Non-Fiction Book Recommendations

Florinda · Post by **Florinda** » 08 Aug 2011, 01:50

-Your Money or Your Life
-Slowing Down to the Speed of Life, by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey
-Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James
-The Art of Happiness, by the Dalai Lama

so many books are there without fiction and above mentioned are best for me

Mariatricia · Post by **Mariatricia** » 08 Aug 2011, 08:45

I recommend the book A Strong West Wind by Gail Caldwell.

It tells the story of Caldwell from her early Texas days to her adventures in Mexico, her makings as a writer, and her coming to terms with her past. Meh. This "synopsis" obviously does not do justice to that beautiful memoir. Just read the book. I promise Gail Caldwell writes beautiful sentences

Pigs on the Wing · Post by **Pigs on the Wing** » 08 Aug 2011, 09:52

Right now I'm reading Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler, and despite good reviews I just can't get into it, it is a required book for an AP class next year so I have to...oh well

Timpane · Post by **Timpane** » 12 Aug 2011, 10:35

I accept as factual the content is mighty sufficient to change our entire ecosystem. That's silly huh. Should somebody litigate for such trife? Who begun it

Jaaronow · Post by **Jaaronow** » 29 Aug 2011, 13:49

"The Philosopher's Stone for the Transformation of Jupiter - Project Lucifer" eBook is detailed study of the recent events on Jupiter and how they may have been man-made by various insertions of fissile products into Jupiter since 1995....

The 2009 Wesley Mark, and the Antipodal Jupiter flashes in 2010 that were labelled "impacts" are evidence of NOT impacts but a massive internal event taking place. The evidence presented in the book shows this.

You will be surprised by the observations in this book.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 29 Aug 2011, 18:56

The Sea Wolves by Wolfgang Frank. Its about life on a German U boat during WW2. It has nothing political, its just about the ordanary seaman and his trials and duties on a submarine.

guytwo · Post by **guytwo** » 01 Sep 2011, 18:47

I'm presently reading the book "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" by Daniel Okrent. It's a very interesting look at the history of Prohibition.The "Drys" were just as corrupt as the "Wets" - just in a different way.

Also, Ken Burns will have a companion 3 part documentary on PBS starting this Oct.3. ( I think )

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 01 Sep 2011, 19:42

I just finished one called Ulster Folklore by Elizabeth Andrews. Its about legends of fairies and little people in Irish mythology and how they think the legends started. Its interesting, it tells of underground chambers and forts where they lived and has pictures and drawings of those places. One thing they said I found quite interesting, scientists believe the human race all had red hair to begin with. This book was written in 1915 but their theories probably havent changed much over the years.

Cal Trask · Post by **Cal Trask** » 02 Sep 2011, 10:11

I have just read a great historical biog.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

By Doris Kearns Goodwin.

The book begins with an excellent scene setting chapter in Springfield Illinois, May 1860. And charts the day Abraham Lincoln found out he was to be nominated the Republican parties presidential nominee. Goodwin uses the first chapter to introduce us to Lincoln and the ‘team of rivals’ that would go on to make up Lincolns cabinet after his successful presidential campaign. The book then takes us through the lives of William Seward, Abe Lincoln, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates from their origins through their political and professional lives right up to the time they became the most important and influential men in the U.S. government during the American Civil War.

Goodwin holds your interest through every page, but the real epic stuff starts with the beginning of the war. The cabinet and the whole of the Republican party were from a generation who’s forefathers had kicked the British out with their monarchy and their other useless flummery years ago, and were involved in the creation of a country with liberty for all (even though as we know this hasn't happened, these blokes really believed in the ideal). Many of the party were radicals who demanded instant emancipation for slaves, and others were more conservative and believed in a gradual change. In the middle of all the infighting is AL, who from humble origins as a farmer’s son became, what could be argued strongly and seems from this book undoubtable, the greatest statesman and expert in political tactical diplomacy America has ever seen.

Goodwin has taken a huge topic and era (Lincolns life, cabinet, and the civil war), thoroughly researched it and made it into an absorbing and entertaining book. It really impressed me how she has constructed the narrative through direct quotes from letters between Lincoln and other cabinet members and military brass like General Sherman and General Grant as well as letters from many others who were a part of this huge story. Until I read this I didn’t realize how vast in lives lost and geography the civil war was. The battles of Knoxville, Cold Harbour, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg (to name a few) are all detailed in these pages. I suppose something as divisive as slavery that classes human beings as property was bound to cause a bit of a big fight, but this was biblical. Thousands of acres of cotton burning, whole towns on both the Confederate and Union sides being torched and huge loss of life. An estimated 400,000 killed out of a population of 21 million.

The writer breaths life into all of the main players in this history book, and has detailed their personalities through her research as well as a writer would with a fictional character. Above them all though is Abraham Lincoln. The gangly, humorous, magnanimous, forward thinking great orator of these years which shaped the future of America. This book for me is both remarkable in what it has depicted and in the impact it had on me as a reader. A great book. I will leave it to one of Abe’s peers to sum up:

“I have no doubt that in history Lincoln will be the conspicuous figure of the war. He was incontestably the greatest man I ever knew”
(General Ulysses Grant, Military Commander of the Union Army)

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 02 Sep 2011, 15:19

That sounds like a book Ive got about Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. Its has a lot of detail about his life, his politics and people he was involved with. He was pretty cagey, so many people were against him but he came through it all. Too bad he was assinated, he probably would have accomplished a lot more. I like what he said when so many people were asking favors when he first got into office. He said, "Too many pigs and not enough tits." He was a true American, theres not many of those.

BookWorm15 · Post by **BookWorm15** » 21 Oct 2011, 13:23

I've just finished reading 'Room' by Emma Donoghue. It's about a girl of 19 that was kidnapped and locked in a room with the basic necessities to live. Soon she got pregnant due to sexual abuse from her kidnapper. Growing up in Room was natural for her son, Jack, as he knew no differently. Ma had to think up ways to entertain her son which included collecting Eggshells to make Eggsnake and rationing food to last them the week. Jack became friends with characters from his story books and Dora from TV; a world in which he thought everything was pretend, however 5 years on Ma reveals to her son, Jack, that everything he has seen on TV is real in Outside.
It is a chillingly realistic story which keeps you turning the pages (I read the book within one day!) and it stays with you for a long time after completion.
I fully recommend this book to anybody,
enjoy Reading!

utopiadream · Post by **utopiadream** » 24 Oct 2011, 23:08

In Non-Fiction I would recommend a few books that I've enjoyed, The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda is a non-fiction book by Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov about the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca. THis gives us a picture of how the ideology of Al Qaida was born..

Ben_Robson · Post by **Ben_Robson** » 30 Oct 2011, 06:23

As the title suggests, this book is about how power is established/upheld/executed in crowds (or groups) of people and how crowds are manipulated and controlled.

I find it fascinating, as it made me reflect on what effect crowds can have on people (in religious, political or many other settings) and how those in charge use certain methods of controlling those who are supposedly dependant on them.
Of course this short review does not do the book justice, so I would suggest you read it for yourself

primrose777 · Post by **primrose777** » 07 Nov 2011, 05:38

I have just finished reading Michael Caines second autobiography, " The Elephant to Hollywood" about his journey from the poverty of his childhood in the Elephant and Castle in South Londen to the highs of Hollywood living in the Golden years. It is also about his journey from Movie Star to Lead male actor, a water shed moment for him.
Michael Caine is a gentleman from an era far removed from Hollywood today and shares so many wonderful anecdotes from those days. His story is one of hard work and deternination ( he was an overnight sucess that took him ten years to achieve) but also very much being in the right place at the right time with the right people. This is a great read, recoomend it highly.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 07 Nov 2011, 09:47

I jst finished A Woman's Wartime Journal, Sherman's March to the Sea by Dolly Sumner Lunt. It was facinating, it told of Sherman's scorched earth policy, destroying everything, confiscating everyones property, all their food and valubles, burning their houses and crops and taking family members prisoner. It was one family's account of what happened to them. But it was necessary to bring the war to an end. The South was losing, there was no way they could win but they just wouldnt give up. I know it sounds brutal but war sucks and even the innocent suffer. I highly recommend this story.