I’m looking for interesting, non-fiction books about history and human nature. I’ve been reading Robert Greene’s books and enjoying them very much as well. I also recently picked up Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, but I’m not smart enough to understand it.
by garliclemurfeet
5 Comments
>Jared Diamond
Heads up, Guns, Germs, and Steel outright fabricates a lot of evidence for the sake of making a more compelling story. /r/AskHistorians has [an enormous number of posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=guns+germs+steel&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on) about why it’s wrong, if you want to know more. [This post has some recommended books to read instead](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4o1n26/i_want_to_read_a_book_like_guns_germs_and_steel/). I have read Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest and thought it was good, but I know very little about history so I’m not able to evaluate it on factual merits.
I’m not a historian, but I have a background in biology so the things I would point out are, disease alone is overestimated as a cause of native depopulation in the Americas. Yes, the diseases were terrible, but the mortality rate was only so high due to a combination of factors such as poor nutrition and overcrowding due to being forced off their original territory. The immune system is very energy-intensive for the body, so anything that stresses the body weakens the immune system.
I believe Guns, Germs, and Steel erroneously says certain diseases like tuberculosis came from livestock like cows, but in fact it was the other way around! The TB ancestor went from humans to cows.
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Here are some of my recommendations:
* Why Everyone Else is a Hypocrite by Robert Kurzban. This was assigned reading for a psychology class I took and it’s really interesting.
* Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna. About the history of antibiotics and agriculture. I used to work in a research lab studying antibiotic resistance in agriculture and I think this book does a good job of explaining things.
* Your Inner Fish by Neal Shubin. This is about the history of life on Earth. It’s one of my favourite nonfiction books but it isn’t the most easily readable.
* The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. About the history of modern epidemiology. This book overemphasizes the idea of one lone genius who saw something no one else could. In reality, if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else. This is a very easily readable book.
Hrm… The Metaphysical Club by Menand might work, but there might be moments of feeling “not smart enough”. Still, recommended if the paradigm shifts in law and science 150 years ago are of interest. Will the Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Doughty is a breezier read, and a lot of fun, as is Stiff by Mary Roach. Hmmm… lastly, anything by Erik Larson; most people prefer The Devil in the White City, but all his stuff is on point
Even for adults – I highly recommend, “A REALLY Short History of Nearly Everything”. It is like the original books but broken, so each ‘chapter’ is a page spread. It makes it more accessible and lets one read it in nice bite-size chunks. The few pictures thrown in make it look like a nice coffee table book.
Here are a few you might find interesting.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Kindred (about Neanderthals)
Isabel Wilkerson, Caste
Ryan North, How to Invent Everything (this one uses the conceit that it is a how-to manual included with time machines, but it is effectively a history of how different things were invented, from internal combustion engines to religious systems)
Happy reading!
Here’s a cool one: “The demon under the microscope” – it’s the story of the discovery of antibiotics and it was great! I was born in 1962, and had no idea that if I was born just 30 years earlier I probably would have died when I got strep throat instead of my mom simply taking me to the doctor for a shot of penicillin.
Another incredible book I always recommend is “The woman who smashed codes”. The story of Elisabeth Smith, who you’ve never heard of, yet was one of the biggest heroes of WW II and whose code breaking ideas are still taught at the NSA today.
Lastly, I’ll suggest “Material World”, which goes into detail on several natural materials that are foundational to modern life. Here’s one story – during WWI Germany was the best glass maker in the world; England realized it had no chance to win without high quality lenses. At the same time, Germany needed rubber, which England was pretty good at. So – in the middle of war, the two enemies traded glass for rubber! This was so secret it only became known a few years ago (section of the book that talks about sand, truly the foundation of the modern world).