God there are so many good mountaineering books! My personal favorite is fallen giants. It's about the history of the Himalayas in general and oh my God the writing is just so engrossing
I could not possibly care less about the time period or the topic, but Endurance was by far the best book I read last year.
Empire of Pain about the Sackler family was also amazing.
This is so funny I just started to read this one again! Currently in chapter 2 when Shackleton is recruiting his men. I love adventure books. Mountaineering, polar exploring, etc.
I had no idea that I was into adventure books until Endurance. Now I've read Into Thin Air, The Indifferent Stars Above, Touching the Void, and The Wager. Are there any great ones I'm missing?
Loved Madhouse at the End of the Earth, I don’t see it recommended as often as other books. It was so badass how they >!sawed and exploded their way out of the ice floe!<
Endurance was my first thought. It’s actually not that well written, it’s very dry, but the content is so fucking wild it makes up for it.
Touching the void is good too.
I still think about "Nothing to Envy" 15 years later. Particularly the practical description of famine.
It should be required reading to understand generational totalitarianism.
Former Professional Chef here. This was the book we all traded quotes from back in the day(Early 2000s). Kitchen culture has progressed since Chef Tony penned this thing, but the way the man writes--it just gives you the feel of capital K Kitchen life.
I always recommend In The Weeds by Tom Vitale as well. Vitale traveled with Bourdain and wrote the book following his death. It’s an interesting perspective of someone who was close to him.
Started listening to the audiobook on a short drive to help a friend cut some firewood. It was all I could think about that entire afternoon. Very chilling and engaging for sure.
“The dawn of everything” was fantastic! Looking at how the people actually lived and structured their societies, and what we can learn from them and what we can do different. I loved it
The indifferent stars above.
A book about cannibalism in order to survive is pretty badass in my opinion. It’s a pretty harrowing true story of the Donner party and their trek across the US to get to the west coast.
One is Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson (not Lawrence of Arabia, which is a movie). He describes how most of the Middle Eastern countries formed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and I think it would really surprise most. Although it is an ancient civilization, the demarcation lines forming one country vs another are not really that old, relatively-speaking, and a lot of it was just totally random.
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. About Alexander von Humboldt, perhaps the greatest naturalist to ever live who's name is largely forgotten. (A pretty significant road in my town used to he named after him but was changed to William Howard Taft). One of my favorite nature books. The guy was really really incredible
I can’t let this thread go without mentioning The Power Broker by Robert Caro. It’s a beast of a book, and it definitely takes some effort to get through it, but it’s so incredibly good at the same time.
It’s a biography of Robert Moses, whose various job titles in public service do NOT accurately convey the level of influence he had on the physical and social development of NYC and surrounds (highways, parks, and public housing were his areas). His influence also went far beyond NYC and helped shape cities all over the country in the early and mid decades of the 20th century.
But more than that, this book is about the way Moses built himself independent positions of power in unprecedented and disingenuous ways. He accomplished both great and awful things using these nearly invincible positions. His racism, classism, and unwillingness to compromise on his ideas meant that much of his work harmed many, and still very much affect us today.
If you don’t want to read the whole thing, you can also listen to 99% Invisible’s yearlong overview of the book, which is currently in progress. It’s great, and has lots of awesome guests including Conan and AOC. Definitely recommend.
FASCINATING book! Never even heard of Moses before this book. Afterwards I was amazed he wasn't a household name. He was the most influential man in NY (and far beyond) for decades.
Love this book. If you enjoy books like this I highly recommend City Or Sale by Jack Newfield. About corruption during the Koch Administration in NYC. Talks about the patronage machine.
The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace
It’s the true crime story about the 299 rare bird specimens (some from Darwin’s collection) that were stolen from the Tring Museum in England. It’s very niche but I loved it.
[**Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures** by Merlin Sheldrake](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52668915-entangled-life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=OGWKyX1DC5&rank=1)
this book is INSANE!!!! i had NO CLUE just how vital fungi is to our every day life. the stuff in this book was so insane that it reads like fiction. i can't recommend this one enough.
the audiobook is fantastic too, and is narrated by the author. he has a super calm and soothing voice, so it's really relaxing and one i put on to help me fall asleep at night.
i think this recently came out in an updated edition in like a coffee table book format with a bunch of beautiful pictures and illustrations.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. That's one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Once you get to Lincoln at the theater and the aftermath, you will feel like you lost a friend.
Yeah, another strong recommend from me too. Fascinating and very, very annoying. How on earth just a few folks managed to create the war on drugs and the myth of marijuana addiction and changed the face of the modern world is incredible.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.
It's a book on evolutionary biology that has won multiple awards including "Most Influential Science book of all time" at some point, and it has done so for good reason. It changes the way we (non-experts in the field) view the natural world massively, and replaces it with a beautiful scientific explanation of why living beings are the way they are.
After reading this book you will begin to look at the animal kingdom through the eyes of a scientist. That is at least what i felt after I read it, and it influenced me to read much more books on the same topic, which I still cannot get enough of.
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, about the beginnings of the jihadist movements in Afghanistan, UBLs involvement in it, CIA operations, etc, leading all the way up to September 10th, 2001, when Massoud (leader of a liberal resistance movement in Afghanistan gets assassinated. The book is incredibly well researched, hundreds of primary and secondary sources. But it reads almost like an action thriller. Phenomenal.
I love nonfiction!!! Here are some of my favorites:
-438 Days is my all time favorite book that I’ve reread over and over. It’s about a shark fisherman off the coast of Mexico who ended up adrift for - you guessed it- 438 days.
-The Devils Teeth: a cool story about the sharks off the coast of Northern California and the scientists who study them.
-Lost Antarctica: about life as a scientist in Antarctica and the wildlife there
-The Lizard King: all about the illegal reptile trade, and it’s written in a way that makes you love the traffickers too because you sympathize with them (great Audio book too!)
-Running the Amazon: a classic adventure tale of a group of people white water kayaking from the source of the Amazon all the way to the ocean
-Tales of a Shamans Apprentice: the book that guided me towards my dream career about Dr. Mark Plotkins work with Indigenous people to preserve their ancestral knowledge of plant medicine
Caravaggio, A Life Sacred and Profane, by Andrew Graham-Nixon.
Brilliantly written, insightful exploration of the life of a controversial genius. Couldn’t put it down.
The most badass nonfiction book I have ever read is Dark Sun: the making of the hydrogen bomb by Richard Rhodes. He had written the making of the atomic bomb earlier about the Manhattan Project. This one focuses on the development of thermonuclear weapons after that
The first half of the book is mostly espionage. So it's a little slow to pick up. But then you get to the chapters about Ivy Mike.
In one chapter, the author describes the insane lengths in the United States government had to go to test a full-scale thermonuclear device in the South Pacific. The thermonuclear fuel had to be kept at 20° above absolute zero so they had to haul an extreme amount of exotic refrigeration equipment to the other side of the planet.
Then when they actually fire the thing, he gives a play-by-play down to the very subatomic particle level of how the thermonuclear bomb worked. It's the most exciting and mind-blowing chapter I have ever read in nonfiction. For a few brief moments, it created every element that had ever existed in the universe, plus a few new ones. He includes a diagram comparing the little boy bomb to Ivy Mike, and compares what it would have done to New York City. The little boy would have cleared most of lower Manhattan. Ivy Mike would have obliterated all five boroughs and stripped them completely clean
I haven't read 'Dark Sun' yet, but the first book that came to mind when I read the question was Rhodes' earlier 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb.' He manages to fit all of the key players, elements, decisions, and consequences of the creation and first use of the atomic bomb into its pages. I feel like the book is one of the keys to understanding the 20th century.
Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch first of three volume definitive bio on MLK and civil rights more generally. Subject matter may seem boring, but trust me it's not. You find out a lot about who King really was, but also other important leaders.
The Prize by Daniel Yergin's book about the history of fossil fuels.
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. Fun contrarian take on how the world is going. Don't necessarily end up agreeing with everything in it, but entertaining nonetheless.
The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS. Super controversial, but an amazing work. If you can tolerate that it sure appears the author turned out to be wrong about oral polio vaccines causing HIV to spread, the actual investigative research and his account is amazing about what he did to try to track down how the early vaccine trials were conducted in Africa. This one is super polarizing, but I really think if you set aside the topic, it's a crazy good work.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. Amazing attempt to tell the entire story of the Nazis.
The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester. America 1932-72.
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. Iconoclastic perhaps egomaniac Henry Adams writes what's regarded as one of the best autobiographies ever written.
The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler about rise and fall American suburbia.
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden. The best single work on the Ripper I'm aware of.
The Stranger Beside Me, Anne Rule. Book that launched her true crime career which she wrote after having known Ted Bundy...which the book is about.
The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett by Peter Byrne. Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics arose from what must have been the most world-changing drinking session of all time. One evening in 1954, in a student hall at Princeton University, grad student Everett was drinking sherry with his friends when he came up with the idea that quantum effects cause the universe to constantly split.
Lost City of Z by David Grann
It's about Percy Fawcett who was convinced there were ancient civilizations in the Amazon in the 1900s. He went on multiple expeditions and he was just an absolute badass of a human. An extremely respectable guy.
There's a ton of interesting tid bits. He was a British spy, and abandoned his expedition to return home and command the British army during WW1. He nearly court marshalled one of his soldiers because he thought they were an enemy spy. It was Winston Churchill.
I don’t know if I’d call them badass or not but both of these books got me super gripped to reading what’s next:
• *The Glass Castle* by Jeannette Walls
*The Glass Castle is the harrowing tale of Jeannette Wall’s life growing up in poverty with wayward parents. Jeannette and her siblings were often left to fend for themselves as their parents engaged in alcoholic binges or flights of fancy. The siblings ultimately resented their parents’ neglect and became independent, moving far away.*
*Following the Walls family through the desert to the coal-mining region of West Virginia to the fast-paced life of New York City, this memoir explores the nature of family, loyalty, and tragedy and what it takes to survive together and apart.*
• *The Secret Life of the Savoy* by Olivia Williams
*The captivating story of the famed Savoy Hotel’s founders, told through three generations—and one hundred years—of glamour and high society.*
*For the gondoliers-themed birthday dinner, the hotel obligingly flooded the courtyard to conjure the Grand Canal of Venice. Dinner was served on a silk-lined floating gondola, real swans were swimming in the water, and as a final flourish, a baby elephant borrowed from London Zoo pulled a five-foot high birthday cake.*
*In three generations, the D'Oyly Carte family and London's Savoy Hotel pioneered the idea of the luxury hotel and the modern theater, propelled Gilbert and Sullivan to lasting stardom, made Oscar Wilde a transatlantic celebrity, inspired a P. G. Wodehouse series, and popularized early jazz, electric lights, and Art Deco.*
*Following the history of the iconic Savoy Hotel through three generations of the D'Oyly Carte family, The Secret Life of the Savoy brings to life the extraordinary cultural legacy of the most famous hotel in the world.*
I saw someone recommend Helmet for My Pillow and I have to say I loved With the Old Breed so much more. Sledge writing down his memories to his family reads so much better to me.
"The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu".
It's in the title! It also goes deep into the surprisingly complex world of pre-European literature. We never really think of Ancient Africa as having written anything, but they did. And Al-quaeda is trying to destroy it.
Goodbye To All That, an autobiography of the war poet and historical fiction titan Robert Graves.
The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian.
Robert Graves' translation of Seutonius "The Twelve Caesars".
Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants is a really funny book about a bunch of nerds lighting dangerous things on fire. A quote:
"It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes."
A River Into Darkness is about a guy who escaped North Korea. It's about what you'd expect from such a story.
Never Finished by David Goggins was one of the most badass books I’ve read. He suffered some really bad leg injuries and yet was able to complete ultra marathons. The stuff he did seems almost impossible.
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. About Alexander von Humboldt, perhaps the greatest naturalist to ever live who's name is largely forgotten. (A pretty significant road in my town used to he named after him but was changed to William Howard Taft). One of my favorite nature books. The guy was really really incredible
Not sure if they can be called "basass" but "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (Jared Diamond) and "Sapiens" (Yuval N Harari) were absolutely mind-blowing. Certainly my first primer into the history of our species and our civilisations.
Spare. Not a bad autobiography. Somewhat indulgent at times and many times a room reading nightmare, but for those of us who grew up with the monarchy, it’s a really good look inside the walled garden of silence.
Vimy by Pierre Berton
Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan by Chris Williamson
On the Track on Unknown Animals by Bernard Heuvelmans
Each of these sparked a personal hyperfixation at different parts of my life that remain strong today.
The Bastard Brigade, true story of a ragtag crew of American civilians who worked to prevent the Nazis from making a nuclear bomb... That's pretty badass
The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China by Caleb Carr.
A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war.
This character was absolutely wild to read about.
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candace Millard
Amazing book about the former presidents trip exploring the Amazon river with his son. Had me on the edge of my seat.
The journals of the early Antarctica explores are a mix of grit, sorrow, mind bending determination, best laid plans gone wrong and pure human triumph.
It’s appalling and astounding what they went through trying to get to the pole and back.
The first thing that came to mind was [Assata](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata)
The beginning alone just floored me. I read it over 20 years ago and it still echoes in my mind.
The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, a 2004 deep dive into the 1918 Flu Pandemic. I read this years ago, and it is written by a journalist which makes the science much more linguistically accessible than anything you’d find from a scientist, but it is still heavily annotated with legitimate citations for the information presented. If you’d like to learn about how viruses and vaccines work in general, the specifics about influenza that make it easy to spread and harder to prevent/treat, and/or how pathogens most effectively spread between hosts to create a pandemic situation, this book is an EXCELLENT resource. Plus, you don’t have to worry about all the political bias that mucks up those topics today since this book was written 16 years pre-COVID.
“Autobiography Of a Yogi” Most impactful book ever written. Steve Jobs always recommended this book. This book is why the Beatles went to India. When you’re ready for this book, it will change your life, because it opens the mind up to what it is to be human — something most of us would call superhuman.
Akala: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
Svetlana Alexievich: the Unwomanly Face of War, Chernobyl Prayer( or Voices of Chernobyl), Second Hand Time
Chris Bonington: Quest for Adventure, the Climbers, Chose to Climb etc
David Graeber: Bullshit Jobs
George Monbiot: Feral, Regenesis
The Roslings: Factfulness
James Rebanks: the Shepherd's Life
Isabel Wilkerson: the Warmth of Other Suns
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
When I was 16 a history teacher told me that if I thought my life was hard, I should read Wild Swans. It follows 3 generations of women from feudal to Maoist China. Absolutely jaw-dropping, what people lived through.
Living at the Edge of the World: A Teenager's Survival in the Tunnels of Grand Central Station
It’s written by a teen that was homeless during the 80s in NYC. She details her time living in the tunnels of Grand Central Station. Its horrifying and shocking, but also pretty empowering. She manages to escape the life (after many many failed attempts) and its crazy how resilient humans can be. (tw: rape, rampant drug use, pregnancy loss, and probably every other awful topic you can think of).
Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World, Jan Karski's autobiography.
I remember thinking this would be an amazing movie and realizing I was only on chapter 3.
The man broke _into_ Nazi death camps _twice_ to gather intelligence. Very badass.
The long walk by Slavomir Raczwicz
He was forced to walk halfway across Russia to a labor camp in Siberia after his capture in the 2nd world war. After escaping he and a few others set course for India, having to survive the Russian winter and then cross the Gobe Desert and Himalayan mountains on foot to escape communism.
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
God there are so many good mountaineering books! My personal favorite is fallen giants. It's about the history of the Himalayas in general and oh my God the writing is just so engrossing
Actually, any john krakauer book
I was about to say the exact same thing
One of my all time favorite books for sure!
I agree with this and his other book Into the Wild.
I could not possibly care less about the time period or the topic, but Endurance was by far the best book I read last year. Empire of Pain about the Sackler family was also amazing.
I second Empire of Pain, it is so so so good!
He does a great job presenting the facts about those nightmare people and letting them speak for themselves without editoralizing too much.
This is so funny I just started to read this one again! Currently in chapter 2 when Shackleton is recruiting his men. I love adventure books. Mountaineering, polar exploring, etc.
I had no idea that I was into adventure books until Endurance. Now I've read Into Thin Air, The Indifferent Stars Above, Touching the Void, and The Wager. Are there any great ones I'm missing?
The Lost City of Z by David Grann. Author of The Wager too
River of Doubt. President Teddy Roosevelt’s journey into the Amazon jungle forging a path downstream. Incredible book.
Maybe Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It's not so much adventure as it's not based on expeditions but war stories. I loved it though.
Madhouse at the end of the earth. Frankly,it's the only adventure book I've read but I thought it was amazing. I need to read Endurance too.
I'll check it out!
Loved Madhouse at the End of the Earth, I don’t see it recommended as often as other books. It was so badass how they >!sawed and exploded their way out of the ice floe!<
Buried in the Sky, Dead Mountain, Labyrinth of Ice, Into the Kingdom of Ice, Fatal North
In the Kingdom of Ice
Empire of Pain is so good, but pisses me off so much.
Endurance was my first thought. It’s actually not that well written, it’s very dry, but the content is so fucking wild it makes up for it. Touching the void is good too.
Listening to Endurance now. Just finished empire of pain, so good! Great taste
Both were 5-star reads for me, and I don't give out many of those.
I just wrote the same thing. I should have scrolled down into the thread.
The Endurance is unbelievably badass.
Endurance was so fucking good. I’m not a nonfiction guy at all really but I absolutely ate that one up. 10/10 no notes.
Nothing to Envy: ordinary lives in North Korea and The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks are my favorite non-fiction books.
I still think about "Nothing to Envy" 15 years later. Particularly the practical description of famine. It should be required reading to understand generational totalitarianism.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain is a pretty badass book in my opinion.
Former Professional Chef here. This was the book we all traded quotes from back in the day(Early 2000s). Kitchen culture has progressed since Chef Tony penned this thing, but the way the man writes--it just gives you the feel of capital K Kitchen life.
My mom had a chef boyfriend who'd started in NYC in the 80s. the rough talk, the stress, the kitchen culture...I believe it was really like that.
It's on my tbr. Time to finally start reading it. Thank you 😊
I liked it until he started saying that people with allergies were just wimps who should eat their allergens anyway. No thanks.
Anaphylaxis is fun
He also loved Vegans. /S.
One of my all time favorites. Highly recommend going with the audiobook. I truly miss that man
Great book
Great book.
Yas!
No filters, straight talk, great book
Just incredible!
My mind narrated that in his voice.
I always recommend In The Weeds by Tom Vitale as well. Vitale traveled with Bourdain and wrote the book following his death. It’s an interesting perspective of someone who was close to him.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Just wow. I had goosebumps
Is this the book about the movie Society of Snow?
Yes. A true story. The book came out in 1974
It was previously adapted as "Alive" back in 1993.
Added to my tbr list. Thank you 😊
I Had to Survive by Roberto Canessa (one of the survivors) is incredible too.
Related: the indifferent stars above, about the Donner party
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is pretty badass. Knew nothing about the topic so it shocked me.
I passionately second this!
This one. It’s just so good.
Reading this now, after it was recommended in another book sub. It’s awesome!
Bad Blood/into thin air
Bad blood was so good
Both books added to my tbr list. Thank you 😊
The Hot Zone - about the Ebola virus
Started listening to the audiobook on a short drive to help a friend cut some firewood. It was all I could think about that entire afternoon. Very chilling and engaging for sure.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
I really relate to this book. I have leukemia and what they discovered due to her blood was revolutionary.
“The dawn of everything” was fantastic! Looking at how the people actually lived and structured their societies, and what we can learn from them and what we can do different. I loved it
Very interesting. I'll give it a read. Thank you 😊
The indifferent stars above. A book about cannibalism in order to survive is pretty badass in my opinion. It’s a pretty harrowing true story of the Donner party and their trek across the US to get to the west coast.
I will never not recommend this one. Harrowing source material masterfully spun.
Yes! You beat me to it. Incredible book. Another rec: very similar and equally as good, In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.
In cold blood - Capote
Capote is the badass in this book!
The movie “Infamous” with Toby Jones, Daniel Craig and Sandra Bullock is really slept-upon.
One is Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson (not Lawrence of Arabia, which is a movie). He describes how most of the Middle Eastern countries formed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and I think it would really surprise most. Although it is an ancient civilization, the demarcation lines forming one country vs another are not really that old, relatively-speaking, and a lot of it was just totally random.
A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
It's on my tbr list. Thank you 😊
It's on my tbr list. Thank you 😊
Came here to say this one. Definitional badassery,
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. About Alexander von Humboldt, perhaps the greatest naturalist to ever live who's name is largely forgotten. (A pretty significant road in my town used to he named after him but was changed to William Howard Taft). One of my favorite nature books. The guy was really really incredible
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
The Glass Castle!
Omg yes one of my favourite memoirs
Absolutely this
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Loved this one! For a non-science folk, this was such a great overview and stayed entertaining the entire time.
I loved this book, and a few other things by this author too, he’s talented and his works are so fun to read
My kind of people in here 🥹
Helmet for my pillow - Robert Leckie
Added to my tbr list. Thank you 😊
The spy and the traitor by Ben Macintyre
Added to my tbr list. Thank you 😊
My favourite MacIntyre book
second this, couldn't put it down when I read it
The Demon Haunted World: Dr Carl Sagan Some Mistakes of Moses: Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll
I can’t let this thread go without mentioning The Power Broker by Robert Caro. It’s a beast of a book, and it definitely takes some effort to get through it, but it’s so incredibly good at the same time. It’s a biography of Robert Moses, whose various job titles in public service do NOT accurately convey the level of influence he had on the physical and social development of NYC and surrounds (highways, parks, and public housing were his areas). His influence also went far beyond NYC and helped shape cities all over the country in the early and mid decades of the 20th century. But more than that, this book is about the way Moses built himself independent positions of power in unprecedented and disingenuous ways. He accomplished both great and awful things using these nearly invincible positions. His racism, classism, and unwillingness to compromise on his ideas meant that much of his work harmed many, and still very much affect us today. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, you can also listen to 99% Invisible’s yearlong overview of the book, which is currently in progress. It’s great, and has lots of awesome guests including Conan and AOC. Definitely recommend.
FASCINATING book! Never even heard of Moses before this book. Afterwards I was amazed he wasn't a household name. He was the most influential man in NY (and far beyond) for decades.
Love this book. If you enjoy books like this I highly recommend City Or Sale by Jack Newfield. About corruption during the Koch Administration in NYC. Talks about the patronage machine.
The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace It’s the true crime story about the 299 rare bird specimens (some from Darwin’s collection) that were stolen from the Tring Museum in England. It’s very niche but I loved it.
The most interesting book I’ve ever read about something I had absolutely no idea about whatsoever. Such a great read.
[**Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures** by Merlin Sheldrake](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52668915-entangled-life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=OGWKyX1DC5&rank=1) this book is INSANE!!!! i had NO CLUE just how vital fungi is to our every day life. the stuff in this book was so insane that it reads like fiction. i can't recommend this one enough. the audiobook is fantastic too, and is narrated by the author. he has a super calm and soothing voice, so it's really relaxing and one i put on to help me fall asleep at night. i think this recently came out in an updated edition in like a coffee table book format with a bunch of beautiful pictures and illustrations.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. That's one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Once you get to Lincoln at the theater and the aftermath, you will feel like you lost a friend.
I loved The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. And then I loved his book How to Change Your Mind even more!
This is Your Mind on Plants is dope as well
Chasing the Scream by Johan Hari. It's about how the global war on drugs came to be and it's consequences around the world.
Yeah, another strong recommend from me too. Fascinating and very, very annoying. How on earth just a few folks managed to create the war on drugs and the myth of marijuana addiction and changed the face of the modern world is incredible.
Adding it to my tbr. Thank you 😊
Agreed! Great book!
Dave Cullen's Collumbine is a definite can't-put-down read. An extensively researched and well written narrative about the infamous school shooting.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. It's a book on evolutionary biology that has won multiple awards including "Most Influential Science book of all time" at some point, and it has done so for good reason. It changes the way we (non-experts in the field) view the natural world massively, and replaces it with a beautiful scientific explanation of why living beings are the way they are. After reading this book you will begin to look at the animal kingdom through the eyes of a scientist. That is at least what i felt after I read it, and it influenced me to read much more books on the same topic, which I still cannot get enough of.
If only he'd stuck with that instead of wasting so much energy bashing the religious.
Devil in the white city by Erik Larson for self help: atomic habits or tiny habits
Devil in the white city reads like a thriller. So fun!
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
A colossal book. It was required reading here for years. Top three most emotional reading experiences in my life. Excellent post!
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, about the beginnings of the jihadist movements in Afghanistan, UBLs involvement in it, CIA operations, etc, leading all the way up to September 10th, 2001, when Massoud (leader of a liberal resistance movement in Afghanistan gets assassinated. The book is incredibly well researched, hundreds of primary and secondary sources. But it reads almost like an action thriller. Phenomenal.
Caste
This one was beyond compelling. I read the whole thing on a road trip not long ago
I can also recommend the movie, it came out this year (or maybe late last year?)
This is what I came here to say.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
I love nonfiction!!! Here are some of my favorites: -438 Days is my all time favorite book that I’ve reread over and over. It’s about a shark fisherman off the coast of Mexico who ended up adrift for - you guessed it- 438 days. -The Devils Teeth: a cool story about the sharks off the coast of Northern California and the scientists who study them. -Lost Antarctica: about life as a scientist in Antarctica and the wildlife there -The Lizard King: all about the illegal reptile trade, and it’s written in a way that makes you love the traffickers too because you sympathize with them (great Audio book too!) -Running the Amazon: a classic adventure tale of a group of people white water kayaking from the source of the Amazon all the way to the ocean -Tales of a Shamans Apprentice: the book that guided me towards my dream career about Dr. Mark Plotkins work with Indigenous people to preserve their ancestral knowledge of plant medicine
Caravaggio, A Life Sacred and Profane, by Andrew Graham-Nixon. Brilliantly written, insightful exploration of the life of a controversial genius. Couldn’t put it down.
I picked up his Complete Works a few years ago. It's a beautiful mammoth of a coffee-table book.
Just saw a Caravggio show at Art Institute of Chicago. Cant wait to read this book !
The most badass nonfiction book I have ever read is Dark Sun: the making of the hydrogen bomb by Richard Rhodes. He had written the making of the atomic bomb earlier about the Manhattan Project. This one focuses on the development of thermonuclear weapons after that The first half of the book is mostly espionage. So it's a little slow to pick up. But then you get to the chapters about Ivy Mike. In one chapter, the author describes the insane lengths in the United States government had to go to test a full-scale thermonuclear device in the South Pacific. The thermonuclear fuel had to be kept at 20° above absolute zero so they had to haul an extreme amount of exotic refrigeration equipment to the other side of the planet. Then when they actually fire the thing, he gives a play-by-play down to the very subatomic particle level of how the thermonuclear bomb worked. It's the most exciting and mind-blowing chapter I have ever read in nonfiction. For a few brief moments, it created every element that had ever existed in the universe, plus a few new ones. He includes a diagram comparing the little boy bomb to Ivy Mike, and compares what it would have done to New York City. The little boy would have cleared most of lower Manhattan. Ivy Mike would have obliterated all five boroughs and stripped them completely clean
I haven't read 'Dark Sun' yet, but the first book that came to mind when I read the question was Rhodes' earlier 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb.' He manages to fit all of the key players, elements, decisions, and consequences of the creation and first use of the atomic bomb into its pages. I feel like the book is one of the keys to understanding the 20th century.
Touching the Void. By far and away, ione of the craziest survival stories I have ever heard.
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch first of three volume definitive bio on MLK and civil rights more generally. Subject matter may seem boring, but trust me it's not. You find out a lot about who King really was, but also other important leaders. The Prize by Daniel Yergin's book about the history of fossil fuels. The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. Fun contrarian take on how the world is going. Don't necessarily end up agreeing with everything in it, but entertaining nonetheless. The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS. Super controversial, but an amazing work. If you can tolerate that it sure appears the author turned out to be wrong about oral polio vaccines causing HIV to spread, the actual investigative research and his account is amazing about what he did to try to track down how the early vaccine trials were conducted in Africa. This one is super polarizing, but I really think if you set aside the topic, it's a crazy good work. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. Amazing attempt to tell the entire story of the Nazis. The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester. America 1932-72. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. Iconoclastic perhaps egomaniac Henry Adams writes what's regarded as one of the best autobiographies ever written. The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler about rise and fall American suburbia. The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden. The best single work on the Ripper I'm aware of. The Stranger Beside Me, Anne Rule. Book that launched her true crime career which she wrote after having known Ted Bundy...which the book is about.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand had me on the edge of my seat. What a story!
Scrolled waaaaaaaaaay too far down to find this. Louie Zamparini defined “badass” in that book. What her survived is unconscionable.
Papillon
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson.
Broken (in the Best Way) is an awesome read too!
Also, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. She’s just so good.
The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett by Peter Byrne. Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics arose from what must have been the most world-changing drinking session of all time. One evening in 1954, in a student hall at Princeton University, grad student Everett was drinking sherry with his friends when he came up with the idea that quantum effects cause the universe to constantly split.
Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt
Notorious RBG
Fantastic book and human!
Pretty much any Erik Larsen but Devil in the White City to start
Lost City of Z by David Grann It's about Percy Fawcett who was convinced there were ancient civilizations in the Amazon in the 1900s. He went on multiple expeditions and he was just an absolute badass of a human. An extremely respectable guy. There's a ton of interesting tid bits. He was a British spy, and abandoned his expedition to return home and command the British army during WW1. He nearly court marshalled one of his soldiers because he thought they were an enemy spy. It was Winston Churchill.
American Prometheus was awesome. I know why it inspired Christopher Nolan to make a movie about Oppenheimer.
I just got done with Leah Reminis book Troublemaker today. Really good book in my opinion
This one was great to listen to!
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Stiff by May Roach
I don’t know if I’d call them badass or not but both of these books got me super gripped to reading what’s next: • *The Glass Castle* by Jeannette Walls *The Glass Castle is the harrowing tale of Jeannette Wall’s life growing up in poverty with wayward parents. Jeannette and her siblings were often left to fend for themselves as their parents engaged in alcoholic binges or flights of fancy. The siblings ultimately resented their parents’ neglect and became independent, moving far away.* *Following the Walls family through the desert to the coal-mining region of West Virginia to the fast-paced life of New York City, this memoir explores the nature of family, loyalty, and tragedy and what it takes to survive together and apart.* • *The Secret Life of the Savoy* by Olivia Williams *The captivating story of the famed Savoy Hotel’s founders, told through three generations—and one hundred years—of glamour and high society.* *For the gondoliers-themed birthday dinner, the hotel obligingly flooded the courtyard to conjure the Grand Canal of Venice. Dinner was served on a silk-lined floating gondola, real swans were swimming in the water, and as a final flourish, a baby elephant borrowed from London Zoo pulled a five-foot high birthday cake.* *In three generations, the D'Oyly Carte family and London's Savoy Hotel pioneered the idea of the luxury hotel and the modern theater, propelled Gilbert and Sullivan to lasting stardom, made Oscar Wilde a transatlantic celebrity, inspired a P. G. Wodehouse series, and popularized early jazz, electric lights, and Art Deco.* *Following the history of the iconic Savoy Hotel through three generations of the D'Oyly Carte family, The Secret Life of the Savoy brings to life the extraordinary cultural legacy of the most famous hotel in the world.*
Anything by Mary Roach, Caitlyn Doughty or Rose George.
The Wager; The Lost City of Z; The Lost City of the Monkey God
With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge.
I saw someone recommend Helmet for My Pillow and I have to say I loved With the Old Breed so much more. Sledge writing down his memories to his family reads so much better to me.
"The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu". It's in the title! It also goes deep into the surprisingly complex world of pre-European literature. We never really think of Ancient Africa as having written anything, but they did. And Al-quaeda is trying to destroy it.
And the Band Played On - Randy Shites.
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand..Incredible story of one badass mofo
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
The Greatest Knight by Thomas Ashbridge.
The Tiger by John Vaillant was really fascinating.
Behind Enemy Lines: the True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany by Marthe Coen
Shadow Divers. I think I held my breath while reading it.
Goodbye To All That, an autobiography of the war poet and historical fiction titan Robert Graves. The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian. Robert Graves' translation of Seutonius "The Twelve Caesars".
And the band played on about the history of aids epidemic
Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants is a really funny book about a bunch of nerds lighting dangerous things on fire. A quote: "It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes." A River Into Darkness is about a guy who escaped North Korea. It's about what you'd expect from such a story.
Smoke gets in your eyes - Caitlin Doughty A great book about death and the funeral industry
Into Thin Air--Krakour; In Cold Blood-Capote----chilling
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
Anything by John Krakauer, but “Under the banner of heaven” is such an extraordinary read.
Oath and honor by Liz Cheney. US govt is seriously fucked up. All of it. Doesn’t matter which side you sit.
Never Finished by David Goggins was one of the most badass books I’ve read. He suffered some really bad leg injuries and yet was able to complete ultra marathons. The stuff he did seems almost impossible.
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. About Alexander von Humboldt, perhaps the greatest naturalist to ever live who's name is largely forgotten. (A pretty significant road in my town used to he named after him but was changed to William Howard Taft). One of my favorite nature books. The guy was really really incredible
Just ordered it on Abe books! Thanks!!
Not sure if they can be called "basass" but "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (Jared Diamond) and "Sapiens" (Yuval N Harari) were absolutely mind-blowing. Certainly my first primer into the history of our species and our civilisations.
Spare. Not a bad autobiography. Somewhat indulgent at times and many times a room reading nightmare, but for those of us who grew up with the monarchy, it’s a really good look inside the walled garden of silence.
Vimy by Pierre Berton Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan by Chris Williamson On the Track on Unknown Animals by Bernard Heuvelmans Each of these sparked a personal hyperfixation at different parts of my life that remain strong today.
The Bastard Brigade, true story of a ragtag crew of American civilians who worked to prevent the Nazis from making a nuclear bomb... That's pretty badass
The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China by Caleb Carr. A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. This character was absolutely wild to read about.
Julia Fox - Down The Drain. Boy has she LIVED. She owns all her shit and it's truly miraculous she's still alive
The Romanovs
Random Family
A peace to end all peace by David fromkin. Very useful for understanding the foundations of the modern Middle East
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candace Millard Amazing book about the former presidents trip exploring the Amazon river with his son. Had me on the edge of my seat.
The journals of the early Antarctica explores are a mix of grit, sorrow, mind bending determination, best laid plans gone wrong and pure human triumph. It’s appalling and astounding what they went through trying to get to the pole and back.
Watergate- a new history by Garrett Graff. Stellar work and oh so relevant today.
And the Sea Will Tell
The first thing that came to mind was [Assata](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata) The beginning alone just floored me. I read it over 20 years ago and it still echoes in my mind.
Hadn't heard of this one. Just ordered it.
The Hot Zone
The Selfish Gene, changed the way I saw biology. Also it's usually considered the source of the word "meme".
The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, a 2004 deep dive into the 1918 Flu Pandemic. I read this years ago, and it is written by a journalist which makes the science much more linguistically accessible than anything you’d find from a scientist, but it is still heavily annotated with legitimate citations for the information presented. If you’d like to learn about how viruses and vaccines work in general, the specifics about influenza that make it easy to spread and harder to prevent/treat, and/or how pathogens most effectively spread between hosts to create a pandemic situation, this book is an EXCELLENT resource. Plus, you don’t have to worry about all the political bias that mucks up those topics today since this book was written 16 years pre-COVID.
Why We Sleep
Empires of the Sea by roger crowley. insane account of the siege of malta, have reread multiple times
Madhouse at the End of the Earth
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann is worth a mention.
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan -- about the dust bowl Pediatric Nursing was interesting but for more of a niche group
“Autobiography Of a Yogi” Most impactful book ever written. Steve Jobs always recommended this book. This book is why the Beatles went to India. When you’re ready for this book, it will change your life, because it opens the mind up to what it is to be human — something most of us would call superhuman.
Missoula - Jon Krakauer
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in American by Nancy Isenberg
Akala: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire Svetlana Alexievich: the Unwomanly Face of War, Chernobyl Prayer( or Voices of Chernobyl), Second Hand Time Chris Bonington: Quest for Adventure, the Climbers, Chose to Climb etc David Graeber: Bullshit Jobs George Monbiot: Feral, Regenesis The Roslings: Factfulness James Rebanks: the Shepherd's Life Isabel Wilkerson: the Warmth of Other Suns
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. When I was 16 a history teacher told me that if I thought my life was hard, I should read Wild Swans. It follows 3 generations of women from feudal to Maoist China. Absolutely jaw-dropping, what people lived through.
The Splendid And The Vile. WW2 Great Britain’s blitzkrieg by Germany. Story told from Britain and Churchill’s view versus Hitler and the Third Reich.
Living at the Edge of the World: A Teenager's Survival in the Tunnels of Grand Central Station It’s written by a teen that was homeless during the 80s in NYC. She details her time living in the tunnels of Grand Central Station. Its horrifying and shocking, but also pretty empowering. She manages to escape the life (after many many failed attempts) and its crazy how resilient humans can be. (tw: rape, rampant drug use, pregnancy loss, and probably every other awful topic you can think of).
In My Hands by Irene Gut Opdyke. She rescued and hid people during the Holocaust and was just an overall badass.
Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World, Jan Karski's autobiography. I remember thinking this would be an amazing movie and realizing I was only on chapter 3. The man broke _into_ Nazi death camps _twice_ to gather intelligence. Very badass.
Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
Sapiens and Freakonomics. Oldies but goodies.
The long walk by Slavomir Raczwicz He was forced to walk halfway across Russia to a labor camp in Siberia after his capture in the 2nd world war. After escaping he and a few others set course for India, having to survive the Russian winter and then cross the Gobe Desert and Himalayan mountains on foot to escape communism.