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tselem
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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Gott, J. Richard. Time travel in Einstein's universe: The physical possibilities of travel through time.
Nisbett, Richard. The geography of thought: How Asians and Westerners think differently... and why.
Seife, Charles. Zero: The biography of a dangerous idea.
Shermer, Michael. How we believe: Science, skepticism, and the search for god.
Van Doren, Charles. A history of knowledge: Past, present, and future. |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| What is your Dangerous Idea? - Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable - edited by John Brockman |
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BS.Dos.
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:16 am Post subject: |
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Just to wanted to gauge how all of you who've suggested non-fiction books feel about fiction.
Personally, I don't read fiction anymore. Stories are for babies. I've lost count of the books I've read that came with a good recommendations that turned out to be just plain rubbish. It could be an age thing, as I use to read loads of fiction when I was younger (London, Steinbeck, Hemingway to name a few of my more youthful favourites), but as I've gotten older I'm finding I'm becoming more and more inquiring and want to read about things that will enlighten me. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:58 am Post subject: |
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| I've gotten older I'm finding I'm becoming more and more inquiring and want to read about things that will enlighten me. |
I will go so far as to say as I have gotten older it has become harder to find quality fiction that enlightens, but it is out there. Lots of it. I don't think reading fiction is a waste of time at all.
I think it's just as valid to read for shear pleasure and laughs as it is to read for information and knowledge. I once got hooted at here at Dave's for mentioning that I love O. Henry stories. I feel sorry for people who can't relax and read an entertaining story with no more object in mind than to have a good time. |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| I think it's just as valid to read for shear pleasure and laughs as it is to read for information and knowledge. |
I agree.
Actually a lot of the fiction I read is for my students - advanced classes are required to read 450,000 words a semester - that's about 4-5 novels in the 350-450 page range. Whatever students read, I read.
I've read some real crap and some stuff that was surprisingly amusing and entertaining - stuff I would never have bought on my own.
examples
shopaholic (and sequels)
The Nanny Diaries
The Devil Wears Prada
Bridget Jones
all of the above are light airport fiction, but entertaining though they definitely don't stretch the intellect. |
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jkelly80
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:31 am Post subject: |
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| Anything by Paul Theroux. I recommend Riding the Iron Rooster. |
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Hope
Joined: 22 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:38 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for some of the great suggestions...please keep them coming! |
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politica
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Location: Suwon-si
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:52 am Post subject: |
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Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire
-Memoir of a childhood in upperclass 1950s Havana.
Red China Blues by Jan Wong
-Memoir of a Canadian journalism student who goes to China and becomes a Maoist. Great first hand testimony of the Tiananmen Square Massare.
Wasted by Marya Hornbacher
-Memoir of Hornbacher's struggle with anorexia and bulimia and all of the mental issues that come with. Supremely well-written.
101 Days by Asne Seierstad
-Seierstad spent 101 days in Baghdad just after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Great account of the characters she met there.
The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
-Stewart travelled throughout the Afghan countryside just after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Great book.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
-Memoir of Fuller's childhood in 1970s Rhodesia. Also a great book. |
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