OT: - Book suggestions | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: Book suggestions

8893 said:
Except for the handful of books on tape (CD actually) to which I listened while recovering from retinal surgeries several years ago, I'm relatively new to audiobooks the past couple of years. I've enjoyed the ones I've listened to, but I have noticed that I don't seem to retain the information as well as I do when I read. I recall essences, but not the type of detail I'm accustomed to retaining. I'm curious whether others experience the same, or perhaps the reverse?
Expand ...

I agree. It is more "casual" reading. But it takes me to do many more books than I would get to otherwise. And you could always be drawn to buy the book. Like Fishy, I did that with Team of Rivals

BTW Unbroken is also a great biography.
 
Haven't read it yet but it's on my list.

download.jpeg
 
Fishy said:
I’m in a tough spot. Tough enough that asking you coconuts for advice actually makes sense.

I have six Audible credits and they’re warning me I’m going to lose one if I don’t start using them

I looked through and didn’t see any I liked, so I need book suggestions.

Parameters...

1) No fiction. I read enough of it here.

2) If I don’t like it, you’ll probably be banned.

3) Audible books take care of my commute — so longer books are better books.
Expand ...
See if any of the Ron Chernow biographies are on there. “Hamilton”, “Washington” or “Grant”. He writes bios unlike any I’ve read. I believe he reads them for the audio books.
I’m a big reader so I feel fairly confident in my recommendations.
 
If u like McCullough then I recommend ADAMS. I don’t know about the audible version but the book was great

Factoid from the book. Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4 on the country’s 50th anniversary.
 
.-.
Black privilege opportunity comes to those who create it by CtG
 
Two that came to my mind immediately were "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose, and "Chaos; A New Science" by James Gleick. While the latter book is scientific in nature (order often exists within chaos), the author does a good job making it readable and I found it fascinating.
 
.-.
Fishy said:
I’m in a tough spot. Tough enough that asking you coconuts for advice actually makes sense.

I have six Audible credits and they’re warning me I’m going to lose one if I don’t start using them

I looked through and didn’t see any I liked, so I need book suggestions.

Parameters...

1) No fiction. I read enough of it here.

2) If I don’t like it, you’ll probably be banned.

3) Audible books take care of my commute — so longer books are better books.
Expand ...

“Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Harari

“Parasite Rex” by Carl Zimmer

Old classic: “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples” by Winston Churchill
 
I'm doing a BY link to Amazon as showing the title would get me a warning.

I'd personally recommend it to all BY mods.

I also enjoy stuff like "Guns, Germs and Steel", "1491" and the like - history of 300-800 years ago.
 
Last edited:
Ron Chernow's biographies are usually good.
Jared Diamond falls into that category of dangerous writers. Some (nonfiction) writers are usually correct but uninteresting and others are usually wrong but always interesting. Now Diamond isn't dissembling or otherwise feeding bs, it's just that he has a habit of finding things in the data that just are not there. Gladwell falls into that category too, except he is also a first class fabulist.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber's Women's Work is an interesting book that few read. Not sure if it is on an audio format. Any of her scholarship is interesting and probably on a topic that you are unfamiliar.
 
Manhunt by James Swanson. It’s about the 12 day chase for John Wilkes Boothe. Great book
 
.-.
Empire of Cotton seemed good but I didn’t have time to finish it before starting back up with school. No Bars to Manhood by Daniel Berrigan and The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day are both wonderful, but are for the spiritually inclined and left leaning so probably won’t respnate with many here. The New Jim Crow is great IMO, but again left leaning. Autobiography of Malcolm X was a great read.

If there’s any one thing I’ve learned while studying my own niche kinda thing at the graduate level, it’s that popular nonfiction can often times be dangerously inaccurate in its sweeping generalizations for the sake of writing books that will interest folks at Barnes and Noble. If you’re gonna read history or anything more academic in the non fiction realm, really research the book and author. There’s a lot of garbage out there. For instance, I wouldn’t touch any of the books on the history of the church or really on anything regarding Christianity that are available at the book store, as they just tend to be brutally misinformed or agenda driven. Okay I’ll get off my soap box now
 
I'm not sure what you like @Fishy but here a few on varied subjects:

Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintrye. The story of one time crook and eventual British double agent Eddie Chapman. Chapman spied for the German's in England, the British in Germany and at some base in Norway. Had a girl in every location. He crossed paths with Ian Flemming, so some speculate he may have be a source for his James Bond character.

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston. The City of the Monkey God or the White City is the city of gold of Cortes legend thought to be Honduras. There is a curse associated with it as one explorer wandered out of the Jungle with artifacts but committed suicide before telling anyone the location. A team uses LIDAR to locate possible subjects and then go in and try locate it. The area is unbelievably hostile between snakes, jaguars and disease. There is an excellent discussion on why European disease ravaged South America but Europeans were little effected by South American disease.

The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher. Story of the most famous spiritualist of her time and Harry Houdini's efforts to debunk her. Surprisingly lurid.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. The Osage Indians reservation turns out to be on oil rich land making them the riches people per capita in the world. Then one by one they began to be killed off. Book details the tribes history first and then explores the murders in chronological order.

Caron's book Tough Juice is great if you haven't read it yet. I second Unbroken as well. Great book.
 
Fishy said:
Already listened to it - it was great. McCullough books, especially the ones he narrates, are a favorite - if you haven’t gotten to The Great Bridge and The Wright Brothers, I highly recommend both.



Already listened to it - it was great.

PS - I would have died on day one. I just would have laid on the ice and given up.
Expand ...
Try Valient Ambition and Destiny of the Republic
 
If you like Civil War era books that are a little different (not sure if they in audio) try Our Man in Charleston which is about the British consul who, in effect, spied on the secessionist o emend as England was deciding on whether to support North or South.

The President’s War is about how the former Presidents who survived at least to the beginning of the Civil War, related to each other and Lincoln on the driving issues that resulted in the war.

If you aren’t tied to American history, The Lion And the Unicorn about the difficult rivalry between British PMs Disraeli and Gladstone during the 19th century, is interesting.

I’d recommend a book by an author whose bed I sleep in, but I hate the audio production. It’s fiction, but based on a true story.
 
I second this selection
mrl2016 said:
Have not read it myself, but I’ve heard from friends Charles Krauthammer put out a powerful memoir before his passing this year
Expand ...
 
.-.
Fishy said:
Already listened to it - it was great. McCullough books, especially the ones he narrates, are a favorite - if you haven’t gotten to The Great Bridge and The Wright Brothers, I highly recommend both.



Already listened to it - it was great.

PS - I would have died on day one. I just would have laid on the ice and given up.
Expand ...

I wouldn’t have made it out of the pub in the whaling village.
 
I really enjoy listening to books by Jon Ronson. I have to read most non-fiction to stay engaged but his writing style translates well to audio IMO.
 
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Civil War historical fiction but very tight to actual events.
 
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,349
Messages
4,566,518
Members
10,469
Latest member
xxBlueChips


Top Bottom