Book Suggestions

[general_kill]

Does anyone here have any nonfiction books to recommend? I am looking for well written books that can inform me of a subject I don't understand or reveal a new way of thinking to me.

Really, anything will do, I've just been craving for books lately.

Before you guys give me recommendations, I'll recommend some books of my own:

Freakonomics - This book reveal the truth behind conventional wisdom and unintended consequences of certain actions. For example, the book connects the crime decline of the late 90s to the supreme court decision of roe v. wade in 1973. The theory was that unwanted babies are much more likely to commit crime when they grow up, thus, legalizing abortions help reduce unwanted babies. It took about 20 years before society realized the benefit of this.

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Why did Spain conquer the Aztec empire instead of the other way around? Why do people today still live in hunter gatherer societies? Why did Europeans traded Africans in a global slave trade rather than the other way around? This book is very well written and easy to read. It uses logic and facts to explain why history unfolded the way it did. And although it wasn't the book's intention, it also refutes many of the claims of unequal race intelligence advocates (there are books, "studies", and "theories", out there claiming Asians and Whites are innately more intelligent than Blacks, Bushmen, and New Guineans).

Roman Warfare (Smithsonian History of Warfare) - I was inspired to learn more about Roman warfare after playing Rome: Total War. Reading the book and playing the game really made learning about the subject come to life. I was able to see the Roman army recreated accurately in front of me and use the same strategies in battles described in the book. I highly recommend playing RTW while reading this book, it's an incredible experience and the stuff you learn from the book becomes ingrained in your head as you play the game.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I am of the opinion that everything pretty covered in Guns, Germs, and Steel is covered better in 1491. Diamond's book is very, very redundant (it could be reduced to about 80 pages without loosing anything, imho), and often seems to be attacking the reader for racial prejudices he just assumes you must have. His theories (in slightly less detail) were pretty much what I had always been taught, so I didn't really read anything revolutionary in it. Mann's work is succinct (almost exactly the same length, but with more substance), more entertaining, packed with more detailed info (especially about native american civilizations, as they are the focus), and goes far beyond the deterministic view of Diamond and explains how in some ways the "more primitive" societies were often more advanced and how things could have turned out differently. Mann deals with the eponymous topics of Diamond's book more then Diamond does, plus draws more lessons that we today can learn.

 

[Dachs]

There are better books on Roman warfare, but they're usually time period-specific. Goldsworthy is good on that. Alternatively, you could read Polybius. (I always recommend Polybius.)

Also, I don't recommend playing vanilla RTW, I recommend playing Europa Barbarorum.

 

[Annex]

One of my personal favorites is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Very entertaining, and on a subject which isnt widely digressed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

 

[Dachs]

On a more serious note than before:

Does anyone here have any nonfiction books to recommend? I am looking for well written books that can inform me of a subject I don't understand or reveal a new way of thinking to me.

Read the Oxford Companion to various eras of history, they're pretty solid introductory books.

Why did Spain conquer the Aztec empire instead of the other way around? [...] Why did Europeans traded Africans in a global slave trade rather than the other way around?

Because the other way around would be stupid.

Roman Warfare (Smithsonian History of Warfare) - I was inspired to learn more about Roman warfare after playing Rome: Total War. Reading the book and playing the game really made learning about the subject come to life. I was able to see the Roman army recreated accurately in front of me and use the same strategies in battles described in the book. I highly recommend playing RTW while reading this book, it's an incredible experience and the stuff you learn from the book becomes ingrained in your head as you play the game.

This book is superior. Also vanilla RTW is a terrible simulator for classical warfare because it nerfs everything that isn't a legionary and overpowers those and missile units. (Not to mention that it gets about a D+ for history.)

 

[general_kill]

Because the other way around would be stupid.

I think the book was trying to explain how Spain came about acquiring the technology to sail across an ocean and conquering the Aztecs rather than the other way around.

 

[Fayadi]

Here are my favorites:

Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations

A World of Wealth: How Capitalism Turns Profit into Progress

The Birth of Plenty : How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers


Those books are interesting enough for me to read repeatedly. So you might want to check out on them on your next book store visit.

 

[general_kill]

I am of the opinion that everything pretty covered in Guns, Germs, and Steel is covered better in 1491. Diamond's book is very, very redundant (it could be reduced to about 80 pages without loosing anything, imho), and often seems to be attacking the reader for racial prejudices he just assumes you must have. His theories (in slightly less detail) were pretty much what I had always been taught, so I didn't really read anything revolutionary in it. Mann's work is succinct (almost exactly the same length, but with more substance), more entertaining, packed with more detailed info (especially about native american civilizations, as they are the focus), and goes far beyond the deterministic view of Diamond and explains how in some ways the "more primitive" societies were often more advanced and how things could have turned out differently. Mann deals with the eponymous topics of Diamond's book more then Diamond does, plus draws more lessons that we today can learn.

1941 seems like a very interesting book, almost exactly what I was looking for. I will check it out, thanks for the recommendation!

There are better books on Roman warfare, but they're usually time period-specific. Goldsworthy is good on that. Alternatively, you could read Polybius. (I always recommend Polybius.)

Also, I don't recommend playing vanilla RTW, I recommend playing Europa Barbarorum.

Can you link me which book you are referring to? I searched Amazon for Polybius and didn't get an exact match. And btw, I play the vader mod. It's pretty good and improves on AI and buffs AIs vs you. Vanilla RTW was definitely boring, the attack dogs were way too overpowered and you don't have to worry about replenishing them as long as you keep the handlers safe. They are like disposable cruise missiles and the completely incinerate most infantry units especially if you use them in conjunction with flanking cavalry.

One of my personal favorites is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Very entertaining, and on a subject which isnt widely digressed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

That book seems interesting and gross. I do fear it will be alarmist but the subject is too good to pass on. My initial bias is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore if the viruses discussed in the book are truly as contagious and deadly as it claims, we would all be dead by now. Of course I am working under the assumption no one is purposely trying to infect us because biological weapons and attack is another subject altogether.

 

[Dachs]

I think the book was trying to explain how Spain came about acquiring the technology to sail across an ocean and conquering the Aztecs rather than the other way around.

Yes, I understand that. I have a copy of the book in my room at the dorm and have read it through before. Apparently I'm not very good at humor.

Can you link me which book you are referring to? I searched Amazon for Polybius and didn't get an exact match.

Free version online at the Hercules Project, some annotations added.

And btw, I play the vader mod. It's pretty good and improves on AI and buffs AIs vs you.

Vader mod is okay, but I like the total conversion ones better.

Vanilla RTW was definitely boring, the attack dogs were way too overpowered and you don't have to worry about replenishing them as long as you keep the handlers safe. They are like disposable cruise missiles and the completely incinerate most infantry units especially if you use them in conjunction with flanking cavalry.

Yeah, the war dogs pissed me off.

 

[Annex]

That book seems interesting and gross. I do fear it will be alarmist but the subject is too good to pass on. My initial bias is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore if the viruses discussed in the book are truly as contagious and deadly as it claims, we would all be dead by now. Of course I am working under the assumption no one is purposely trying to infect us because biological weapons and attack is another subject altogether.

It is quite interesting, and I guess some people would consider it quite gross at times. I dont think the first 2/3s of the book (in which he talks about Marburg, Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan viruses) are alarmist, even though he describes them in frightening detail. I think here he was just trying to get the message across about how frightening it was for the people exposed to it, at a time when humans knew nothing about it. And the reason why we are not dead by now is explained in the book during this section. Basically, the virus is too deadly.

The last 1/3 of the book describes the appearance of Ebola Reston, and I could see how this part is considered a little alarmist. This strain of the virus is not deadly to humans, but kills the majority of the monkeys it infected. Even the monkeys they thought they had quarantined and had made safe ended up getting the virus and dying. The first time I read the book I was disappointed by this part, because I was thinking "If it doesnt kill humans, who cares." But now I think I understand why he covered this incident in such depth. The virus is extremely deadly to some forms of life, and humans knew next to nothing about it. It was discovered outside the capital of the United States, and we didnt know if it could form into a strain which could kill humans, and infect people through the air.

So I would say its a nonfiction which reads like fiction, but tells a true story which the majority of people have never heard.

 

[warpus]

If you're interested in any sort of way about reality, what the hell it is, how it works, and how strange it really is, I recommend the following books (in that order):

The Elegant Universe - by Brian Greene
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality - by Brian Greene

Very interesting stuff - and Brian Greene is a great writer to boot.

 

[carmen510]

Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan. Great introduction to economics.

A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich. Great narrative on history until the mid-1900s.

 

[Phlegmak]

Mein Kampf.

 

[Mowque]

Mein Kampf.

Its not really that good...

 

[LucyDuke]

Good thread I made about this.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=279210

Lots of good stuff, recommended by people that know what they're talking about.

 

[Cutlass]

A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) (Hardcover)
by Gregory Clark http://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Alms-Economic-History-Princeton/dp/0691121354

 

[Integral]

A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) (Hardcover)
by Gregory Clark http://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Alms-Economic-History-Princeton/dp/0691121354

Seconded. Also, the core of the "new development theory" canon:

as mentioned before, Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms
Jeffery Sachs, The End of Poverty
William Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth
William Easterly, The White Man's Burden
Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom

Sachs is more left-wing and focuses on aid; Easterly is more right-wing and focuses on micro-based solutions. Collier tries to bridge the gap between the two. Clark and Sen are a bit more academic than the others.

 

[Lillefix]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Town-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232932405&sr=8-1

What about River Town by Peter Hessler. Interesting about an American teacher visiting China.

 

[Phlegmak]

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin.

 

[Princeps]

A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) (Hardcover)
by Gregory Clark http://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Alms-Economic-History-Princeton/dp/0691121354

No.


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