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I recently read [i][url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E78GDDY ]Colossus: Bletchley Park's Greatest Secret[/url][/i] and really enjoyed getting in to some non-fiction.
Can anyone recommend some decent books to have a look at? Not really interested in Biographies TBH but bonus points if it's cheap on Kindle/e-book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Most-Secret-Penguin-World-Collection/dp/0141042826
Brilliant book, I got to the end and read it again.
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/11/sapiens-brief-history-humankind-yuval-noah-harari-review ]Enjoying this at the minute [/url]
XKCD book recommended one called Project Orion, which is about the plan to attempt launching spaceships by putting nuclear weapons under them. Have sent a sample to my Kindle, will let you know 🙂
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Amazing book about the post war test pilots and the start of the space race.
In the heart of the sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, very well written and a great page turner.
Selling Hitler by Robert Harris. Unbelievable account of the Hitler diaries.
The man who invented the 20th century by Robert Lomas. Great book about Nikola Tesla.
Jupiters Travels by Ted Simon. Round the world when it was a much bigger place.
I've just read an autobiography by one of the SR71 Blackbird pilots, Brian Shul - Sled Driver which is worth a read if you can get it on Kindle - it's short but really interesting. I think NASA have a free pdf from a similar guy on their site - I can dig the link out if you interested.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari
Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings
Anything by Bill Bryson
That should keep you busy for a while, all very good
The Ravens by Christopher Robbins: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ravens-Flew-Americas-Secret/dp/0517566125
About the secret pilots flying in SE Asia (not just Vietnam) during the Vietnam war, supporting CIA missions and Meo/Hmong fighters.
YoKaiser - Member
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Amazing book about the post war test pilots and the start of the space race.Jupiters Travels by Ted Simon. Round the world when it was a much bigger place.
Both excellent, especially The Right Stuff.
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings
I'd suggest that Nemesis and Armageddon by Hastings are much better.
I've just finished re-reading Lyn MacDonald's Somme. Heart breaking stuff.
Fires up the Kindle:
Outliers, the story of success - Malcolm Gladwell. Bit of a modern classic.
Natural born heroes - Christopher McDougal. Follow up to "Born to run". Covers the Creteans, undercover agents in the war, parcour, natural training and generally how amazing the human body can be.
The First 20 Minutes, Exercise better, train smarter and live longer - Gretchen Reynolds. Rounds up a lot of the more recent studies and science around exercise, training and health.
Faster and The Hour, both by Michael Hutchinson. Very good reads, bike related.
The Secrets of Station X - Michael Smith. Another Bletchley Park book.
Feet in the Clouds - Richard Askwith. Fell running classic.
Land of Second Chances - Tim Lewis. The story of the Rwandan cycling team.
Chickenhawk - Robert Mason. Copter pilot in 'Nam. Brilliant book.
Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat, both Ben Macintyre. Spys and stuff in WW2.
The Ice Man - Philip Carlo. Story of a Mafia hitman, possibly the biggest mass murderer in US history.
Anything by Desmond Morris. 'Manwatching' is especially good, but is a visual feast and well-illustrated so not really ereader fare yet available at many charity shops. I've bought a few copies as gifts over the years.
Some more suggestions, history based:
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England - Ian Mortimer. All about what you should expect if you were to travel to 14th century England.
Battle Cry of Freedom - James M McPherson. Pretty much the definitive history of the US Civil War
Consider the Fork - Bee Wilson. Fun story of cooking technology.
A few that should tickle your fancy based on your recent reading;
Enigma - Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre
Agent ZigZag - As above (Edit - Beej beat me to it on those!)
The Great Game - Peter Hopkirk
On Secret Service East of Constantinople - As above
Oh, and the entire Flashman novels. They're [i]sort of[/i] factual! 😀
Most Secret War by RV Jones - top notch boffinery
'First Light' by Geofrey Wellum. A first hand account of flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. Recommended on here a few months ago, and very much enjoyed!
'Just a little run around the world' by Rosie Swale Pope. A 50 something year-old lady decides to... erm... run around the world!
'Survival of the Fittest' by Mike Stroud. He has spent much of his life with Ranulph Feinnes on crazy adventures all over the world. He explores the amazing abilities of the human body to do (given enough fuel) pretty much anything. An incredible book which really changed the way I look at exercise and endurance. My favourite book of all time.
Fate is the Hunter - Ernest Gann
Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert
Anything by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Anything by William Dalrymple (but especially In Xanadu and From the Holy Mountain)
The Colossus Of Maroussi by Henry Miller
Between East and West by Anne Applebaum
Anything about Greece by Dilys Powell
Anything by Colin Thubron
Anything by John Pilkington
Anything by Alexander Frater
The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron (and James Knox's biography of RB if you want to know more about him)
Travels With A Tangerine and The Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Just a quick look around our travel bookshelf - should keep you going for a bit!
Flash boys - by Michael Lewis, quite a good read all about wallstreet.
In search of Schroedingers cat - John Gibbon, good read about particle physics and quantum mechanics.
Skunk Works, Ben R Rich & Leo Janos, the story of Lockheeds secret products, U2, SR71 and F117
Tail of the Storm by Alan Cockrell, the story of flying transport C141s in support of Gulf War 1
Currently reading Hells Gorge (aka Panama Fever) by Matthew Parker, it's a history of the concept of a sea passage across central America and the events that led up to the building of the Panama canal we have today. Thoroughly interesting, makes you realise how little you know about world events (esp. where the USA is concerned) in the relatively recent past and how they shaped the world today.
I've already been beaten to it with anything by Bill Bryson and Chickenhawk
I've already been beaten to it with anything by Bill Bryson and Chickenhawk
Seeds of Change by Henry Hobhouse, fascinating, readable and now that he's added a sixth plant that changed mankind, coca, a revealing insight into the cocaine and heroin trade.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeds-Change-Plants-Transformed-Mankind/dp/1593760493
I'm currently re-reading the very excellent Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux, Louis Theroux's father. If you have enjoyed the Louis documentaries you'll enjoy his father's books. Theroux is deeply scathing about the aid agencies and NGOs who he met while travelling from Cairo to the Cape and he explains how Africa is being looted for ivory by unscrupulous diplomats who use the diplomatic bag to smuggle the ivory out, mostly to China and Korea.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Star-Safari-Overland-Capetown/dp/0618446877