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Author Topic: non-fiction book recommendations?  (Read 3370 times)

Offline Shelby2

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non-fiction book recommendations?
« on: December 06, 2007, 08:36:22 PM »
I'm going to start shopping for books for my father for Christmas sometime in the next few days.  He is a voracious reader and likes only non-fiction like history and politics.  Challenging reading is fine as he has a PhD, but I usually try not to get him something that is entirely academic.  Because he reads so much it's important to get him books that have been published this year only.  Otherwise it's likely that he's already read them.

Normally I go online and read reviews on sites like NPR.org or the New Yorker.

Anyone have any specific book suggestions or can you tell me where you go to read what the critics are recommending?  Short reviews are preferable to long ones.
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Offline toddg

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Re: non-fiction book recommendations?
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2007, 01:05:18 AM »
I don't have much time to read for pleasure these days.  But an author whose work I have always enjoyed is Wendell Berry.  He is a passionate advocate for traditional rural values, and a critic of our urbanized, consumerist society.  I don't identify much with his values, perspective, or politics -- I am a suburbanite by birth and an urbanist at heart and much more of a centrist politically.  Yet this former tobacco farmer's social critique and clear values-based vision, combined with his beautiful writing, are nothing short of inspiring to me.

Here is one book I enjoyed:
http://www.amazon.com/What-Are-People-Wendell-Berry/dp/0865474370

A great book of essays for people who love the craft of writing:
http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Words-Essays-Wendell-Berry/dp/1593760558/

And two newer books I haven't read:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Commonplace-Agrarian-Essays-Wendell/dp/1593760078
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Ignorance-Other-Essays/dp/1593761198
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Offline jennsch

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Re: non-fiction book recommendations?
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2007, 10:10:23 AM »
A few recent histories/biographies worth checking out are:

Boone
http://www.amazon.com/Boone-Biography-Robert-Morgan/dp/1565124553/

A Land So Strange
http://www.amazon.com/Land-Strange-Extraordinary-Shipwrecked-Sixteenth/dp/0465068405/

I've read parts of both of them for pieces I was writing and then moved them to my ever-growing stack of books that I definitely want to finish. (It's the downside of writing about books--sometimes you can't just sit and enjoy them).

And here's a link to a fall/winter book guide I wrote:

http://www.americanwaymag.com/tabid/2855/tabidext/3209/default.aspx
The David Halberstam book may be a perfect fit for your dad.

And, actually, here's a link to the 2006 guide -- maybe there are a few in there for him:

http://www.americanwaymag.com/PastIssues/December152006/DownLow/tabid/2484/Default.aspx
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Offline Shelby2

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Re: non-fiction book recommendations?
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2007, 08:43:42 PM »
Jennsch, I was so pleased with the recco. for the Halberstam book "The Coldest Winter" for my dad that I ordered it on amazon for Christmas.  One issue I've had in the past is siblings buying the same book and giving it to my dad before me on Christmas day and I was hoping that wouldn't happen this year.  In fact I even sent an email to family members asking what books they were buying for him so we wouldn't have duplicates. Well, here I am at my dad's house two days before Christmas and what does he have on his coffee table?  Yup, the Halberstam book. 

I told him about your recommendation. I also asked him who bought it for him and he bought it for himself to read on a recent vacation.  He says it's a wonderful book and that you were right on with your recommendation. . . turns out TOO right on!  Well, as they say, it 's the thought that counts.
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Offline Shelby2

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Re: non-fiction book recommendations?
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2007, 11:52:08 PM »
I also got "The Nine: Inside the Secret Life of the Supreme Court" - Time will tell whether anyone else got him that one and also, a little later, whether he reads it and likes it!
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Offline KC

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Re: non-fiction book recommendations?
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2008, 08:17:59 PM »
Well I sure missed Christmas, but if your dad has a birthday or other special occasion coming up, I have very high praise for Collapse by Jared Diamond. 

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Fail-Succeed/dp/0670033375
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