7020141]

bump

[Anonymous No.7020431]

>>7017249
Is it going to convince me that feminism isn't shit? Serious question.

[Anonymous No.7021703]

>>7017036
The Machiavellians by James Burnham

[Anonymous No.7021708]

>>7020431
I'd guess that nothing could do that, because even if something started to, you'd immediately reject as "fake and gay" or something equally inane. Confirmation bias is a bitch.

[Anonymous No.7021716]

[Anonymous No.7022031]

>>7021716
Worth reading, fascinating stuff. For the bold: Visual Complex Analysis

[Anonymous No.7022086]

Gilbert Seldes The Stammering Century
Great portrait of various fringe groups that emerged in the Americas in the 19th century.

[Anonymous No.7022130]

Everything Bad Is Good For You

Read it as a kid so I could argue with my parents better about watching tv and playing video games. So worth it.

[Anonymous No.7022148]

>>7022031
Looks like an interesting way to teach Complex Analysis. I know a bit, but never took a course. I'll check that book.

[Anonymous No.7022166]

Ever wonder what happens if you give LSD to an elephant? So did the CIA when they weren't drugging each other or paying whores to slip it to their clients while government spooks watched.

[Anonymous No.7023809]

>>7022130
thanks for reminding me

>>7021716
cool, that looks like a candidate for my todo-list

does /lit/ have the capacity for a /non-fic general/ thread?