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In reply to the discussion: I need everyone's help again with a book list. This one is Top 5 books you've read. [View all]
econoclast
(543 posts)Dune - Herbert
The attractions and dangers of the messianic urge
Silent Coup - Colodny & Gettlin
Maybe its true ... Maybe its BS. But you'll never think about Nixon, John Dean and Watergate in the same way again
Protector - Niven
Not your typical alien invasion sci fi. I love Niven's aliens. How can you not like a book whose central character is named "Phssthpok"?
Chaos - Gleick
How grad students invent a new branch of mathematics. Makes you rethink "random"
Eiger Dreams - Krakauer
By turns awe inspiring and hilarious
The Country of the Blind - Flynn
Best 'secret society runs the world' sci fi. The premise is so you obvious it makes you wonder why it isn't true.
A Time for Trumpets - MacDonald
WW2 history. Battle of the Bulge. All the things my father wouldn't tell me about his experience in WW2. For a more personal treatment "Company Commander" also by MacDonald
Holy Blood Holy Grail - Baiget, Leigh & Lincoln
Second best 'secret society runs the world' fiction that purports to be history
Born to Run - McDougall
Distance Running, sneakers, physical anthropology, Caballo Blanco and Mas Locos. This book inspired Flea ( Red Hot Chili Peppers ) to run a marathon.
The Reckoning - Halberstam
Everything wrong and right about American industry as told through the prism of Ford vs Datsun/Nissan
A Tour of the Calculus - Berkinski
Yes ... An actual calculus book! ( no equations ) I have several years of higher math under my belt, but I never really "got it" in a visceral way until I read this. What calculus really is, and why it is important.
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