Awesome non-fiction books (1 Viewer)

[Mature Lamb]

Just something interesting to read on the train and bus on the way to and from uni. Maybe history/politics? I did Modern History in Year 11 because it was really awesome but I dropped it in Year 12 because my prelim rank was shit.

 

[Studentleader]

Maths:

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Anything by Norbert Wiener (Cybernetics Intro is quite good.)
Against the Gods (How probability was founded and why the greeks were dumb)
Alan Turing's Papers (Library should have a book called the Turing Essential - I liked his papers on unsolvable problems, computational biology (forget the name), on Turing tests and Computation in general)
Darwin Amoungst The Machines

I'd avoid Newton's, Euler's and Euclids work - quite boring.

Some papers are quite good to read too.

Find some interesting topics - I like genetic algorithms so I am going to read the book by John Miller or w/e his name is.

 

[Mature Lamb]

Seems to advanced and intense for me to be reading on public transport, but thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking of reading Hitler's autobiography or something like that =P I wanna try to get into economics and what the hell this GFC is and what caused it, etc.

 

[kaz1]

guiness world records 2011

 

[Absolutezero]

Plato - The Republic
Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations

 

[SeCKSiiMiNh]

If you like modern history (europe?) read Dark Continent from Mazower.

The last few books i've bought/read/in the progress of reading include:

the mind of god - paul davies
capitalism and freedom - milton friedman
power and market - rothbard
and
why i became an atheist - john loftus (loved it)

 

[Mature Lamb]

Thanks. Any more good reads or can anyone else recommend the ones mentioned?

 

[Absolutezero]

Most of my stuff is theatre based, so it's hard to give recommendations out of this field. However, a few more:

Steal This Book - Abbie Hoffman
God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitches
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

 

[S4Saustralia]

Plato - The Republic
Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations

Read these two and Gödel, Escher, Bach (stated earlier)..all are really interesting.

However, If you are planning to read the Republic, let me warn you (although you probably already know...) that Plato is not actually suggesting such a society be created, but is using it as a teaching tool...

Also, I suggest Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky...Forget everything you thought you knew about political manipulation in media

 

[Lentern]

If you are seeking entertainment although factual
Dark Victory-David Marr
The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer-Paul Barry
The Family Law-Benjamin Law

But if you're looking more educational then yeah "The God Delusion" etc is probably more what you're looking for.

 

[TheTutorBot]

I do recommend Asbestos House - The Secret History of James Hardy Industries, It gives you a good insight into what it must have been like working there. The author is Gideon Haigh.

If your into the maths/code-breaking stuff...I'd have to recommend Action This Day by Micheal Smith an Ralph Erskine.

Also a good read is The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax. Its the story of the development of penicillin.

For more light hearted stuff, a brief history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson is pretty good, as is any of his other work.

Another good read is the bible, you can learn a lot from it and apply heaps to your everyday life, even if you aren't a Christian.

If you are actually interested in Christianity, I would recommend Mere Christianity By C.S. Lewis.

 

[Absolutezero]

Another good read is the bible, you can learn a lot from it and apply heaps to your everyday life, even if you aren't a Christian

Read all the 'holy' books if you can. They've shaped so much of our history.

 

[Azure]

If you are seeking entertainment although factual
Dark Victory-David Marr
The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer-Paul Barry
The Family Law-Benjamin Law

But if you're looking more educational then yeah "The God Delusion" etc is probably more what you're looking for.

That looks awesome. What did you think of it?

 

[Azure]

I do recommend Asbestos House - The Secret History of James Hardy Industries, It gives you a good insight into what it must have been like working there. The author is Gideon Haigh.

If your into the maths/code-breaking stuff...I'd have to recommend Action This Day by Micheal Smith an Ralph Erskine.

Also a good read is The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax. Its the story of the development of penicillin.

For more light hearted stuff, a brief history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson is pretty good, as is any of his other work.

Another good read is the bible, you can learn a lot from it and apply heaps to your everyday life, even if you aren't a Christian.

If you are actually interested in Christianity, I would recommend Mere Christianity By C.S. Lewis.

I've heard pretty good things about this. Probably something I might pick up along side Lentern's suggestion.

 

[Studentleader]

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

Alot of these famous texts mentioned are very poorly written - I wouldn't read the original Weath of Nations too.

 

[Mature Lamb]

I honestly don't know where to start now lol

 

[0bs3n3]

If you're into history, particularly military, you can't go past 'A History of Warfare' by John Keegan.

Most of these suggestions are awesome, I'll definitely be checking back here often. I think this thread should be renamed 'literature essential to an eclectic education'.

 

[ArtemisOrthia]

Plato - The Republic

This was a fantastic read, absolutely loved it. Any other of the Greek philosopher's might interest you; such as Socrates. I'm not sure if you're into plays, but Euripides and Sophocles did some awesome ones. Perhaps some Epic poetry of Homer or Hesiod, they are also brilliant reads.

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

Great suggestion, especially if you're interested in Modern History. Perhaps you might also want to read 'The Communist Manifesto' by Karl Marx. If you're very interested in German History, specifically Hitler' 'The Fueher' by Konard Heiden is a brilliant read - extremely informative.

Read all the 'holy' books if you can. They've shaped so much of our history.

This. And it would also broaden your understanding of the world, and give you a more objectionable view of the world's religious faiths.

 

[Rothbard]

Series of books you'd do well to read:

• A Short history of nearly everything - Bill Brysom
• Iron Kingdom - Christopher Clark
• Voodoo Histories - David Aaronovich
• The End of Faith - Sam Harris
• The Moral Landscape - Sam Harris
• Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
• How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World - Francis Wheen
• The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
• Trick or Treatment - Simon Singh

that'll get you started and give you a good rounded view of the world

 

[Rothbard]

Economics/politics

Showing some bias:

• For A New Liberty - Murray Rothbard
• Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt
• The Road to Serfdom - Friedrich Hayek
• Marxism - Thomas Sowell
• Mind of the Market - Michael Shermer
• Why people believe weird things - Michael Shermer