Best non-fiction books you've read

[Derived Absurdity]

Or at least books that had a profound influence on you or are your personal favorites or whatever. Here's some of mine:

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
The Great Transformation - Karl Polanyi
Ecstasy: The MDMA Story - Bruce Eisner
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky
On Writing - Stephen King
Ecstasy: The Complete Guide - Julie Holland
A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley

[Derived Absurdity]

u people

[BruceSmith78]

Who has time to read non-fiction? What is this, school?

Sikax would probably contribute to the this thread, if he sees it.

[Gendo]

The Bible.

[BruceSmith78]

Didn't Liszt show up for like 5 minutes a while ago? She reads non-fiction.

[Faustus5]

Consciousness Explained - Daniel Dennett
Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Daniel Dennett
The Extended Phenotype - Richard Dawkins
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky
A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
The Emperor's New Mind - Roger Penrose (the book's thesis is garbage, but you learn a lot about physics)
Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
Lipstick Traces - Greil Marcus

[Derived Absurdity]

Good list. I still want to read Godel, Escher, Bach even though I doubt I'll understand most of it.

Never heard of Lipstick Traces. Looks interesting.

[Faustus5]

Good list. I still want to read Godel, Escher, Bach even though I doubt I'll understand most of it.

I doubt you would have any trouble. The genius of the book is in the way he's able to use carefully constructed parables to get the reader to understand incredibly complex subject matter without any expertise.

[sikax]

Only a handful of non-fiction books have had a profound effect on me.
Definitely the biggest three:

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Soul on Ice - Eldridge Cleaver
Rectifying God's Name - James D. Frankel


The non-fiction I read is mostly from 20th century American Black revolutionaries, so anything from that area could go here as an honorable mention.

[Derived Absurdity]

Good list. I still want to read Godel, Escher, Bach even though I doubt I'll understand most of it.

I doubt you would have any trouble. The genius of the book is in the way he's able to use carefully constructed parables to get the reader to understand incredibly complex subject matter without any expertise.

Thanks. I might review it here if I get the chance, I'm interested in your thoughts.