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

 

[/pine]

Thanks to whoever may have posted this before...it is a great true story of plane crash survivors and their heroic rescue...

'Lost in Shangri-La'



Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

 

[stuckmotor]

Bible

Good choice.

 

[stuckmotor]

For anyone as inept at mechanics as I am. I recommend as many repair manuals by as many different authors as you can afford for whatever tractor, car, or truck you might work on. Sometimes one manual pays for itself by explaining a particular repair in a way that I can understand it while another manual might not.

 

[dmccarty]

Oh here is another good book,
Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art
.....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?... 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

Rox! That is a tease! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Did he get eaten or not? I figured Michael Rockefeller was eaten by crabs, sharks or people? Who does the author think ate him?

Later,
Dan

 

[rox]

Rox! That is a tease! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Did he get eaten or not? I figured Michael Rockefeller was eaten by crabs, sharks or people? Who does the author think ate him?

Later,
Dan

I don't want to ruin the ending but at the end of the book you will feel satisfied that the author reveals accurately what happened to him. My uncle took weather in college as he knew with the war and the US getting in it he would be drafted and he felt taking weather classes he would then get assigned to a "safe" job in the army. Well he was right, the Army came into the classroom and announced, "You are all drafted, the entire class, get your physicals and we are sending you off to the army weather school, I think it was in California. That is literally how it happened, some army person drafted the entire class out of the University of Wisconsin Madison and they all went as a group to army weather school.

However my uncle bet wrong, he did not get that nice safe weather job he was expecting, they put him on a navy ship and sailed him to Paupau New Guinea. A smaller boat took them to shore with their weather equipment and radios and they were instructed where to set up their weather station, in the middle of the jungle surrounded by cannibals, literally cannibals. I think there were 4 guys and they never went off their little camp by themselves as they feared getting hunted and eaten, they always went in twos. God's truth he said he was never so scared in his life. His job was to send off weather balloons on a certain schedule.

This is one reason I bought the book because of the story my uncle told me so I knew it to be true that there were real cannibals there. I bought the book to listen to flying back to see my mother so I bought the audio version although it was pricey, I enjoyed listening to the story. On the airplane I could leave my iPad on my seat and get up to stand for a short time at the back of the plane to stretch and with my bluetooth headphones I could still listen to my story. Wish audio books were not so pricey, I enjoy them so much, I have really gotten into podcasts recently.

For podcasts I have a small 6" bluetooth speaker and I put it under my pillow so that when my head lays on the pillow I can hear the podcast but the sound is quiet enough it doesn't disturb my husband as he usually falls asleep first. It's not comfortable to wear headphones in bed with your headphone covered ears laying on the pillow so the speaker under the pillow works fabulous, no headphones needed.

For podcasts I have been listening to This American Life (of course) and they have like a ten year library of stories if you click on archives, also Best Case Worst Case, Preet Bharara, of course season 1 & 2 of the podcast Serial, and a few others. I have not found a History podcast I have enjoyed although I have tried a few. I listened to Business Wars for a little while and then kind of lost interest. I get tired of listening to to much True Crime type podcasts and there are sure a lot of them out there. I googled top podcasts and tried to go down the list but I guess I am to old, giggling and cursing is just not something i want to listen to for an hour. I really do not listen to any political podcasts as it's to tribal for me. I guess I like more formal and even kind of scripted podcasts, the just winging it for a half an hour gabbing away on the news of the day doesn't do it for me. I would love some good podcast recommendations if anybody has them.

 

[Tdog]

Thanks again, all.
/pine, I just finished Escape from Davao. As I got into it & found it was about the Bataan Death March, I almost put it aside - - but I kept reading, and wow, it grabbed me. I recommend it too.
And, I recently finished Lost in Shangri-La, which I also found a good read. Other books that were mentioned that I have read & recommend: The Guns of August, The Right Stuff, Unbroken, Band of brothers, Undaunted Courage, The Devil in the White City, 1776.
Now, what to read next? Thanks for all your suggestions!
Jack

 

[Jstpssng]

Desperate Steps by Peter Kick Amazon.com: Desperate Steps: Life, Death, and Choices Made in the Mountains of the Northeast eBook: Peter W. Kick: Kindle Store
Not Without Peril by Nickolas Howe Not without Peril: 15 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire (Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Nicholas Howe, Paperback | Barnes & Noble(R)

Both explore accidents and mishaps while hiking and/or enjoying the outdoors.

Three against the Wilderness by Eric Collier. This is an excellent book that I read years ago about a couple who lived in the wilderness of BC back in the 1930's.

 

[om21braz]

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!!!

From what I understand Ruark was closer to the real deal. I have read some excerpts from several of his books in old Field and Stream magazines - good reading. Try the Perfect Storm on if you get a chance - far better than the movie.

 

[N80]

"Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism" by Alvin Plantinga. A difficult read to say the least but a vigorous evaluation of the conflict between science and religion done at the highest level of academic work. The conclusions are iconoclastic and will be surprising to most.

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis.

"John James Audubon: The Making of An American" by Richard Rhodes. Most people don't know much about Audubon but he was an amazing character.

"Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves Made" by Eugene Genovese. One of the best and most complete explorations of slavery in America. Extremely interesting and with lots of information contrary to popular notions of what slavery was all about without excusing or diminishing the evil that slavery was.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

"Freedom's Forge: How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II" by Arthur Herman

Working in aerospace manufacturing, this gave me a new respect of what they did to create/convert to make the greatest war machine ever! IMO.
Lots of familiar names pop up throughout as well - Ford, Wright, Curtiss, Whitney, Kaiser, Pratt....

Freedom's Forge: How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II by Arthur Herman