OP
OP
User169
Guest
Yebbut what's that got to do with this thread?
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Yebbut what's that got to do with this thread?
spen666
Legendary Member
Well, given the title of the thread
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
You did check how this list was compiled before you launched your broadside, didn't you, Spen? It's not one person telling other people what they should read. It's a graphic representation of the consensus from many awards lists etc. In fact, it's the very opposite of what you claimed.
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
For me now to point out that I have Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism on my desk as I type this might however qualify as 'pretentious' if I was indeed pretending anything by it, instead of using it in my day job...
Anyway, I think I've read at least part of almost all the books on that list. Like DP's view on Dawkins, my relatively informed view of Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel is similarly jaundiced...
Anyway, I think I've read at least part of almost all the books on that list. Like DP's view on Dawkins, my relatively informed view of Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel is similarly jaundiced...
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
I think I need faster broadband - the chart doesn't load
Bit of a mouthful for a book title, but anyway - what's it like?
OP
OP
User169
Guest
Comprehension not your strong point?
Bobby Mhor
Legendary Member
- Location
- Behind You
Goodness gracious, as a reader of entirely non fiction stuff, there is some sh*** in that lot
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Its heavy going unless you like that sort of thing or like me had a dad into zen and carlos Castaneda.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
It's a list from The Guardian. Can't bring myself to read it.
Interesting thread, DP. I've read fewer of those than I fancied likely when I clicked on the link, and (obviously) fewer than FM 
. It reminds me that the list of stuff I haven't read includes some biggies of one kind or another, and leaves me once again wondering whether I should remedy the omissions and get stuck in to A Brief History of Time out of a sense of obligation, or just go "Meh" and remind myself that I can always ask some brainy cove like you or @marinyork to explain bits of it as needed. The irritatingness of the cloud/list is also its charm, I think. I expect all of us will feel that there are shocking omissions as well as utter dross and regrettably influential nut-jobbery, but then something being dross or nut-jobbery is not necessarily a reason not to read it. I had a young and brainy university lecturer who made FM look a bit book-shy, and he was genuinely anguished that first-year undergraduates would arrive without having read Ulysses, The Bible, and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. I can't remember whether I told him to lighten up. Anyway, we should each make our own non-fiction recommendations (sorry Spen) and start to assemble a CC consensus cloud. I will have a beer and a think... in that order.
. It reminds me that the list of stuff I haven't read includes some biggies of one kind or another, and leaves me once again wondering whether I should remedy the omissions and get stuck in to A Brief History of Time out of a sense of obligation, or just go "Meh" and remind myself that I can always ask some brainy cove like you or @marinyork to explain bits of it as needed. The irritatingness of the cloud/list is also its charm, I think. I expect all of us will feel that there are shocking omissions as well as utter dross and regrettably influential nut-jobbery, but then something being dross or nut-jobbery is not necessarily a reason not to read it. I had a young and brainy university lecturer who made FM look a bit book-shy, and he was genuinely anguished that first-year undergraduates would arrive without having read Ulysses, The Bible, and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. I can't remember whether I told him to lighten up. Anyway, we should each make our own non-fiction recommendations (sorry Spen) and start to assemble a CC consensus cloud. I will have a beer and a think... in that order.
threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
I'm putting forward Michael Jackson's Beer Companion.
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
Good idea @theclaud , may I offer for the groups consideration" Five Go To Kirren Island" this a piece of autobiographical non fiction and actually happened and "Sex and Drugs and Rock N Roll and Recycling" by Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory with the forward by Madame Cholet. This was made into a docudrama in the 1970's
Profpointy
Legendary Member
His whisky book is excellent. Amazing to think an international superstar would write so well on British booze as well
(I'll get my coat ...)
Profpointy
Legendary Member
If you're considering "brief history", I'd go for Bryson's History of Nearly everything, which is an extremely well written, and well researched lay-person's summary of all of science. On the stuff I actually know about I couldn't fault it.
On physics, I'd recommend Einstein's own (popular) account for Relativity, and Feynman's books QED (on quantum mechanics) and also his Six Easy Pieces. Or for something decidedly more challenging, Roger Penrose's Road to Reality - whilst it's magnificent and beautifully written, is not easy by any means.
On physics, I'd recommend Einstein's own (popular) account for Relativity, and Feynman's books QED (on quantum mechanics) and also his Six Easy Pieces. Or for something decidedly more challenging, Roger Penrose's Road to Reality - whilst it's magnificent and beautifully written, is not easy by any means.
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
As it's a largely non-fiction consensus cloud, I'd add Darwin's Origin of Species. (I can't believe I've just typed consensus cloud without putting it in quotes.)
