# Best non fiction you have ever read



## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

There are so many. The first that came to my mind was _The Art of Loving_ By Erich Fromm, I only read it when I was around 42yo. It had a significant influence on my world view.

It played one of the key roles in a research work I wrote about the meaning of suffering.

What is the best non fiction you have ever read? 
You can write down more than one...


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## Stephen_Melling (Jun 26, 2011)

I rather like TRAVELS by Michael Crichton. Almost inspired me to climb Kilimanjaro.


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## RW Bennett (Mar 3, 2011)

Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is an amazing book.


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## RobynB (Jan 4, 2011)

I can choose only one? I don't think I can! Here are some titles that come to mind:

_Night _by Elie Wiesel
"The Fourth State of Matter" by Jo Ann Beard (this is an essay, available online -- but it's also part of a larger work called _The Boys of My Youth_). This is the essay that made me want to write nonfiction.
Any Susan Orlean, like _The Orchid Thief_ or _The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup_
_A Moveable Feast_ by Ernest Hemingway
_Partly Cloudy Patriot_ by Sarah Vowell
_The Year of Magical Thinking_ by Joan Didion
_Autobiography of a Face_ by Lucy Grealy

I'll stop now.  (I also loved Unbroken!)


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## MEmery (Jun 23, 2011)

One that stays with me is _The Naked Ape_ by Desmond Morris. It explains how our behavior is shaped by our evolution. It showed me what drove me to do things that didn't make sense before and it really has affected, to this day, how I interact with other people, and to see how some of my reactions stem from primal urges.


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## Budo von Stahl (Aug 31, 2010)

By far and away it would be Allen Sauvage's A Generic Book.  Next in line would be either James Herriot's books or anything by Peter Hathaway Capstick.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

MEmery said:


> One that stays with me is _The Naked Ape_ by Desmond Morris. It explains how our behavior is shaped by our evolution. It showed me what drove me to do things that didn't make sense before and it really has affected, to this day, how I interact with other people, and to see how some of my reactions stem from primal urges.


Love that one, and The Human Zoo. Have you read the more recently released versions? I havent and was wondering how different they were, if they included newer research.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Hard to pick one or even a few but Laurie Garrett's "The Coming Plague" is one of my all time favorites and is a fantastic, easy-to-read intro to epidemiology. It's a real eye-opener.


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## Straker (Oct 1, 2010)

_*The Power Broker*_, by Robert Caro. The depth and breadth of the research is staggering, and Caro's mastery of detail is unmatched. The best book I have ever read, period. Regrettably not yet available for Kindle.


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## MEmery (Jun 23, 2011)

9MMare said:


> Love that one, and The Human Zoo. Have you read the more recently released versions? I havent and was wondering how different they were, if they included newer research.


I haven't read it yet. The only thing that's stopping me is that it's not available for the Kindle.  The first two I read a while ago when they were in paperback. I'll have to put it on my list!


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

MEmery said:


> One that stays with me is _The Naked Ape_ by Desmond Morris. It explains how our behavior is shaped by our evolution. It showed me what drove me to do things that didn't make sense before and it really has affected, to this day, how I interact with other people, and to see how some of my reactions stem from primal urges.


Ohh, sounds interesting. I will write it down. Thanks


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## ajbarnett (Apr 11, 2011)

I loved _1421 - The Year China Discovered The World_ by Gavin Menzies. An incredible book with tons of research and fascinating insights to hidden secrets of China's past achievements.


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## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

I really enjoyed _DisneyWar_ by James B. Stewart. It goes through how Walt Disney Co was built and takes you through the years of Michael Eisner as CEO. It goes into all the movies you grew up with and explores the rationale and corporate politics that went into their decisions.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Straker said:


> _*The Power Broker*_, by Robert Caro. The depth and breadth of the research is staggering, and Caro's mastery of detail is unmatched. The best book I have ever read, period. Regrettably not yet available for Kindle.


I like that too, though it's a doorstop of a book. Lately, my fave has been A Bright Shining Lie, by Neil Sheehan. Stunning.


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## CNDudley (May 14, 2010)

ajbarnett said:


> I loved _1421 - The Year China Discovered The World_ by Gavin Menzies. An incredible book with tons of research and fascinating insights to hidden secrets of China's past achievements.


That was WAS fascinating. And I second the vote for Laura Hillenbrand's UNBROKEN. That's the book I'm currently urging everyone to buy. For the disease lovers, THE GHOST MAP (on cholera in London) was great.


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

I love books about the adventurous lives of famous novelists. One that influenced a lot me was _Homage to Catalonia_ by George Orwell, in which he goes to Spain to cover the Spanish civil war and ends up taking part. Another is Hemingway's _A Moveable Feast_, which has inspired me on a lifelong quest to find my own "Paris of the 20's." It's why I'm living in Budapest right now, hanging out in the cafes and working on my latest novel here.


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## Kristan Hoffman (Aug 6, 2009)

Ooo, going to have to list a few favorites here. Generally speaking, I enjoy the writing of Malcolm Gladwell and Atul Gawande, but other than those guys, my non-fiction tends toward memoir:

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan
The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts
Bereft by Jane Bernstein


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

CNDudley said:


> That was WAS fascinating. And I second the vote for Laura Hillenbrand's UNBROKEN. That's the book I'm currently urging everyone to buy. For the disease lovers, THE GHOST MAP (on cholera in London) was great.


Ghost Map is also excellent, I have that on my list of favorite science books in that thread.

I liked Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit...I dont remember the subject of Unbroken but I know it's not horses.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

"Reading Lolita in Tehran"

Presented a fantastic picture of how religious fundamentalism was able to take over a previously very secular society...by playing different societal factions/fears against each other. They used the war with Iraq and fear of communism (Russia) to gradually restrict personal freedoms. Very enlightening and timely.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

All I can think of quickly is "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. I am a big fan of cosmology and quantum physics if it is presented without a lot of equations.


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## Capri142 (Sep 25, 2009)

RW Bennett said:


> Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is an amazing book.


 I certainly Agree with this!!!!!!!!!!


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## emalvick (Sep 14, 2010)

I've read a few that I really love and I know I am probably forgetting some, but some of my favorites:

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory - Brian Greene
Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'Round the World - Brian Biegel
To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design - Henry Petroski


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## Adam Kisiel (Jun 20, 2011)

I love each of R.Kapuscinski works.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

People suck...

_The Gulag Archipelago_ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

But life is beautiful.

_The Diversity of Life_ by Edward O. Wilson


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Tara Maya said:


> People suck...
> 
> _The Gulag Archipelago_ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
> 
> ...


Is there a Kindle version of Gulag? I've never read it (them).


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## libbyfh (Feb 11, 2010)

I love Doris Kearns Goodwin's historical biographies... the Lincoln Book, the LBJ book, and the FDR book (sorry... I'm bad with titles) were riveting!


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## GailMWF (Aug 26, 2010)

I recently finished The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic & Murder at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson.  I rarely read non-fiction but I absolutely could not put this book down.  When I finished it I didn't start a new book for a few days because I just couldn't get this one out of my head.  I loved it!

(First post - hi!)


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## TiffanyLovering (Jul 1, 2011)

My first non-fiction that I've ever read was Night by Elie Wiesel and it is still one of my all time favorite books.  It was not something I would typically read, but it was an assigned book for class and I just loved it!


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## Derz7sk (May 14, 2011)

'For Those I Loved' by Martin Gray.  He was a boy smuggler in the Warsaw Ghetto (and had Polish criminals on the other side of the wall helping him).  Escaped from Treblinka, from one of the work details in the crematorium where the life expectancy was measured in days.  Afterwards he made a fortune in the States as a dealer (and creator!) of antiques.  
Would be great to see this title in Kindle.


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## VincentHobbes (Jun 13, 2011)

Top of my head....Travels with Charley


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

GailMWF said:


> I recently finished The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic & Murder at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. I rarely read nonfiction but I absolutely could not put this book down. When I finished it I didn't start a new book for a few days because I just couldn't get this one out of my head. I loved it!
> 
> (First post - hi!)


Congratulations for the first one, Gail 
Whishing you many more interesting posts!

When a Nonfiction book leaves such impression on the reader like the one you described, I believe it's undoubtedly a good one!

What usually attracts my interest is 'a good story' no matter what the topic or genre is. 
Whilst in Fiction the story is "built in", I usually find it quite challenging to 'weave' a good story in a Non Fiction book, including biographies. .


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

TiffanyLovering said:


> My first non-fiction that I've ever read was Night by Elie Wiesel and it is still one of my all time favorite books. It was not something I would typically read, but it was an assigned book for class and I just loved it!


As a daughter of holocaust survivors I was privileged(!) to hear holocaust stories from first hand. naturally I have also read a lot on the topic.

I think A book like the one of Elie Wiesel is a firm witness for the existence of the human spirit in addition to the human mind.


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

emalvick said:


> I've read a few that I really love and I know I am probably forgetting some, but some of my favorites:
> 
> The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory - Brian Greene
> Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'Round the World - Brian Biegel
> To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design - Henry Petroski


Have Just bought a couple of months ago the Elegant Universe . 
Now that you mentioned it I will go and read it...

Thank you Emalvick


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## LydiaNetzer (Jun 25, 2011)

Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott. So gripping, you forget you're not reading a novel.


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

LydiaNetzer said:


> Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott. So gripping, you forget you're not reading a novel.


I like your blog Lydia, and your sense of humor!

is it possible to subscribe to it? i didn't find it anywhere...
Good luck with your forthcoming book!


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

John Adams by David McCullough.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I'm in the middle of John Adams by David McCullough and enjoying it very much!


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## Scott Reeves (May 27, 2011)

I mainly read science books when I read non-fiction.

Two of my favorites:

_Galileo Was Wrong, the Church Was Right, Volume 1_ by Robert A. Sungenis. The universe revolving around the Earth sounds like an insane idea, but Sungenis gives an eye-opening presentation that you won't soon forget. I DARE you to read the book.

Another favorite science book is _Time and Space_ by Barry Dainton. It gives a thorough philosophical discussion, both for and against, of almost every theory that has ever been put forth on the nature of time and space.


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

I hardly ever read non-fiction but thought _Lone Survivor_ was absolutely fantastic. It's for anyone that wishes to hear about sacrifice, true sacrifice. It was soul-moving.


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## kchughez (Jun 29, 2011)

I love cats so my favorite is Dewey by Vicke Myron. It's about a tiny kitten that was left in the Spencer library book return slot on a cold December night. I laughed hard and cried for 3 weeks!

~KC


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## kchughez (Jun 29, 2011)

LydiaNetzer said:


> Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott. So gripping, you forget you're not reading a novel.


I read the review for Sin... and was just about to 1 click it when I saw the kindle price was higher than the book, a book that came out in '08. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I can't buy on principal.


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## NJbooklover (Jun 28, 2011)

RW Bennett said:


> Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is an amazing book.


I agree absolutely.


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## NJbooklover (Jun 28, 2011)

"Survival in Auschwitz" by the late Primo Levi is an excellent book on the subject of the holocaust.


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

Probably the nonfiction book that fits in that category for me would be Harry Weinberg's _Levels of Knowing and Existence_. It's about linguistics and epistemology, and was fascinating.

I keep hoping it will make it to the Kindle, but I may have to take care of that myself.

Mike


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## SaraDagan (May 25, 2011)

jmiked said:


> Probably the nonfiction book that fits in that category for me would be Harry Weinberg's _Levels of Knowing and Existence_. It's about linguistics and epistemology, and was fascinating.
> 
> I keep hoping it will make it to the Kindle, but I may have to take care of that myself.
> 
> Mike


This book looks very interesting Mike, Thank You. 
I'll buy it when it will be available on Kindle (easier to translate unfamiliar words)


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## kchughez (Jun 29, 2011)

GailMWF said:


> I recently finished The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic & Murder at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. I rarely read non-fiction but I absolutely could not put this book down. When I finished it I didn't start a new book for a few days because I just couldn't get this one out of my head. I loved it!
> 
> (First post - hi!)


 HI Gail, ooh I forgot that i read that book too! I couln't put it down! It read like a fiction book
~KC


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## ReflexiveFire (Jul 20, 2010)

Fire Force by Chris Cocks

and

War Story by Jim Morris


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

My best non-fiction read over the past few years has been Collapse by Jared Diamond.


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

ajbarnett said:


> I loved _1421 - The Year China Discovered The World_ by Gavin Menzies. An incredible book with tons of research and fascinating insights to hidden secrets of China's past achievements.


I'm pretty sure that this is a fiction book. Menzies' work has been debunked by sinologists and historians.

http://journals.publishing.monash.edu/ojs/index.php/ha/article/download/209/220&rct=j&q=1421 - The Year China Discovered The World by Gavin Menzies debunked
http://badarchaeology.wordpress.com/tag/gavin-menzies/
http://www.1421exposed.com/


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Helter Skelter.  Scariest book I have ever read, great mystery...all true.  Bugliosi's "And the Sea Will Tell" is also an excellent true crime/courtroom book.


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## Kathy Bennett (Jun 15, 2011)

Ha! Balaspa (commenter before me)  I too am saying Helter Skelter!  Bugliosi did an outstanding job of telling the tale of Charles Manson and his clan of murderers!


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## ewmacenulty (Jun 10, 2011)

The Best non-fiction I have ever read is, believe it or not, three history books that are written in great narrative form. The language is gripping, the voice is "thriller" like and the, of course, the subjects are wonderful.  I have ranked them here: I highly recommend number one.
(1) April 1865 by Jay Winik
(2) The Great Upheavel by Jay Winik
(3) Malice Toward None by Stephen B Oates


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## Randy Kadish (Feb 24, 2010)

So, so many I loved. Here's some:

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
April 1865
1776
The Great Bridge
The Power Broker
Longitude
Seabiscuit and Unbroken
A Country of Vast Designs
The First World War (Sir Martin Gilbert)


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## Telchine (Jun 1, 2011)

The Lyndon Johnson biography series by Robert Caro, "The Thirty Years War" by CV Wedgewood


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

tim290280 said:


> I'm pretty sure that this is a fiction book. Menzies' work has been debunked by sinologists and historians.
> 
> http://journals.publishing.monash.edu/ojs/index.php/ha/article/download/209/220&rct=j&q=1421 - The Year China Discovered The World by Gavin Menzies debunked
> http://badarchaeology.wordpress.com/tag/gavin-menzies/
> http://www.1421exposed.com/


Being wrong doesn't make it fiction.


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## JanetMcDonald (Jul 6, 2011)

I really enjoyed Guns, Germs, and Steel.  I know that's been around for a while.  It's a very interesting way to understand the evolution of modern civilization.  It's a little dense, but fascinating stuff.


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## emalvick (Sep 14, 2010)

SaraDagan said:


> Have Just bought a couple of months ago the Elegant Universe .
> Now that you mentioned it I will go and read it...
> 
> Thank you Emalvick


You're welcome...

I also just remembered (thanks to some other posts) that Travels with Charley is a fantastic book. A story like that is almost too good to be non-fiction (thus forgetting it). Memoirs in general can be quite fun; I loved Michael Crichton's Travels as well (more than any of his novels).


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

QuantumIguana said:


> Being wrong doesn't make it fiction.


It was made up, therefore it is fiction. 

I know that it stills comes under the banner of non-fiction, but these sorts of books discredit any serious researcher. Hence my hyperbole.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

_In Cold Blood_ by Truman Capote

Most emotional non-fiction book I've ever read.


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## VincentHobbes (Jun 13, 2011)

balaspa said:


> Helter Skelter. Scariest book I have ever read, great mystery...all true. Bugliosi's "And the Sea Will Tell" is also an excellent true crime/courtroom book.


I remember reading Helter Skelter a long time ago....good book.


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## gryeates (Feb 28, 2011)

Deborah Curtis's very moving biography of her husband and lead singer of Joy Division, Touching from a Distance. I re-read it many times as a teenager and in my twenties.


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## nmg222 (Sep 14, 2010)

_*The Bretheren * _ by Bob Woodward

If you have any interest in the US Supreme Court and how it actually operates, this is a must read.


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## Nick Wastnage (Jun 16, 2011)

Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. 

I laughed out loud so many times. It's about his travels around the United Kingdom on his own, by train,bus and foot. He tells such clever and amusing anecdotes about us British. We're a quaint race. I had the pleasure of meeting him once. A really great guy. A year later, as Chancellor of Durham University, he presented the degrees at my son's graduation ceremony. Despite it being a formal occasion, he found a way to make us all laugh.


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## bnapier (Apr 26, 2010)

Any and everything by Mary Roach.  I especially suggest "Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife"


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.


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## JanetMcDonald (Jul 6, 2011)

Oh, wait, how could I forget!  I loved Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death.  It was riveting.  Really interesting history, spooky and provocative, and while it was non-fiction it really had the pacing of an exciting movie.  It was great. 

Sadly, I do not believe this book is available on Kindle.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

I absolutely adore *The Social Animal* by Elliot Aronson. I'm fascinated by social psychology, and this book rocked.

I'd also highly recommend *Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution* by Ruth Scurr

Dawn


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## Derz7sk (May 14, 2011)

Anyone read 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne?  It's available as a Mobi file, but $10 I believe.  I got my paper copy  at a second hand bookshop.  Basic teaching behind it is that you attract to yourself whatever your thoughts dwell on, like. True or not it seems to me the book has some marvellous techniques for raising your game, in whatever field of endeavour you might be playing it.  I love these self help books even if my life seems to pootle along the same way for a million years.
('The Secret' is also a film, apparently.)


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## liafairchild (Apr 2, 2011)

I'm not going to pick just one, but wanted to share anyway.  I have a thing for biographies and autobiographies. I love finding out about other people, especially those that lived many years ago. A couple of my favorites were: Lucille Ball and Elvis Presley.

Lia


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Of books that are available for Kindle and representing a variety of subjects:


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## SJWrightAuthor (Feb 11, 2011)

Two of my favorite non-fiction:

Auschwitz by by Miklos Nyiszli
Does the Noise in My Head Bother You by Steven Tyler


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