Non-Fiction Book Recommendations

jrrankin@adelphia.net · Post by **jrrankin@adelphia.net** » 18 Nov 2009, 12:54

Title: UNDER THE NEON SKY...A Las Vegas Doorman's Story
Pretty incredible story about a Doorman who works the graveyard shift at the MGM on the strip. Gritty, sad, uplifting all at the same time.

charlesbrown · Post by **charlesbrown** » 20 Nov 2009, 16:45

Good tips. Ty

Oneday · Post by **Oneday** » 21 Nov 2009, 16:22

poomlie wrote:I recommend Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Best on audio. Very funny and poignant.

Great Book!

MoniM · Post by **MoniM** » 09 Dec 2009, 05:53

It would be nice if you can give us some good fiction reads.

globalvision · Post by **globalvision** » 09 Dec 2009, 16:04

Just finished 'The End of Certainty' by Stephen Chan. An unashamedly ambitious and dare I say pretentious book in which Chan sets out to offer an Anglo-Saxon readership the sort of wide-ranging exploration of philosophy, culture and politics that French thinkers have long indulged in. Chan rubbishes the idea of a world guided by Western rationalism towards the global embrace of secular Enlightenment values. Instead, he argues that myth and religion are actually becoming the determining factors in relations across cultures and nations. Chan is surely right when he says that to understand a people one must understand the stories they tell about themselves but his hopes of forging a new era of international understanding on this basis is a sad utopian dream. [/i]

LouT · Post by **LouT** » 20 Dec 2009, 22:33

SmartShopp3r wrote:I was hoping to find more non fiction recommendations.

Please!!!!

My book is a biography, written mainly for war veterans past and present returning home with serious head issues and finding little help with PTSD.
My life is all I have to give away to make a difference, having been considered beyond helping which for me was a new beginning in taking a different road that would be considered unorthodox to those who have conventional methods of confronting PTSD and other issues faced by veterans as well as others.

My book is free for the asking, just email me for the PDF version.

Amazon Reviews:
Type "God's Maniac" in Google or my name Lou Talley

Biography is fully doumented including Polygraph testing results.

I do not recommend for childrem as this is a graphic detailed biography including war photos and police reports as well as interviews with war coorespondant in Australia, casualty list of the killed and wounded and early accounts of involvements with the occult and documented paranormal encounters.

I would not allow my biography to be written by a journalist who spent about nine years attempting to convince me of the need for it today which I finally agreed to last year.

burnsrunner · Post by **burnsrunner** » 31 Jan 2010, 14:08

Can we specify this category. There are so many non-fiction books out there. From Business to Self-Help, and so many of them are sooo good.

Take for instance business: A few really good networking books I have read, have increased by connection with other book reviewers, and authors.

Or, self-help: Great tips out there on organizing book shelves.

Or, living Green: I found some great links that helped me know where to go to recycle some of my books to other readers.

guytwo · Post by **guytwo** » 20 Feb 2010, 13:20

I listed these books in the "historical books" post; but just in case you didn't see them:

I can recommend this book about the Flapper/Jazz Age (1920's) it was very entertaining. Great grandma was a wild child! Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz

Also this book about old sailing days (1629) is a good one but a little long. Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny by Mike Dash

This is a science history book about Joseph Priestly in the 1700's and I enjoyed it. The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson

Johnson also wrote this medical history book. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World Also worth a look.

Want more?

Viddanu · Post by **Viddanu** » 05 Mar 2010, 17:31

"Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires." A great True-Crime novel if you're interested in the history of organized crime and the Mafia. It's by Selwyn Raab.

guytwo · Post by **guytwo** » 04 Apr 2010, 10:17

I'm almost finished with this pirate book. Expedition Whydah by Barry Clifford & Paul Perenial, it's pretty interesting story about the Cape Cod area pirate Black Sam Bellamy and his ship the Whydah.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZw4M1yHta8

ResearchScholar · Post by **ResearchScholar** » 14 Apr 2010, 08:29

Thanks to the poster upthread for info on Under the Neon Sky.
Sounds like an interesting read. I'll pick up a copy from my local bookstore.

Barbara1942 · Post by **Barbara1942** » 15 Apr 2010, 16:43

SmartShopp3r wrote:I was hoping to find more non fiction recommendations.

Please!!!!

I've just registered here so hope I'm doing this right. I used to be mainly a mystery reader [fiction] but have lately changed to mainly non-fiction. Some recent great reads are "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, "Animals Make Us Human" by Temple Grandin and "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. "The World Without Us" is absolutely fascinating.

guytwo · Post by **guytwo** » 15 Apr 2010, 22:02

Try this book if you like medical/mystery books: Dr. Mary’s Monkey: How the unsolved murder of a doctor, a secret laboratory in New Orleans and cancer-causing monkey viruses are linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination and emerging global epidemics. by Edward T. Haslam

Long subtitle isn't it? I strongly recommend this book to any nonfiction (true) mystery lover.

EDIT: To the above poster, I love Temple Grandin.

Fee Verte · Post by **Fee Verte** » 16 Apr 2010, 06:37

globalvision wrote:Just finished 'The End of Certainty' by Stephen Chan. An unashamedly ambitious and dare I say pretentious book in which Chan sets out to offer an Anglo-Saxon readership the sort of wide-ranging exploration of philosophy, culture and politics that French thinkers have long indulged in. Chan rubbishes the idea of a world guided by Western rationalism towards the global embrace of secular Enlightenment values. Instead, he argues that myth and religion are actually becoming the determining factors in relations across cultures and nations. Chan is surely right when he says that to understand a people one must understand the stories they tell about themselves but his hopes of forging a new era of international understanding on this basis is a sad utopian dream. [/i]

Can you explain why you find the writer pretentious? I am really interested in reading this, but I am worried about that description. I hope he is not another Christopher Hitchens.

ResearchScholar · Post by **ResearchScholar** » 18 Apr 2010, 06:16

Fee Verte wrote:
globalvision wrote:Just finished 'The End of Certainty' by Stephen Chan. An unashamedly ambitious and dare I say pretentious book in which Chan sets out to offer an Anglo-Saxon readership the sort of wide-ranging exploration of philosophy, culture and politics that French thinkers have long indulged in. Chan rubbishes the idea of a world guided by Western rationalism towards the global embrace of secular Enlightenment values. Instead, he argues that myth and religion are actually becoming the determining factors in relations across cultures and nations. Chan is surely right when he says that to understand a people one must understand the stories they tell about themselves but his hopes of forging a new era of international understanding on this basis is a sad utopian dream. [/i]
Can you explain why you find the writer pretentious? I am really interested in reading this, but I am worried about that description. I hope he is not another Christopher Hitchens.

May I ask, why do you not like Christopher Hitchens? Years ago I read and re-read his Blood, Class and Nostalgia. It is a wonderful book, written in a distinctive sardonic style. I am also impressed by the depth of his research. Of course, analysis is a more subjective issue.