# Non fiction books that have stuck with you



## RJLawrence (Mar 25, 2017)

Mine's Sam Harris, "Waking Up." Made me rethink a few things. Also "Stumbling on Happiness" by Dan Gilbert. What nonfiction has haunted your thoughts weeks or months or years laters?


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Helter-Skelter. Terrifying. This chronicle of the Manson Family murders written by the attorney who prosecuted them is hands down the most frightening book I have ever read.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

_1776_ by David McCullough. I had it in my head the American Revolution was a relatively small war in the sense of percentage of the population affected, casualties relative to population, etc. Not only was I wrong, I learned a lot of other things that gave me a whole new perspective. I've read it several times.


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## Stevie Collier (Mar 24, 2017)

No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover was life changing for me.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

A couple come to mind. _American on Purpose_, Craig Ferguson's autobiography, has a great balance of humor and poignancy as he overcomes substance abuse while living an "interesting" life; and it's nicely written. Leon Lederman's _The God Particle_ is an immensely entertaining look into both the history of particle physics as well as the people who do "big science" these days.


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## MarkdownFanatic (Jan 14, 2014)

Erich Fromm's_ The Anatomy Of Human Destructiveness_. Not an easy read, but well worth anyone's time. Fromm provides a very persuasive description of how both good and evil are responses to the same basic existential challenge. His investigation does not make you loathe evil and destructive people any less (he provides stunning analyses of Hitler and Stalin), but it makes you understand why and how evil and destructive people become who they are. It also helps you understand a lot about what makes heroes and villains tick, both in the real world and in fiction, and what we look for in our heroes and protagonists.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

_Levels of Knowing and Existence_ (1959) by Harry Weinberg has stuck with me over the years. It's a relatively non-technical book on the nature and limitations of language.

I've read it four or five times since discovering it in the mid-sixties, getting something new from it each time. I keep hoping it will surface as a Kindle book. I've even considered having it scanned and converted.

Mike


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> _1776_ by David McCullough. I had it in my head the American Revolution was a relatively small war in the sense of percentage of the population affected, casualties relative to population, etc. Not only was I wrong, I learned a lot of other things that gave me a whole new perspective. I've read it several times.


I really need to get this one!

Quite a few history books helped me to gain broader perspective on one-sided version of events I was taught in school. One of the most notable ones is Max Hastings _Armageddon_. He is such a good writer.



I also think David McCullough's _Truman _is a remarkable book. Not easy to read, due to the level of detail and complicated family histories, but worth the effort.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

I can only give the name, Plato. He fundamentally changed how I think about everything. If I had to pick one of his books, it would be _Republic_ (Bloom's or Grube's translation, not Jowett's). _Laws_ is a must-read too.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

anguabell said:


> I also think David McCullough's _Truman _is a remarkable book. Not easy to read, due to the level of detail and complicated family histories, but worth the effort.


That's also true of his_ John Adams_. I enjoyed it, and parts of it stuck with me, but it hasn't been a re-read like _1776._


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## William Peter Grasso (May 1, 2011)

With a little more time, I could probably break KB with the volume of my reply, but here's the short take:

Fatal Vision by Joe McGuiness

The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman

A Bright Shining Lie by John Paul Vann

The Invasion of Japan by John Ray Skates.

WPG


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

*Citizen Soldier: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany * by Stephen E. Ambrose

The content and description, from the common soldier up to the generals, their struggles and plights, motivations and dedication, made it a memorable read.


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## Norman Steele Taylor (Nov 26, 2015)

The one book that truly shaped my attitude: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Here's a quick breakdown animation from Youtube (not my content)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktlTxC4QG8g


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## Rena Arun (Jul 9, 2017)

As far as contemporary non-fiction goes, Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization has really stuck with me since I read it many years ago when it first came out. Fascinating that the work of Irish monks was so instrumental. And Cahill writes almost lyrically, which is rare among historians.


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## EthelindaW (Jul 13, 2017)

(My recommendations will always lean heavily in the history direction, just as a heads-up. )

_The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt_ by William Nothdurft and Josh Smith - I've been crazy about dinosaurs since I was little, so I've generally read anything I could get my hands on about them. I found this one many years ago browsing my local library shelves, and it really fascinated me. Gets you thinking about finding fossils in places other than the well-known areas (western US and Canada, Mongolia, China), and also about how human conflicts affect what knowledge we are able to retain over time.

_A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940_ by William Trotter - Really well researched, fascinating history of the Winter War. I knew a little bit about this conflict before reading this book, but Trotter really dives into it, and the sheer scale of it (of how few Finns with so little equipment went up against the behemoth of the Soviet Union) was mind-boggling. It was quite hard to read in some places, and I did not get through it without a few tears, but it was well worth it.

_Your Inner Fish_ by Neil Shubin - A family member gave me this for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I just loved it! The author explains his work as being "half paleontology and half genetics," and he presents a really clear, interesting (and entertaining) explanation of how evolution works. He gives some really interesting examples (such as explaining why we get hiccups), and it just really clarified my thinking in an area where I already knew the basics, but had plenty of room to learn more. Highly recommended if you like science non-fiction, it was well-written and very accessible.

_Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather_ by Mike Smith - This was another book that blew my mind a little with all of the interesting information and stories in it. The author is a long-time meteorologist, and tells the story of how the severe storm warning system in the United States developed in the 1950s-60s trying to deal with tornadoes in the Midwest, and then details some of the major later achievements in severe weather prediction and tracking (hurricanes, microbursts, etc.). Another tear-jerker at times, but very good. As friends who read it later pointed out, the writing itself is not always technically the best, but to be honest I didn't even notice that the first time I read it because I was so caught up in the story!

That's probably enough for now, but I might think of a few more later.


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## Rena Arun (Jul 9, 2017)

EthelindaW said:


> (My recommendations will always lean heavily in the history direction, just as a heads-up. )
> 
> _The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt_ by William Nothdurft and Josh Smith - I've been crazy about dinosaurs since I was little, so I've generally read anything I could get my hands on about them. I found this one many years ago browsing my local library shelves, and it really fascinated me. Gets you thinking about finding fossils in places other than the well-known areas (western US and Canada, Mongolia, China), and also about how human conflicts affect what knowledge we are able to retain over time.
> 
> _A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940_ by William Trotter - Really well researched, fascinating history of the Winter War. I knew a little bit about this conflict before reading this book, but Trotter really dives into it, and the sheer scale of it (of how few Finns with so little equipment went up against the behemoth of the Soviet Union) was mind-boggling. It was quite hard to read in some places, and I did not get through it without a few tears, but it was well worth it.


These first two sound fascinating! Since I hail from tropical climes, reading anything about survival in the Nordic environment is a draw, and the historical angle is a plus. Dinosaurs, well, who can resist, right?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Rena Arun said:


> These first two sound fascinating! Since I hail from tropical climes, reading anything about survival in the Nordic environment is a draw, and the historical angle is a plus. Dinosaurs, well, who can resist, right?


https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwreace/albums/72157646142162201


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## Rena Arun (Jul 9, 2017)

NogDog said:


> https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwreace/albums/72157646142162201


Looks like a great place for a walk; just don't forget your hat, lol  My husband's been to the Badlands in S. Dakota fossil-hunting and this landscape looked very familiar to him. Btw, were those before & after shots of a dinosaur horn? Or rib?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Rena Arun said:


> Looks like a great place for a walk; just don't forget your hat, lol  My husband's been to the Badlands in S. Dakota fossil-hunting and this landscape looked very familiar to him. Btw, were those before & after shots of a dinosaur horn? Or rib?


Those were the before and after shots of over an hour of me grinding away rock accretions on half of a thigh bone (Diplodocus, I think), with what was essentially a tiny jack hammer. It was part of a week-long RoadScholar "Jurassic Experience" in Thermopolis, WY. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks they might be interested in that sort of thing. 

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/15388/digging-for-dinosaurs-the-jurassic-experience


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## CrissyM (Mar 14, 2012)

Salt: A World History by  Mark Kurlansky
It's the best history book I've ever read. Actually interesting, with great info on how salt effected trade, war, and more in ancient times.


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## EthelindaW (Jul 13, 2017)

Rena Arun said:


> These first two sound fascinating! Since I hail from tropical climes, reading anything about survival in the Nordic environment is a draw, and the historical angle is a plus. Dinosaurs, well, who can resist, right?


Right? You can't go wrong with dinosaurs. To stray slightly off-topic (since it's fiction), every dinosaur-lover should read _Raptor Red_ by Robert Bakker. That's my favorite.


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## Rena Arun (Jul 9, 2017)

EthelindaW said:


> Right? You can't go wrong with dinosaurs. To stray slightly off-topic (since it's fiction), every dinosaur-lover should read _Raptor Red_ by Robert Bakker. That's my favorite.


OOPS. I'm straying from the topic too for just long enough to say I just looked it up ... Written from the point of view of a female dinosaur! Now that's a novel, um, _novel_, lol. I'll have to check it out.


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## Bodie Dykstra (Jul 21, 2017)

I edited a book last year called _How to Protect (or Destroy) Your Online Reputation_ by John David. It changed how I think about my online persona. Indie authors might actually find it useful, too; there's lots of information about responding to feedback and owning your online presence.


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## AriadneBeckett (Jun 29, 2017)

John Grisham's The Innocent Man. (Yes, Grisham, yes, nonfiction.)

Seriously one of the most depressing books I've read - as in "make your clinical depression worse and leave you feeling horrible about humanity" depressing. That's not a criticism of the book; I think it's an important book, and the impact it had on me was a *positive* reflection on the skill of the writer.


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## Rena Arun (Jul 9, 2017)

Here is a memorable book, came out last year, that is worth reading on many different levels: a memoir of growing up poor in the Appalachians, a revelation of an overlooked, underprivileged segment of society, a flailing culture which yet flourishes in pockets of big cities and small forgotten towns: 
*Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis* by J.D. Vance


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## A.Q. (Jul 29, 2017)

I haven't read ALL of it, cos there's just so much to go through, but Christopher Hitchens 'Arguably' is a very good read. Just makes sure, like with everything Hitchens wrote, you have a dictionary handy  

Also, being a huge Leonard Bernstein fan, his biography by Humphrey Burton is an interesting read - I say interesting, because it's well known Burton admired Lenny, so the 'bad times/stuff' is played down or glossed over.


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## Carlton Isaac (Jul 28, 2017)

Books by Carl Sagan, John Gribbin, Stephen Hawking and George Carlin.


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## A.Q. (Jul 29, 2017)

Carlton Isaac said:


> Books by Carl Sagan, John Gribbin, Stephen Hawking and George Carlin.


I didn't know Carlin had written any books :O How did I not know this?


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## Carlton Isaac (Jul 28, 2017)

A.Q. said:


> I didn't know Carlin had written any books :O How did I not know this?


Yep, and his books are on amazon, mostly hardcover or paperback. A few might be on kindle.


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## A.Q. (Jul 29, 2017)

Carlton Isaac said:


> Yep, and his books are on amazon, mostly hardcover or paperback. A few might be on kindle.


I need to check these out. ASAP


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## EDDIEO (Aug 2, 2017)

Bravo Two Zero, although ironically everyone that is still alive seems to have a different version of what happened. Thus proving that non-fiction is only as subjective as the writer.


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## EthelindaW (Jul 13, 2017)

NogDog said:


> https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwreace/albums/72157646142162201


Cool!!!


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

They Mystery of Capital, Outliers, How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, Naked Economics, Drive by Daniel Pink, Wrong by David Freedman, Overtreated, Wild Swans, The Soong Dynasty and Dragon Lady by Sterling Seagrave, Hillbilly Elegy, Born Fighting ... 

There was a terrific book I read on dying a while back. I gave it away, and now can't remember the name of it. It was so important though ... although it unfortunately doesn't give you much faith in the medical establishment in the United States treating us humanely.


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

C. Gockel said:


> There was a terrific book I read on dying a while back. I gave it away, and now can't remember the name of it. It was so important though ... although it unfortunately doesn't give you much faith in the medical establishment in the United States treating us humanely.


Would the book be _Being Mortal_ by Atul Gawande by chance?

Deckard


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## passerby (Oct 18, 2015)

_Gods, Graves, and Scholars_ by C.W. Ceram. It was the first book on archaeology that I ever read. I've read many more since, but this is the one that sticks in my mind.


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## AlanKemp (Aug 26, 2017)

It might be a cliche but, "The Art Of War", Sun Tzu. So much applicable information.


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## KyleArmstrong (Nov 19, 2016)

_'Age of Anger'_ by Pankaj Mishra. Mishra makes quite questionable (sometimes downright radical) arguments, but it was an incredibly thought provoking read nonetheless.


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## JLWillow (Aug 31, 2017)

Last year, I read Mafia Son. It followed a true story of a son who chose to take on his father's prison sentence after being involved with the Mafia for decades. It was a really shocking book, and I recommended it to my friends who are also non-fiction fans. It really makes you think about how far we'll go for family.


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## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

CrissyM said:


> Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
> It's the best history book I've ever read. Actually interesting, with great info on how salt effected trade, war, and more in ancient times.


This one's been on my wishlist for a while.


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## MsSteph (Jan 9, 2010)

iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life

by Jane Velez-Mitchell


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## passerby (Oct 18, 2015)

_The Great Escape_ by Paul Brickhill. The movie is good, but a lot of it, including the famous motorcycle chase scene, is fictionalized. The book is nonfiction and is even better.


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## MsSteph (Jan 9, 2010)

Drinking: A Love Story

by Caroline Knapp


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## KiraCarter (Sep 8, 2017)

A few that immediately jumped to mind:
_The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_ by Rebecca Skloot
_The World Without Us_ by Alan Weisman
_The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History_ by Elizabeth Kolbert
_Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity_ by Katherine Boo

And on the lighter side, pretty much anything by Bill Bryson.


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## JcjAuthor (Dec 10, 2017)

I felt Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung was a life changer for me. It's now the gift I buy every graduate.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

As an alternative to the history books; I found this fascinating and funny and gives great context to some of the science that will be changing our world


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## ThomasDiehl (Aug 23, 2014)

Chad Winters said:


> As an alternative to the history books; I found this fascinating and funny and gives great context to some of the science that will be changing our world


Be sure to keep it for later reference, I have several books like this from the 70's and they are fascinating to read now. The stuff they imagined to come ranges from interesting to hilarious with a few spot-on predictions sprinkled in between. And some stuff like underwater cities just keeps being a perpetual vision of an equidistant future from any point in time.

Now that I'm here, Dougal Dixon's "After Man" might be my most formative semi-fiction title for firmly demonstrating humanities place in the universe to me.
https://www.amazon.com/After-Man-zoology-Dougal-DIXON/dp/0586057501/


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## Phoebe34 (Dec 15, 2017)

Rena Arun said:


> Here is a memorable book, came out last year, that is worth reading on many different levels: a memoir of growing up poor in the Appalachians, a revelation of an overlooked, underprivileged segment of society, a flailing culture which yet flourishes in pockets of big cities and small forgotten towns:
> *Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis* by J.D. Vance


This book is truly memorable


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

*Six Frigates* by Ian W Toll tells the story of the founding of the US Navy around the Rev War and later. Really fascinating read.

*The Lost Tomb* and *KV5: A Preliminary Report*, two books by Dr Kent Weeks about the rediscovery of tomb KV5 in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Fascinating stuff about a culture mind-bogglingly vast.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

MarkdownFanatic said:


> Erich Fromm's_ The Anatomy Of Human Destructiveness_. Not an easy read, but well worth anyone's time. ...


Also by Fromm, check out his Escape from Freedom (1945), still one of the best books about how rational societies can elect dictators.


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## Ceramic (Jun 12, 2017)

The good girl stripped bare", a memoir by Tracey Spicer has "stuck with me. She shares about working on television - specifically the news departments. It stuck with me just how often men sexualise women, no matter your age or position in society.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31847625-the-good-girl-stripped-bare


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## MissingAlaska (Apr 28, 2014)

"The Log of the Sea of Cortez" by Steinbeck has stuck with me for many years. An excellent read.


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