Interesting Non-Fiction Recommendations?

[Dev]

Howdy!

I've finally made a start on my goal to start reading more non-fiction (programming books don't count ).  I'd like to ask everyone what you've read - recently or years ago, makes no difference to me - that you'd recommend as an interesting read.  I'm not picky about the subject.  Whatever interests you will probably interest me, too.  Unless it's dry, boring, and about law.  I learned in college that I can't tolerate that business.

For my part, I would recommend what I'm reading now.  Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? by Timothy Verstynen and Bradley Voytek.  They call it "a neuroscientific view of the zombie brain," but what it actually does is use the way zombies function to explain all sorts of things about how the human brain works.  There's the occasional illustration to give the reader an idea of which part of the brain they're talking about at any given time.  And they do a decent job of explaining things in layman's terms so it doesn't feel like you're reading a textbook, even if they do grossly abuse the word "thus." 

Apparently at the end of the book they'll be "diagnosing" zombies with whatever human neurological disorders would contribute to their "condition."  Can't wait to see what they come up with.

Thanks for letting me pick your brains!

..... Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.

[tracy_j]

Well as nerdy as I am, moving the programming books aside, most of my reading is toward use of obsolete electronic technology, both in it's original setting and today's. I have Gigabytes of downloaded information dating from before 1920 to the present day.

That aside one perhaps of more interest here which I read a while ago was 'Goth Culture: Gender, Sexuality and Style' by Dunja Brill.

Apart from the fact that I have a Gothic side I love the idealistic androgynous lifestyle. Not practical  for most for everyday life, but interesting!

Tracy

 

[Cyndee]

Hi Dev,

A recent non-fiction book I read that I could not put down was

Saving Alex by Alex Cooper and Joanna Brooks

When she was 15 she told her Mormon parents she was gay. They sent her to a home in southern Utah where they try and make young people "un - gay" or "un - trans". She escapes her captors and wins the legal right to "be herself", a very compelling true story.

C -

[Briana]

Oh CyndiRae, you CAN be cured.  "We'll pray the gay away!"  Sounds like a good read but i get really frustrated by stories like that.  When I was 16 I had the Baptist preacher council me (...thank you girlfriend at the time!) and try to pray the gay away.  Except I wasn't gay!  In the end I just looked at him with wide eyes and total disbelief and asked, "are you kidding me??" and walked away.  I have  a Mormon friend who is gay and he got "the treatment".  Yep....he's still gay.  His family disowned him.  Mother, father and brother.  He's a successful tech professional with a nice house with a pool and is a good person with a big heart.  But they disowned him cause he's gay.  

See, I'm getting upset now - I can't read that book cause I'll end up throwing it through the window in a fit of rage.

OK, back to the OP.  "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt followed by "'Tis".  It's an autobiographical account of his life which was comical at times but overall, really difficult.  He's a good storyteller. 

[MarcieMarie12]

I would too. I can't stand it when stuff like that happens. One of the few things that can make me angry at someone.

 

 

[Ravin]

Sandra Day O'Connor's book Out of Order about the history of the Supreme Court was really interesting. She has an excellent sense of humor, which shows through as well.

[Alejandra]

Basic Self-Knowledge

by Harry Benjamin