Insightful Reading Recommendation.... Anyone?

[goeasy123]

Can you recommend any good non-fiction books, websites or other forms of media to read on long passages? Subject matter...

Modern Philosophy... Like Nassim Taleb's Black Swan.
Economics and Geopolitics... Like Prisoners of Geography or Silk Road.
Society and Psychology... Like Kahnaman's Fast and Slow or David Willett's The Pinch.

.... not Amazon's 'if you like'd that you might also like this' list. Something really insightful and off the beaten track.

 

[25931]

You could do worse than Orwell's non fiction - some thought provoking stuff

 

[goeasy123]

You could do worse than Orwell's non fiction - some thought provoking stuff

Good one.... We're heading for Spain. I'll try Homage to Catalonia.

 

[25931]

Good one.... We're heading for Spain. I'll try Homage to Catalonia.

I don't know if it's still available but I have the complete works in 1 vol.

 

[GHA]

John Gray's Straw Dogs maybe.

Or Sapiens.

 

[capnsensible]

Two I kindled on a long trip and provide food for thought;

If Only They Didnt Speak English. Jon sopel on the USA.

Progress: Ten Reasons To Look Forward To The Future. Johan Norberg. The better side of world development.

For an illustration of the past, another.

Harrys War. Harry Drinkwater. Real life on the front in WW1, not the mish mash of popular misconception.


Gawd bless KIndle, the sailors friend!!

Enjoy your trip.

 

[LittleSister]

I think you might enjoy the London Review of Books. It is a fortnightly subscription publication with well written, in-depth, articles by knowledgeable people about an amazing range of subjects. Topics (typically 15 or so in each edition) range across history, geography, economics, psychology, current affairs, (of less interest to me) arts and literature, and more besides.

Part of the delight of it is having issues and subjects you haven't even been aware of brought to your attention, and having received wisdom questioned and explored in more depth. Current edition has the case for universal basic income; VD in the 18th century; Vietnam 1945-1975; insurrection and a treason trial in late 18th/early 19th century England; the history of Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear bombs; divisions in current and post-war Germany; plus others including novels, poetry and art exhibitions. There was a particularly interesting article in the last edition highlighting research showing some groups in society (e.g. old and poor) are less rational in their decision making, and what this might mean for economics and politics.

Articles are often based on a critical review of a book or group of books, so you get a summary of a book or topic (which might either lead you to get the book itself, or save you having to read it) as well as an appreciation of its strengths/weaknesses and how it relates to other views on the topic. There is also original writing such as Alan Bennett's diaries.

Subscription (£40pa currently) gives you online access to a vast archive of past articles (as well as the current edition), plus audio and video, which are searchable by date, author, topic, etc. You can read a few (3?) articles without subscribing. If you subscribe you get a hard copy delivered, and each year can nominate someone else to receive a free copy. Someone nominated me a few years back, which led me to get my own subscription.

https://www.lrb.co.uk

(I've no connection other than as a satisfied subscriber.)

 

[Stingo]

.
Economics and Geopolitics...{snip} or Silk Road.

Author?

 

[Poignard]

"Diplomacy". Henry Kissinger

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power, by Niall Ferguson.
Origins: How the Earth Made Us, by Lewis Dartnell

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
both by Dan Dennett.

How the Mind Works, by Stephen Pinker.

 

[TonyMS]

I've recently enjoyed The Patterning Instinct by Jeremy Lent. Available on Kindle

Also How we Talk, by NJ Enfield, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Tony

Razzmatazz

 

[DaveRo]

'The Balkans' by Mark Mazower describes how the European bit of the Ottoman empire ended up with the 'nations' (a novel concept at the time) we have now. And if you have a really long passage, 'The Holy Roman Empire' by Peter Wilson does the same for the whole of Europe.

I don't think this sort of history book works well on the Kindle though - you need to keep referring to the maps.

I enjoyed 'The Last Spike' about the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway: engineering, politics, finance, ego...

 

[Old Bumbulum]

Almost anything by Laurens Van Der Post; philosophical musings and some of the best writing about Africa, it's wildlife, the San people and their fascinating history and legends. He mentored Prince Charles on some in some of the more mystic and spiritual aspects of life. A true Great.

The Shamaneh by Fedorsky - the ancient Persian Book of Kings.

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Total, gripping escapism with considerable philosophical and theological undertones.

 

[steve yates]

John Gray's Straw Dogs maybe.

Or Sapiens.

Definitely! Especially straw dogs. I was going to post these two plus Telling our way to the sea by Aaron Hirsh.

 

[asteven221]

John Gray's Straw Dogs maybe.

Or Sapiens.

Just read Sapiens.

A really fantastic book, which really got me thinking about humanity and where we could be going in the future. Incredibly well researched and written. highly recommended - by me at least.

 

[truscott]

Peacemakers. Six Months that Changed The World: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War. by Margret McMillan.

 

[beermonkey]

Philosophy

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
Ethics, The Selected Letters - Spinoza
The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Modern Man in Search of a Soul - Carl Gustav Jung
Tao Te Ching - Lao-tzu (From a translation by S. Mitchell)
Maps of Meaning - Jordan B Peterson

Economics

Capital in the 21 Century- Thomas Piketty
(never hurts to re-read Marx just to see how wrong he is)

Society

The GOD Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Master and his Emissary - Iain McGilchrist

 

[goeasy123]

Author?

Sorry. I meant The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

 

[goeasy123]

****. This thread is going to cost me a fortune. Thanks everyone.

beermonkey, have you read all of these. You must be a very clever person? They say that if they got every 15 year old to read Piketty's 'Capital...etc.' the banking industry would collapse. And Marx... he wasn't quite as wrong as the people who 'quoted' him.

I see 3 votes for Sapiens.

 

[beermonkey]

Hi Andy, yes, I have read them all - and no, definitely not clever, hence having to read so much to help my much befuddled and limited mind!

I would add to that list anything by Christopher Hitchens (RIP) - guaranteed to make you think, if you want a recommendation (and something sure to be controversial) try this : The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice