You’ll hear me say from time to time that fiction writers will gain more intellectual mileage out of reading non-fiction than fiction. Especially later in their careers, when you’ve ideally found your voice and have become confident with your own skill set and no longer need exemplars to lead the way. That’s not to say you shouldn’t (or won’t) read fiction — but non-fiction is giving you puzzle pieces whereas fiction is giving you the picture another author has already built with such loose pieces. Reading fiction can be in this way reiterative — you run the risk of treading water in terms of creative input –> output.
Regardless — point is, non-fiction? Good stuff.
My shelves are 75% non-fiction, 25% fiction. A ratio I expect to keep. (Though this is not as true in my e-book space. I buy more fiction in e-book for whatever bizarre-o reason.)
I’ve got books on mythology, warfare, sex, gun repair, culture wars, cooking, travel, Bible studies, fairy tales, medieval weapons, the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, Congress, the President, urban legends, writing, filmmaking, insects, weather, bears, birds, Hell, imaginary places, slang, parasites, and on and on.
What am I reading right now? Adventures Among Ants, by Mark Moffett. Quirky book about a biologist and professor who really loves ants and, well, wants to tell you about it. Chockablock with fascinating information about not just ants, but our natural world — plus, since he has to travel abroad to find exotic species, you visit with other cultures and in and of itself Moffett makes the whole thing one big adventure. With the ants as the star, one supposes. So, my question for you is —
What non-fiction are you reading (or have you read)? Doesn’t have to be geared toward writers.
Share. Spread it around.
Mark Lewis says:
Right now, I’m not reading any non-fiction, but I do read a lot about forensics and psychology.
April 4, 2012 — 12:13 AM
Todd Lucas says:
Anything by Gavin Menzies is awesome. 1421 and 1434 about the voyages of the last Chines treasure fleets and their effects on the entire world. His latest, Atlantis (sorry can’t remember the long winded subtitle for it), where he figures out that the Minoans were at one point, waaay back, leaders of the “western” world before having their core leadership destroyed by the eruption of Thera (now Santoria), and matches it all up with Plato and finds where they had come from before rising to power and where they went while they were there (hint, they mined out tons of super pure Great Lakes and shipped it back to the Mediterranian; being the best bronze workers in the world and having the only line on really good copper that didn’t quickly kill your smiths were big parts of their power).
April 4, 2012 — 12:25 AM
Sparky says:
My nonfiction trends towards the mythological and reference guides for fiction (I have a book that just covers hundreds of different super villains for example). Straight up nonfiction though I have two recommendations: First is The Good the Bad and the Mad: Weird People in US History. Who knew the US made so many lovely lunatics? From His Most Regal Majesty Emperor Abraham Norton of America to the eternally clever humbug Phineas Barnum it has wonderful short bios that prove, to my mind at least, that reality is indeed far stranger than most fiction.
Secondly there is a small beaten up paperback I have had for years that a friend gave me. The yellowed pages and strange cover only hint at it’s curiosities. The book is titled Voodoo in New Orleans and has been in print for decades, presenting itself as a simple historic work. After about the halfway point though it gets strangely specific on how to work some mighty nasty voodoo. Yes it’s an unbalanced view and written to be a bit shocking but it’s a fascinating history.
April 4, 2012 — 12:39 AM
Robyn says:
“1491” by Charles C. Mann. I’ve been meaning to read it for so long.
April 4, 2012 — 12:39 AM
Anna Lewis says:
Tons of historical stuff in my library these days: falconry, piracy, slavery, torture, naval tactics, seamanship, Inquisition Spain & the New World, global myths & legends, herbalism, shamanism, animals, dinosaurs, sport kites, geography, philosophy…it’s bad being a history major AND a natural research junkie.
Currently I’m reading about how to land a literary agent but I’m being profoundly tempted to start researching my local history. It would be for a new project, and that’s bad because I’ve already got 2 other ones in the pipe, not counting the flash stuff. How do you turn this sh*t off, again?
April 4, 2012 — 12:42 AM
Robert Brown says:
Most recently, A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 6 GLASSES, Tom Standage.
April 4, 2012 — 1:13 AM
Larry says:
“On Killing” by Lt. Col. David Grossman, an Army psychologist, who analyzes in detail the psychology of killing in battle and non-combat situations. There are many surprises, which will make you wince and howl next time you see a Mel Gibson movie. Mostly based on research, and some reviewers have taken him to task for certain conculsions he comes to, but even those debates are quite enlightening about the topic. The book will give you nightmares, but it’s must reading for anyone writing about characters with guns.
April 4, 2012 — 1:48 AM
Vero says:
I too read a hellovalot more non-fiction than fiction. Mostly psychology books, theoretical physics and how-to books about either writing or team management (job related). I think non-fiction books spur your imagination much better than *other* fiction books.
April 4, 2012 — 1:52 AM
Ryan Viergutz says:
The greatest part of the Internet is the “what are you reading” threads. 🙂
I’m currently completely thrilled by Hugh Thomas’s “Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, From Columbus To Magellan.” I am thoroughly obsessed with sea adventure and the Spanish Golden Age and this book, if the first few chapters suggest anything about the rest of the book, is absolutely glorious. Great pace, great sense of humor, lots of details in just the right way.
April 4, 2012 — 1:58 AM
Stan R. Mitchell says:
“The U.S. Marine Corps Story” is an incredibly well-written history book that I constantly pull down to re-read and re-motivate myself.
The action scenes, the tales of courage, the incredible adversity so many faced, all of this inspires me both in my real life and in my narrative life.
April 4, 2012 — 2:06 AM
Juan delacruz says:
How to Build a Time Machine – Brian Clegg
April 4, 2012 — 2:17 AM
holyspigot says:
Currently in progress: Holy Hullabaloo by Jay Wrexler, about the constitutional separation of church and state. Also, Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre, about — well, about truthiness in science. Both of these are entertaining and educational books. The other thing I do a lot of is listen to TED (which Goldacre has participated in as well). Lots of fascinating stuff there.
April 4, 2012 — 3:31 AM
Alex Beecroft says:
I’m reading “The Year 1000” by Robert Lacey and Danny Danzinger, which is one of those non-fiction books written in an easy to read style that doesn’t remotely feel like a textbook. It’s a jaunt through the Saxon Julius Work Calendar talking about what the Saxons would have been doing in each month of the year in England in 1000AD. Very enjoyable but not full of the kind of nitpicky little details a writer really needs.
April 4, 2012 — 4:45 AM
R.J.Keith says:
The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich was good, a little dry in places, but good. I’ve read a bunch of psychology books on psychopaths and Hitler. Devil In The White City was a very good telling of the Chicago World’s Fair murders. Oh, I have books on the battles of Marathon and Thermopolaye. I’ve read about the first female Pope, a myriad of books on Cleopatra and Henry VIII’s wives, The Salem Witch Trials to include the Malleus Maleficarum. Mein Kampf frightened me, so did books on the Einsatsgruppen. The Valkyrie Assassination attempt was a really good read. The diary of Rose Red was fun. Um, oh! Any one of the Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers are great for quick facts and things that you might otherwise not have known. I have, nearly, the entire series.
April 4, 2012 — 4:55 AM
Mary says:
Hi, thought I’d try a new email since I can’t get my earthlink email to post here.
I’m currently reading The New History of Florida, edited by Michael Gannon
My husband and I also have and have read:
Collapse, by Jared Diamond
Deep Survival, by Lawrence Gonzalez
I have American Indian Myths and Legends, Taking Up the Runes, Practical Magic, Prometheus Rising, assorted books about soldiers (my husbands), and many more. here are a lot more, but these are probably my favorites.
April 4, 2012 — 6:20 AM
Roland Martinez says:
Salt by Mark Kurlansky has a fantastic narrative on a subject that could be made dry and academic.
How we Decide is a nice pop-psychology look at how the brain works when we make decisions. We aren’t rational, we are rationalizers.
Getting things done is probably the best self help book I’ve ever read. It’s not a personal power affirmation book, it’s a system to keep you organized and productive and it’s awesome.
The Happiness Project-I loved Gretchen Rubin’s tone in a book that could have been cloying.
How to Read Literature and How to Read Novels like a professor. Mind blowingly good stuff on how to find symbols, archetypes and cultural myths in literature. But the fun way.
Also of course I am halfway through 250 Things You Should Know About Writing.
April 4, 2012 — 6:28 AM
Bell says:
“Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea,” by Charles Seife.
The opening line reads like something out of an Ian Fleming or John Le Carré thriller. Let’s just say it involves American aircraft carriers.
And my favorite quip? “Mathematicians of the past were a little more rugged than those of today; instead of paper, they used wolves.”
To think that the history of zero, the numeral, could be so badass.
April 4, 2012 — 7:00 AM
Shiri Sondeimer says:
“Cindarella Ate My Daughter” by Peggy Orenstein. AKA: What happens when a journalist from Berkley, CA who “hasn’t shaved my legs in twenty years” has a pink-wearing, princess loving daughter. Actually very informative, lots of studies on marketing to little girls (and boys) and how expectations AND anti-expectations shape our kids.
April 4, 2012 — 7:00 AM
AshKB says:
Currently reading “Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic” by Tom Holland – this would be about my fourth reread, as it’s a book I utterly adore, and I find it something of a comfort read (my ideas of ‘comfort read’ can be odd, I admit). It’s rich and interesting, and narrative history at its best. Also: blackly hilarious at some points, which all the best histories are.
In my bookcases, I have all kinds of non-fiction: books on organized crime (general; Italian Mafia; Colombian cartels), books on various militarises (including history, essays, and memoir), numerous history books from Ancient Egypt right up to present day (my tastes here are fickle and changeable, jumping around the globe), sciences of astronomy, biology, evolutionary theories, Neanderthals and what force sex has had on us, and one quantum physics book that actually explains things to be as understandable as the field is able to be understood. I have a book on KGB spy-handlers next to a biography of Peter the Great of Russia, a book on the history of make-up next to a book on longbows. I have a history of prositution in Australia somewhere – probably near the political science. I have a number of books on language and the history of English, because words have a history in our culture as much as anything else, and I have books about Atlantis and other fringe theories, because they are nothing if not a fertile well to dip into for ideas. Also dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are awesome.
April 4, 2012 — 7:17 AM
Dave Turner says:
I’ve been reading Stoic philosophers recently: Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. What’s great about their writing is their mix of formal and colloquial language. Seneca in his time was often criticized for his “epigrammatic” style, but to modern eyes, it strikes a pleasant balance between old and new. As a bonus, Stoic philosohphy is probably the oldest (and still the best) guide to living a good life. So the reading is both edifying and interesting.
April 4, 2012 — 7:26 AM
Kim Rafelson says:
Currently reading Steven Pinker’s Better Angels of Our Nature. Gorier than any zombie novel …
April 4, 2012 — 7:30 AM
Kaytee says:
I’m currently reading ‘Seized: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy as a Medical, Historical, and Artistic Phenomenon’ by Eve LaPlante, an interesting description by a non-specialist of the experiences of those with temporal lobe epilepsy. It includes contemporary case stories as well as famous people from history who may have had the disease.
I recommend ‘Tricks of the Mind’ by Derren Brown, UK mentalist/magician, a fascinating and entertaining read about psychological techniques in magic, hypnotism etc
April 4, 2012 — 7:48 AM
Kate Haggard says:
Not reading any currently (all my books are in a box *cry cry*) – but i love me some popular science. Anything by Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson get my brain humming. Especially the later. They make hard science accessible. Plus The Demon Haunted World is simply one of those books that will change your outlook on life.
Also, and this one is writer specific, Anthony Bourdain. Wanna great example of voice? Pick up Kitchen Confidential or Medium Raw. That man will teach you a helluva lot about voice.
April 4, 2012 — 7:54 AM
Jennie Spotila says:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a must read for everyone.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand – you will think it’s fiction but it is all true, and compellingly written
And I just finished The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers – highly detailed look at the Plains Indian Wars and the circumstances leading up to the killing of Crazy Horse. Read it for the description of Plains Indian life, if nothing else.
April 4, 2012 — 8:39 AM
Mike Zimmerman says:
I recently finished an advance reading copy of VISIT SUNNY CHERNOBYL, AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD’S MOST POLLUTED PLACES. Brilliant stuff. The author, Andrew Blackwell, traveled to seven of the planet’s worst environments. Chernobyl, which has a tourism industry (and will have a bigger one when the horror flick Chernobyl Diaries comes out), as well as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Alberta oil sands, Kanpur, India (the Indian govt themselves named it the country’s most polluted city), and others.
The writing is the key here. He’s simply a great writer (this is his first book). It’s equal parts satire, travelogue, expose, and adventure writing. The book comes out 5/22. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.
April 4, 2012 — 8:44 AM
Jen J. Danna says:
I’m reading ‘Death’s Acre’ by Bill Bass and John Jefferson. It’s Bass’ memoir about the creation of the Body Farm in Knoxville, TN and the huge scientific leaps they made in the field of forensics. Fascinating stuff!
April 4, 2012 — 9:00 AM
Barry Napier says:
Every single book Mary Roach has ever released, “Spook” and “Stiff” being the best among them. How this woman isn’t better known is beyond me. “Spook” is easily the most entertaining and informative non-fiction approach to the supernatural that I have ever read.
Also, because I’m a geek, I also enjoyed “Memoirs of a Monster Hunter” by Josh Gates recently.
April 4, 2012 — 9:05 AM
Gina Rinelli says:
Terrorists in Love by Ken Ballen. A series of interviews with Jihadis in “rehabilitation,” it gets into their heads to reveal the motivations behind religious killings. A good example of “the villain is the hero of their own story.”
April 4, 2012 — 9:07 AM
Jeff Rutherford says:
A Diary of the Century by Edward Robb Ellis
Retired journalist Ellis (The Epic of New York City) has spent a lifetime annotating his life: his diary, started on a bet in 1927 when he was 17, has earned him inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest in the world. Though an edited version can only skim the surface of what he actually recorded (some 20 million words over 67 years, and still accumulating), the bare bones presentation nevertheless fulfills the goal Ellis set early on: to provide not a record “of world deeds, mighty achievements, conquest” but “the drama of the unfolding life of one individual, day after day after day.” Gleefully annotating his own annotations, Ellis provides a gloss on many of the entries that survived the cut from diary to book, obviously seeking to balance highlights from private life (first shave, first kiss, first byline) with choice descriptions of mainly professional encounters with the famous (e.g., Huey Long, Herbert Hoover, e.e. cummings) and the obscure (a failed suicide, two 12-year-olds fishing in a New York City park). Written in plain prose and with the sense that history is peering over his shoulder, Ellis’s frank record movingly captures the march of time both outward and inward. Quoting Zola on literature, he describes his diary as “a slice of life seen through a temperament,” an apt description for this often surprising and always humane document.
April 4, 2012 — 9:21 AM
Amy Tupper says:
My favorite non-fiction author is William Langewiesche. He has written a dozen books, many of which relate to the aviation accidents or the industry, as well as articles for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair.
His writing is so simple yet precise. He could investigate the making of a ham sandwich and it would be the most fascinating thing ever. Langweische has this way of slipping in facts that with any other author would grind the story to a halt. His style is tremendous.
I highly recommend all of Langeweische’s books, but I really enjoyed “Fly By Wire: The Geese, The Glide, The Miracle On The Hudson” the most. Before that I had no concept of what a Candian Goose could do to a jet engine!
I also really enjoyed Trevor Corson’s “The Secret Life of Lobsters.” Hint: if you eat lobster, DON’T read this book.
April 4, 2012 — 9:46 AM
Foxed says:
Recently finished Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris. … It was about Marcel Petiot, the serial killer of Nazi-occupied Paris.
(Recommended!)
I have 1000 Faces by Campbell lurking in the wings to be read.
Read What If The Earth Had Two Moons? for worldbuilding inspirations. It worked.
And I highly recommend Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour. Dude was awesome. A hobo, boxer, prospector, and sailor before he settled into writing.
April 4, 2012 — 9:54 AM
l.s. johnson says:
i am stuffing myself on all things relating to ancien regime france, libertinage, ancient erotic poetry, popular songs of the 17th and 18th century, epistolary novels, and women’s health in the 18th century. those time life books “what life was like” are surprisingly good basic intros to different time periods–kind of like sitting in a well-taught high school history class. nowhere near a full picture but a fine starting point.
i just finished dena goodman’s “republic of letters: a cultural history of the french enlightenment” which shows how enlightenment ideas were both circulated and circumscribed. it gave me great insight into the role of women in facilitating and disseminating the enlightenment (and a new verb, to geoffrinize, meaning to let a woman run a discussion group to encourage both practical and civil discourse.) these women did little writing of their own, but they were giving themselves a daily crash course in the new ideas of the day to be the best possible moderators. who knows how many new avenues of philosophy and politics they carried in their heads. would that they’d had more encouragement to write their own works, or at least report their own versions of their salon conversations.
next up for me though is an actual 18th century gazette, to be read with dictionary and internet to hand, and “marquis de sade: his life and works.” the latter promises to be utterly fascinating–a guide to all the different sexual “deviancies” of the 18th century written by a 1930s “social philosopher”. i anticipate at once juicy details i was not aware of and some mind-blowing wtf bias.
there are some works of nonfiction that are also just tremendous pieces of writing–great for style, structure, and plotting. two that spring to mind are john mcphee (his piece on the pine barrens in new jersey still lingers, an unsettling portrait of an area) and diane ackerman, who practices a lovely, readable synthesis of many threads of research (and also happens married to the one of the great literary stylists of all time, paul west.)
April 4, 2012 — 10:11 AM
Mary Alice Kropp says:
The last non-fiction I finished was “Big Russ and Me,” Tim Russert’s wonderful semi-autobiography about growing up and the influennce his father has always been in his life.
Right now, I am reading “The Art of Practicing” by Madeline Bruser. To some extent geared toward piano students still working with a teacher, but full of advice and strategies for those like me, who SHOULD be still working with a teacher, but aren’t. (Oh, and just for the record, I am not by any means a performance level pianist. I don’t really play the piano; I torture it. I play for me, because I want to.)
April 4, 2012 — 10:12 AM
Paul (@princejvstin) says:
I read all sorts of things, and flip through all sorts of things for ideas and information.
Historical Atlases are a special favorite of mine.
April 4, 2012 — 10:19 AM
James says:
“War Reporting for Cowards,” by Chris Ayres. Just checked it out of the library, though I’m waiting to start it until I finish Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz.”
Man, a 75/25 split in favor of non-fiction? That’s admirable. I think I’m at 60/40 with fiction in the lead.
April 4, 2012 — 10:20 AM
John Boggs says:
“Paranormality: Why We See What Isn’t There,” by Richard Wiseman
and
“The Poetry Home Repair Manual,” by Ted Kooser
April 4, 2012 — 10:26 AM
manda(rific) says:
One of my favorite non-fiction books of all time is Katharine Hepburn’s autobiography, “Me.”
I’m kind of a huge Kate fangirl in the first place, but the way she tells her story is brilliant.
April 4, 2012 — 10:26 AM
David Earle says:
Michael Lewis writes a lot of great stuff. He’s the guy who wrote Moneyball, for one, but he’s better known for his books on Wall Street and the financial system in general. I highly recommend The Big Short to everyone, and if you want to feel better about America after reading that you can check out Boomerang, which covers what countries like Iceland and Greece did during the big financial crisis. (Hint: It wasn’t pretty.)
And if you’re feeling political, you might check out Game Change, which is fairly even-handed coverage of the 2008 election and has a Much wider focus than the HBO movie. Or, you could try reading How to Rig an Election by Allen Raymond, which is guaranteed to make your jaw drop.
April 4, 2012 — 10:27 AM
Stevie Miller says:
I’ve found my ratio to have developed similarly to yours, Chuck. I spent many years devouring all the fiction I could get my hands on, but moved on to non-fiction as my writing advanced. I also tend to buy my non-fiction in paper form, and my fiction in e-book form. I find it easier to refer to notes, directions, or specific sections in non-fiction books when they’re of the hard-copy variety. With fiction, I’m more likely to just be reading straight through with no real need to reference particular sections again. Also, if you’re reading books where the images are important for whatever reason, e-books just don’t make the grade.
I usually have a fat pile of books out from the library at any given time, and currently they include “Teach Yourself Linguistics”, “Octopus: The Ocean’s Intelligent Invertebrate”, “Vanilla Orchids: Natural History and Cultivation”, “Charles Dickens: A Life”, and “Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners”. I am addicted to biographies! The best ones straddle the line between hardcore fact and novel, while teaching you something about the time in which that person lived.
April 4, 2012 — 10:50 AM
Guy T. says:
I listened to the audiobook of Talent is Overrated not too long ago and found it both interesting and convincing. The idea in a nutshell is that talent is not something people are born with, but rather something that is developed — even in the cases of prodigies such as Mozart. The author particularly recommends “deliberate practice,” which is more focused and intentionally designed than normal scattershot practice.
April 4, 2012 — 10:51 AM
Alexa Muir says:
This is a bit spooky – during my morning commute today I decided I’m tired of reading fiction and need to try something else. And here you are Chuck, chatting about non-fiction. I’m sure it’s a coincidence and not you spying on my thoughts…
I bought The Elephant Whisperer, a book I’ve been eyeing up for a while. Anything about Elephants is going to entertain me, even though I suspect it will also make me cry.
April 4, 2012 — 10:57 AM
Maggie Carroll says:
Alan Weisman’s “The World Without Us”, an excellent thought experiment that looks at what happens if the human race disappears. It’s on the same level as A&E’s short-lived show “Life After People”, but with more detail and explanations.
Jared Diamond’s “Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed”. This is on my to-read list, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
April 4, 2012 — 10:57 AM
Maggie Carroll says:
Also, a perennial favorite is Al Franken’s “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At the Right”. I take most things with a grain of salt, but since he backs up his opinions with footnotes and endnotes, the grains of salt I use with this book vary in size.
April 4, 2012 — 10:59 AM
Jake Lawson says:
I’m not certain why this is the case, but most of the non-fiction is read is seriously abstract math. Two of my recent favorites are “The Riemann Hypothesis” and “The Poincare Conjecture.” They make my head spin and there’s a point in each where I’m completely underwater, but reading them makes the universe seem bigger and strangers and more…magical? Like I said, I’m not sure. Next on the list is Wolfram’s “A New Kind of Science.” Wish me luck.
April 4, 2012 — 11:09 AM
Linds says:
I tend to read a lot of historical non fiction, especially leaning towards social history. I find Bill Bryson, David McCullough, and Michael Lewis all write very interesting, in-depth stories. The sort of people who can make skinning a pig sound fascinating.
Right now, I’m about to start Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken.
April 4, 2012 — 11:23 AM
Anne Lyle says:
I think fiction writers should read non-fiction throughout their career – particularly genre fiction writers. You may learn the craft of fiction writing from novels, but you’ll get your best ideas from non-fiction. The two main inspirations for my recently released historical fantasy novel were “Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared Diamond, and “The Reckoning” by Charles Nicholl (an account of the spying career and murder of playwright Christopher Marlowe). Without raw material like that to feed your imagination, you’ll tend to recycle the same old tropes you’ve picked up from your fiction reading.
April 4, 2012 — 11:48 AM
mattw says:
I’ve read part of Adventures Among Ants and intend to go back to it some day. Ants are fascinating.
Two non-fiction books that I really enjoyed were The Mole People and Beneath the Neon, both about homeless people living under major cities (New York and Las Vegas respectively).
I just got a copy of Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer, but haven’t started it yet.
April 4, 2012 — 12:04 PM
Ellen says:
The last non-fiction I read, I believe, was Be Your Own Shaman by Deborah King.
April 4, 2012 — 12:10 PM
Tabitha Laurain says:
First off, I want to say that I love, love, love non-fiction. All through middle school and high school I read non-fiction almost exclusively (with the occasional foray into stuff like the Saga of Darren Shan and the Hyperion Trilogy).
I don’t have too much time for books in general now, what with college breathing down my neck, but the nf book I’ve finished most recently was “The Language Wars: A History of Proper English” by Henry Hitchings. It was extremely helpful for my written Englishes course, which never gave us any kind of background or context for the topic. The book focuses periodically on the myth of “proper” or “standard” English, and I love it for that.
Another nf book I finished a while ago (I bought it in the Border’s closing blow-out sale) was “Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds” by Bernd Heinrich. It’s both a scientific and personal investigation of raven behavior, and it’s absolutely fascinating.
April 4, 2012 — 12:11 PM
KimD says:
“Sex with Kings” and “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs” which was the museum book for the 2005 tour.
April 4, 2012 — 12:31 PM