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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Aravis:
... Bill Bryson should be on the list, but again, which one? A Short History of Nearly Everything? ...
Yes. And Mother Tongue.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
I love Bill Bryson, and really enjoyed "A Short History of Nearly Everything", but I don't know that it should be counted as a classic 100 Best of All Time. I think that whilst it has its place, if you're going to include something that popularises science (or whatever) you would be better off with something that covers a smaller subject in more detail.
I think I would second the suggestion for something by Oliver Sacks. Some of his work is a bit dated now, but his overwhelming humanity in the midst of the heavy clinical cases he presents is inspirational.
In my own field (so I don't expect anyone else to have read this or agree with this choice), I have to say that Gail Kligman's "The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania" is a tour de force.
As far as Christian/religious non-fiction goes, Ron Sider's "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" had a profound effect on me when I first read it, and still influences many of my choices today. I must reread that sooner rather than later, I think.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
I'm just not sure I've read widely enough, or enough full-stop, to be able to make nominations for a top 100 list, but there has been a lot of talk about autobiography going on - a favourite genre of mine - so I sat down and made my own list of the ones I've enjoyed most. What they have in common, I think, is that they are 'easy to read', in terms of both clarity and in the way they engage the emotion, without in any way having 'easy' themes. First among the bunch is probably 'A Ring of Bright Water' by Gavin Maxwell - it is just a thing of beauty. I read it in a single sitting and found my own surroundings slightly unfamiliar upon emerging. Also 'Through the Narrow Gate' by Karen Armstrong, 'Bread and Roses', by Sonja Davies (a hard life, that one), 'A Fence around the Cuckoo' then 'Fishing in the Styx' by Ruth Park' (a tough life, you might say) - and now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say - 'Moab is my Washpot' by Stephen Fry, which is clever, and frank, and sad, and very, very funny. Also many orders of magnitude better than his next autobiographical attempts.
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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TurquoiseTastic
Fish of a different color
# 8978
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
Might have to check out Primo Levi. His is a name I've heard of, but never paid any attention to.
Oh! You sinner! You should go and read "The Periodic Table" right away and then "If This Is A Man".
Posts: 1092 | From: Hants., UK | Registered: Jan 2005
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
-I'd definitely second A Brief History of Time. I read it last year and wondered why I'd been intimidated out of it before.
-If we're having graphic novels, Bryan Talbot has written/illustrated a couple. My choice would be Sally Heathcote: Suffragette co-created with his wife, Mary.
-The Story of the English Language in 100 Words by David Crystal
-The People Speak: Democracy is not a Spectator Sport Ed. Colin Firth & Anthony Arnove. A collection of speeches and letters from individuals involved in political and social movements over the centuries (it starts out with a contemporary description of the Normans being bastards to the Anglo Saxons).
Last but not least Prehistory of Sex by Timothy Taylor because it's full of surprising thoughts about global history and gender politics (and not just because it's full of Neolithic porn and the author was my university personal tutor ![[Biased]](wink.gif) )
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
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Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Essays, Hume's Treatise, Mill's On Liberty are all important. I don't know whether they're accessible to the general reader.
Oh, I should certainly say that Mill was. His writing was wonderfully lucid.
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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
There was a wonderful radio series a little while ago from the British Museum - History of the World in 100 Objects. It was also made into a book, and it was absolutely fascinating, so I'd suggest that as one of the 100 best non-fiction books.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
Sipech wrote:
quote:
Might the Encyclopaedia Britannica count?
If reference books are to be considered, surely the Oxford English Dictionary should be on the list.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
But would you consider the OED one of the best non-fiction reads of all time? Which is really what the question is about, although it hasn't been that precisely worded.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Well, it contains all other works, including the not-yet-written---just read the words in the right order.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Surely Claudia Roden should be included in the cookery writers?
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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