Books you recommend - nonfiction

[EddieWalker]

Death in the Long Grass: A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush: Peter H. Capstick, M. Philip Kahl: 978312186135: Amazon.com: Books

I liked the few books of his that I read, but was amazed at how close to death he came, and how often it happened. Then later on I found out that he didn't actually do what he said he did, he wrote about what others had done, and stories that he had heard about, and then wrote that he had done those things. That pretty much ruined him for me.


On the topic of African Safaris, Robert Ruark is really good. He wrote the famous line that a Cape Buffalo looks at you like you own him money!!!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I have both The Naked Ape and The Human Zoo by Desmond Morris. His viewpoint as a trained zoologist is quite fascinating. Excellent reads.

Yes, I also read "The Human Zoo". It was nearly 50 years ago, and I had just graduated from college with a Biology degree. I had studied Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, and "The Naked Ape" hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not for everyone, but for me, it was a revelation.

Another book that comes to mind is "A NATION OF SHEEP by William J. Lederer".

 

[rox]

When you would like a change of pace from military history let's go medical, I really enjoyed
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells葉aken without her knowledgeå‚*ecame one of the most important tools in medicine. The first 妬mmortal human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they壇 weigh more than 50 million metric tonsé*�s much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bombç—´ effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Here for another complete change in topic but it is topical, here is another excellent book, it is a history of the Constitution, and a history of Supreme Court Rulings but it is not dry at all. The author gives the historical background of the nation and the communities that were involved in the SCOTUS rulings.

By Ian Milhiser
Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted
Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. Since its inception, the justices of the Supreme Court have shaped a nation where children toiled in coal mines, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where a woman could be sterilized against her will by state law. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy.

He tells a fascinating story for example about New York Bakeries, how they were always in rat infested basements of buildings and how the employees (immigrants) worked so many hours that they just slept on the food prep tables, he goes into very interesting historical detail about how important bakeries were to the immigrant population who lived in overcrowded conditions with no kitchens, the earliest fast food so to speak. The New York Bakery case should you decided to read up on it, is Lochner v. New York. Another important and very interesting case he writes about is a court case about slaughter houses and another the cartel of southern sugar barons.
I highly recommend the book. He got some unfair reviews of his book because he is a liberal so he got trounced on Amazon from people who never even bought the book, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is if the book is fair, accurate and a good read, and it is. I bought it and I read it and I was really amazed at our US Supreme Court History.

 

[JerryK]

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World ... You get to unlearn all the krap they told you a boot who discovered America, among other interesting facts.

 

[downsizingnow48]

For mechanical innovation this book on the history of the milling machine is very interesting.

History of the Milling Machine: A Study in Technical Development: Robert S. Woodbury: 97837: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Travelover]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Journey tells the story of a crew trapped in the ice in Antarctica and how they dragged small boats to open water and navigated back to the civilization without losing a single man. It is an incredible story of resolve and seamanship. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage: Alfred Lansing, Nathaniel Philbrick: 262881: Amazon.com: Books

 

[JimRB]

A history of brain function knowledge in layman's terms via accidents and some interesting research. Stories and discoveries from hundreds of years ago to recent history. Fascinating read.
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery: 978316182355: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

 

[Travelover]

Another great book from American history is Undaunted Courage which is the story of Lewis and Clark's journey. Again, they pulled it off without losing a single man. I was really fascinated to read of all the near fatal twists and turns of that expedition which had it been fiction would seem improbable .

 

[blackdog2086]

Fearless, non-fiction military but a little more modern than most of your list. About a navy SEAL and what he went through not just in the teams but in his life to achieve the things he did. Very inspirational and a book I highly recommend. What Adam Brown achieved and the hardships he fought through is nothing short of amazing.

 

[rox]

Oh here is another good book,
Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art
Savage Harvest, a narrative that is as exciting as it is instructive, appears finally to have winnowed the truth from the mare’s nest of legend and wishful thinking surrounding the disappearance in November 1961, of Michael Rockefeller, in a remote region of southwestern New Guinea.The 23-year old, along with a Dutch anthropologist colleague and two young guides, were sailing in a dugout catamaran some three miles from the coast of Asmat. The craft overturned; the two locals swam for help, but as the wreck drifted farther from land an impatient Rockefeller decided to try and make it alone. With two fuel cans to help his buoyancy on what he reckoned would be a twenty-hour swim, he slid into the warm shallows of the Arafura Sea - never to be seen by friends or family again.Did he drown? Was he eaten by a shark? Did he vanish into the jungle, Kurtz-like? Or was he the victim of cannibalism at the hands of coastal villagers? Hoffman has shown that with assiduous tradecraft, hard work and near-obsessive tenacity, it is possible to know, to solve the supposedly insoluble. He has journeyed, twice now, deep into the dark interiors of Asmat, and has conducted interviews and learned the language and listened to sensible men and women – in New Guinea, in the Netherlands, in the anthropology departments of knowledgeable universities. And he has used a severe intelligence to determine just what happened on that warm dawn Monday, November 20, 1961.The Rockefellers – not least Michael’s twin sister Mary, who produced her own book two years ago – may not want to believe this tale; and the family did nothing to help Hoffman in his admirable quest. But the truth, as this book chronicles in patient, meticulous detail, has a way of eking itself out. Savage Harvest is a remarkable testament to the revealed truth, and of its revealing - even if that truth is wholly bizarre and, to most, quite literally unpalatable