Nonfiction Book Reviews

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I was discussing books with a coworker the other day (hi, Corrine!) and she told me that she has tried time and again to read nonfiction books because she feels like she should.  After all, you learn so much more from nonfiction than you do fiction, and she wants to learn.

But she says that she can’t get through any nonfiction books because they are all so boor-ring!!!  She said (and I quote), “I start reading, and within minutes, my head is down on my chest, and I’m sleeping.  I just can’t stay awake through those books!”

I used to have that perception of nonfiction books too.  Nonfiction?  No way.  That’s boring, dry stuff!  Let’s read some fiction, where there’s action and storylines and FUN stuff.  Right?  Yeah, I see you nodding your head.  It’s true - fiction is almost universally thought of as the interesting books, and nonfiction as the dry tomes that only desperately dull people read.

Leaving aside the debate of whether I am desperately dull or not (no comments from the peanut gallery!) I think that there are a lot of nonfiction books that do not deserve the title of dull, and that anyone could enjoy reading.  I figured that it was about time I put together a list of my top ten favorite nonfiction books.  None of these books are academic treatises on a subject, I give you my solemn oath.

Most of these books I’ve written reviews of on here; in those cases, I have linked to the reviews.  Also, I am trying to link to a variety of books, so that if you’re not interested in biographies, for example, you might want to read a book about finances or relationships.  So it isn’t that I have ADHD or something (although that is possible…)

Let’s get going, shall we?

1. Marley and Me by John Grogan: If you do not laugh while reading this book, there is a good chance you are dead.  I just thought you should be aware of that.  There could be some sort of freaky sixth sense thing going on here.  I have not watched Marley and Me the movie, so I have zero input on that (although here’s a great review of Marley and Me the movie from another site).  Marley and Me the book is actually the book I ended up recommending to my coworker.  We’ll see if she enjoys it as much as I think she will.
2. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand: No top ten list of mine would be complete without including my other favorite animal nonfiction book, Seabiscuit.  There is a lot more to this book than just Seabiscuit the horse, which at times can seem overwhelming, but it really helps set the stage for horse racing, which makes the racing portions of the book come alive.  Again, I have not watched the movie.  Anyone seeing a trend here?  Hmmm…
3. John Adams by David McCullough: This is one I have not written a review of yet, but it was one of the first nonfiction books that I ever read, and absolutely turned me on to biographies of historical figures, and especially biographies written by David McCullough.  He is a fantastic writer; at the end of John Adams, I actually cried because, you know, John Adams died.  (Hope I didn’t just ruin it for anyone.)  But that’s how strongly McCullough makes you care about his subjects of his books.  I did write a review of his masterpiece, 1776: Illustrated Edition, so check that out.  And no, I did not watch the John Adams movie either, in case you were wondering.
4. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson: There is no way to walk away from this book without feeling inspired, uplifted, and full of the can-do spirit.  Well, I guess you could if you were dead, but didn’t we already go over that?  Anyway, when I read a fiction book of how someone works hard to overcome incredible odds, I nod and smile and think, “Well of course he did!  It’s easy to do that in the fiction world.”  But when I read nonfiction book about a homeless mountain climber building hundreds of schools in the Middle East and doing his part to bring peace to the world…Well, it’s just hard to argue with that, you know?  And even harder to not want to do something yourself to help.
5. Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls: If you’re up for a depressing but touching and truly wonderful memoir, then this is just the book for you.  There is a reason this book was on the New York Bestseller’s list for ages.  If you have not read it before, go forth and read.  I guarantee your complete satisfaction, or your…well, sorry, you’re just screwed.  But really, you should be satisfied.  Most likely.
6. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall: If you’re into polygamy books, then you absolutely must check out Stolen Innocence.  I’ve read most of the polygamy books out there, and I enjoyed this one the most.  Elissa manages to tell her depressing story without being completely depressing and/or bitter to the bitter end.  It is also the best edited out of the polygamy books; some of the other ones could have stood to have a little better editing job done.  If you read one polygamy book, make it this one.
7. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman: In the crowded books-about-relationships field, Five Love Languages is consistently rated one of the top books of the genre.  There is a reason for this: The book plain makes sense.  If you’re in the market for a great book to help you out with your relationship with your loved one, then you must buy this book.  Between Five Love Languages and Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, you honestly cannot go wrong.
8. Hands of My Father by Myron Uhlberg: This is a fantastic memoir of a boy growing up during the Depression, son of two deaf parents.  I will be posting my review of it soon, but suffice it to say that I LOVED it.  Really and truly.  Check it out on Amazon in the meanwhile.  You won’t be sorry.
9. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey: If you’re looking for a book on personal finances (how to manage your money) then this it.  Look no further.  Ramsey manages to make the book not only chockful of interesting information, but also interesting, inspiring, and easy to read.
10. Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe by Robin Kerrod and Carole Stott: Of course I couldn’t put together a list of my favorite nonfiction books without listing an astronomy book.  There are a lot of books that offer collections of space pictures, but I have to say that this the best one I’ve ever come across.  Gorgeous pictures, quality printing job, insightful info…You really can’t get any better than this book for space pictures.

So, did I miss any?  What is your favorite nonfiction book?  And if you say you don’t have one, then get reading!  I’d suggest starting with one the above books.  All are guaranteed to be snore free.

Or something like that…

Hava

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I first heard about Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing “Hoax” by Philip Plait at the local planetarium when my husband and I went to watch a movie called (you guessed it!) “Bad Astronomy.” It was a movie made to show in a planetarium, so as you might imagine, it was not exactly on par with Hollywood blockbusters. But still, it was enjoyable, and I learned a lot from it. It also made me want to read the book.

The premise of Phil Plait’s book, movie, and website (Bad Astronomy at Discover Magazine,) is the fact that there are a lot of flat-out wrong ideas when it comes science, and more especially astronomy.  Plait is working hard to debunk the conspiracy theories that surround things like the moon landing, and to help people realize that there are common myths (like you can only balance an egg on the spring equinox) that are completely untrue.

In short, he’s a skeptic and a debunker of pseudo-science.

Since I enjoy that kind of thing, I really enjoyed the book and the movie.  There were certain things that he covered that I had honestly never thought about.  Take, for example, ships flying around in space.  Watch any famous movie or TV series (like Star Wars or Stargate) and you’ll see ships flying, then slowing down and stopping next to the mother ship (or whatever).  Notice when you watch those scenes that as far as you can see, there is nothing to slow the ship down!

In space, in order for a shuttle to slow down, it has to fire thrusters at the front of the ship in order to produce force that would send them backwards.  Or in the case of them already going forward, a backwards thrust would cause them to slow down and eventually stop.  But in all of the Hollywood movies, the ships simply stop, as if the pilot stepped on the breaks or something.

After Plait pointed this out to me, I have to admit that it’s been bugging me ever since.  If you like sci-fi movies or TV shows, do know that reading this book may take away some of that joy.  Just a head’s up in case this sort of thing would annoy you instead of provoking humor (ha-ha!  This movie is so stupid - it breaks every natural law in the book! kind of humor.)

Some of the other bad science that Plait tackles: UFO’s, naming stars after yourself, the supposed “fake” moon landing, and a whole lot more.  I will say that there was hard-core science in the book in some spots, and since I have a hard time following that sort of thing (science is interesting to me but science doesn’t always make sense to me) I will admit that I skipped some paragraphs.  Anyone who is more of a science geek than me won’t have any problems with it.  For the most part, it was written so that anyone could understand, even the non-science geeks of the world.

And, speaking of science, there are some great science blogs here in the Today.com network that you might want to check out - both Science Fun and Rocket Scientist are well-written and educational blogs in the science field.  Also, I have read and reviewed other astronomy related books here on Nonfiction Lover, like Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe and Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking that you might want to check out if science and astronomy are a passion of yours.

Overall, I give Bad Astronomy 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Whether you’re a science teacher, debunking fiend, or just enjoy astronomy, you’ll love Bad Astronomy.

Havs

Okay, first off, I just wanted to say I have never read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.  I have heard that A Brief History of Time is supposed to be the more technical book out of the two, whereas the The Universe in a Nutshell is geared towards people who are not first and foremost scientists.

It is for that reason that I don’t envision myself ever reading A Brief History of Time, since I hardly understood The Universe in a Nutshell.  Here is an example of a mind-bending point that Hawking makes in Universe:

Yang-Mills theory is an extension of Maxwell theory that describes interactions in two other forces called the weak and strong nuclear forces.  However, ground state fluctuations have a much more serious effect in a quantum theory of gravity.  Again, each wavelength would have a ground state energy.  Since there is no limit to how short the wavelengths of the Maxwell field can be, there are an infinite number of different wavelengths in any region of spacetime and an infinite amount of ground state energy.  Because energy density is, like matter, a source of gravity, this infinite energy density ought to mean there is enough gravitational attraction in the universe to curl spacetime into a single point, which obviously hasn’t happened.
~The Universe in a Nutshell, page 46.

Obviously.

I should confess: My last science class was in the 10th grade, where I took biology.  I’m not exactly a science expert.  But if I understand right, I’m just the type of person Hawking was trying to target with this book - someone interested in science and wanting to learn more about the deeper principles and ideas being explored, but who doesn’t have a PhD in anything, let alone theoretical physics.  (I didn’t realize until I started adding links to that sentence, how many book reviews I’ve written on here about books on science, as compared to books about art [Art books reviewed: 0.]  You can tell what I am really interested in.)

In Hawking’s defense, these ideas are extraordinarily complicated, and that’s not exactly his fault.  I can’t imagine a harder task than trying to explain quantum physics to your average Joe, and that’s what Hawking was attempting to do.

I do give him kudos for sprinkling humor throughout the book.  He talks about bets that he’s made with other scientists on obscure scientific theories, added lots of drawings with little green men in them, and then topped it all off with dry humor comments that added spice to the book.  Here’s an example:

It would be possible to detect the radiation from much smaller and hotter black holes, but there don’t seem to be many of them around.  That is a pity.  If one were discovered, I would get a Nobel Prize.
~The Universe in a Nutshell, page 120.

Oh shucks.  If only there were more black holes in our general vicinity.

I read on Amazon that some people were upset with how much Hawking “dumbed down” the science, and wrote scathing remarks that if you knew anything about science, you could just skip this book because nothing in it would be new.  Apparently, I know less than nothing about science (no surprise there).

In the end, I give The Universe in a Nutshell 4 stars out of 5.  If you’re really into this kind of thing, and have the patience to try to unravel some of the theories that Hawking presents, then by all means, enjoy.  There is a lot of information to digest here, if you have the grits and determination to do it.  I liked learning what I could from it, but I doubt I’ll pick it up again.

Hava

PS If you are a fan of all things science like I am, make sure to check out a blogger in the Today.com network who also happens to be a rocket scientist.  Her blog rocks, and is not only informative, but very funny. Hi Stephanie!

Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe by Robin Kerrod & Carole Stott is a flat-out gorgeous book.  I picked it up because the front cover was eye catching and because my inner child still wants to grow up and be an astronaut.

And I fell in love with it from page one.  I have always been a huge astronomy fan, starting from when I would take long walks with my father out in the desert. We’d look at the different constellations, with him giving me info on each one.

So it’s not surprising that I’d be interested in a book about the Hubble telescope.  What is surprising is how much I learned from the book, and how much I enjoyed reading it.  Some of the pictures taken by Hubble are jaw dropping.  Spread over two pages, they are colorful, gorgeous snapshots of deep space.

The pictures are the best part of this book, but that’s not to say that the text isn’t interesting.  The book was loaded with everything from black holes to pulsar stars, and the history behind each discovery.  I felt as if I had taken an in-depth astronomy class by time I finished reading the book.  Even better, it wasn’t dry, boring facts, just thoroughly engrossing reading.

I was really excited to find a site online that allowed me to download a picture from the inside of the book.  Now granted, this picture isn’t one of the larger ones, and it isn’t as colorful as some of the other pictures, and it’ll definitely lose something in translation (from the book to the website to my computer to my website to your computer - whew!!) but at least it gives you an idea of what the book offers.

Isn’t that a cool picture?  One of the things that I was excited to find out is that none of the pictures in the book were “touched up” to provide brighter or more eye-catching colors.  All of the pictures were published exactly how the galaxies look in outer space.  I had no idea our universe was so colorful!

So whether you’re a homeschooling mom who wants to do a section on space, or just someone with even a mild interest in astronomy and the universe, you really need to pick this one up!  I honestly cannot think of a single thing to change about it.  I enjoyed the book from beginning to end.

A rare 5 out of 5 stars for Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe.  Kudos to Robin Kerrod and Carole Stott for a job well done.

Havs