Hi so I don’t really read but I want to. I want to read to expand my attention span and also to just become more educated. I want to learn about history (literally of any sort), money, space, things that will apply to my daily life preferably inspirational, things along those lines. I’m just not sure where to start. Anyone able to help me out?
by pxrplemia
6 Comments
A super random assortment of books that fit your criteria 🙂
Non-fiction:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsson
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Red Notice by Bill Browder
In a Sunburned Country or A Short History of Nearly Everything, both by Bill Bryson
Fearless by Eric Blehm
Fiction:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
Molokai by Alan Brennert
Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon
Nonfiction books about history that I have liked:
* The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. About the history of epidemiology and how waterborne disease was first discovered.
* Your Inner Fish by Neal Shubin, about the history of life on evolutionary time scales.
* Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall, a book I saw recommended in one of /r/AskHistorians ‘ many threads where they bemoan how overrated yet completely incorrect Guns, Germs & Steel is.
* Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna, about antibiotic use in agriculture. I used to work in a research lab that studied antibiotic resistance in agriculture and this is an approachable yet very informative read.
Rabid: a cultural history of the world’s most diabolical virus.
Notification, fun. Learn about everything from the origins of vampires to the creation of vaccines and the entire field of epidemiology. It’s given to having an inspirational tone, a very “look what we’ve accomplished as a society” and you will definitely learn things you didn’t think would apply to your daily life, and about history. I think it fits the bill and is a lot more unique than a lot of non fiction you’ll find.
It’s almost like an old Discovery Channel show from the days of Mythbusters and things.
Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn
It’s a true story (though he changed the MC names for privacy reasons) about a Lakota Elder who wanted to tell his story. It’ll break your heart
Then the sequels:
The Wolf at Twilight and The Girl who Sang with the Buffalo
The second, Dan, the Elder from book 1, needs to find out what happens to his sister when she was taken to the boarding schools. And the third sheds light on the differences between Native Medicine and what Dan calls “white man medicine”.
Also, I really liked Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Non fiction:
– the Tyranny of Merit by Michael Sandel
– Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
– View from the Cheap Seat by Neil Gaiman
– The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber
– The Petroleum Papers by Geoff Dembicki
These will have given you a lot of topics to talk about with a large variety of people. Happy reading!
The Boys in the Boat is really good. Even though I knew what was going to happen I was white-knuckles through the big race!