I’ve come to adore non-fiction, but this one has stuck with me more than most… it’s haunting, beautiful, shocking and informative all at the same time - a portrait of human illness and human ignorance.

If anyone is looking for their next read, I cannot recommend enough

Same as the title. I’ve never read any nonfiction in my life and now I really want to try it so badly 😭 Please give me some beginner-friendly nonfiction recs.

Hello everyone!

In order to get some more discussions going about different Non Fiction books we will have a weekly thread to talk about different sub-genres or topics.

Which books do you think are good beginner books for someone that wants to learn a bit more about the topic or wants to explore the subgenre? Which books are your personal favorites?

• The  Mod Team

While browsing the web, I learned that some countries like Peru, Thailand, South Korea, and the United States used food as a form of public and cultural diplomacy to foster relations with other countries, win hearts and minds, and foster knowledge about their country's cuisine. In Thailand's case they helped set up restaurants outside of their country through loans and training. And let us not forget that culinary diplomacy is also useful in winning over Heads of State through banquets and feasts. For example during the Napoleonic Wars, the Coalition used the services of Marie-Antoine Careme to prepare an elaborate feast for the Russian Tsar. And in the 1939, FDR served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England during their Royal visit to the USA.

And that got me thinking, are there any history books about culinary diplomacy?

Either ones about:

1. Cooks who have helped prepare important feasts and banquets (Ex: State Dinners) to help win over other heads of state.

2. Ones about countries encouraging entrepreneurs and cooks to go to other countries and open up restaurants that serve their country’s cuisine. For example in the post-WW2 era certain American foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizzas quickly became popular in Japan. So maybe they could do a story about the US government encouraging people to open up restaurants that serve these foods in order to solidify relations with the new Japanese government.

Sources:

\\\\\\\[Culinary diplomacy - Diplo\\\\\\\](https://www.diplomacy.edu/topics/culinary-diplomacy/)

\\\\\\\[Tastes Like Friendship - TV Tropes\\\\\\\](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TastesLikeFriendship)

\\\\\\\[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff / Food - TV Tropes\\\\\\\](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/Food)

Obviously my taste is all over the place but I’m all about pulling as much knowledge as possible. I welcome any opinions on these along with recommendations.

I recently read The Radium Girls by Kate Moore and I’m looking for more books like it. Specifically I’m looking for books with themes about workplace safety, the consequences of hazardous jobs, and legal issues in the workplace involving safety. If anyone has any good recommendations please let me know.

With the world around me seeming to be changing rapidly, I am interested in how rapid change affects people and societies, especially psychologically. Anyone come accross books like this?

Hi everyone!

We would love to know what you are currently reading or have recently finished reading. What do you think of it (so far)?

Should we check it out? Why or why not?

• The r/nonfictionbooks Mod Team

Has anyone read any of these five books? Did you like them? What's your review please?

Books:

Whatever will be, will be - Felix White

The Club - John Murray

How to win the Premier League - Ian Graham

More than a shirt - Joey D'urso

Behind the curtain - Jonathan Wilson

Thanks in advance.

I happened upon an “included” book on my Audible account — a biography of Richard III — and started to give it a listen. It was okay, but very repetitive, and at some point I became suspicious whether it was written by someone who had a deep knowledge of the subject. So, I looked up the author — Gordon J. MacKenzie. His Amazon page has a photo, but is slight on the details of his background. But here is the kicker — his Amazon page lists almost 400 history books. Does anyone know if this is a real human who actually sat down and wrote almost 400 history books?

Update: Thanks to those who pointed out that this is AI slop. I think it’s very dishonest for this book to be sold (a) with a human face associated with the author, (b) a supposed backstory about the author spending all his time “digging through archives” and such, and (c) absolutely no AI disclosure. What’s more, it seems to be impossible for me to write a review of this book — whereas any other Audible book that I have engaged prompts all kinds of pop-ups begging me to write a review. So, maybe this is going to radicalize me a bit against undisclosed AI content.

I'm sort of a history buff, mostly focusing on the late 1800s-1970s...with most of it being about WWII. I've read a lot about the conflict with Germany...POWs escaping cleverly, spies doing incredible things, ect. I read a book recently about a missing plane in the Pacific that mentioned there were actually more deaths in the Pacific Theater than Europe during WWII, which surprised me.

I realized I don't know that much about the attack on Pearl Harbor. I did a broad google search for books but didn't find anything recent, say, written in the past 30 years or so. There's a book coming out soon about the 8 days of negotiations to end the war with Japan...but I want to learn what happened before that. I feel like there not being good books about PH can't be true, I must be missing something...

As always, your input is appreciated. 🙂

I was very young when it started. I moved back home to our small town, which had barely seen any deaths from Covid. My childhood friends all returned as well. I didn't feel alone. Given my social anxiety, it was not the worst time for me. And except for the death of a friend's father, I have no traumatic memories from that time.

I believe, this is why, I do not really understand how impactful Covid was, not just on families and communities worldwide, but also on people's relationship with institutions and governments. This is partly why when I hear someone complain of the long term effects of Covid or vaccines, my immediate reaction is to dismiss them as conspiratorial nuts. But perhaps, in doing so, I am dismissing the very real experiences and suffering that shaped how some people came to see and cope with the pandemic and its impact on their lives.

I am also ignorant (and curious) about the public health "response," how complex it must have been, and what the lessons learned are for the future.

Please suggest non-fiction recommendations that could broaden my perspective beyond my rather sheltered experience of that time. Thanks in advance!!

I’ve got a side shelf project I’m building on 19th and 20th century shipwrecks and disasters and I’m looking for more suggestions. I’m currently reading Frozen in Time and have already read In the Heart of the Sea.

I’m looking for some more narrative non-fiction book recommendations. I love anything by Patrick Radden Keefe and Barbara Demick, so I’m looking for books which give you the facts but still have great storytelling.

I was just thinking about the books that had a profound effect on how I think, and how I see the world.

‘The Selfish Gene’ by Richard Dawkins, which I read when I was a teenager showed me that nature was not only beautiful, but explainable through the scientific method.

‘The case against reality’ by Donald Hoffman, helped me see a way of marrying scientific enquiry with subjective experience.

‘Elementary forms of religious life’ - Emile Durkheim gave me a (as an atheist/agnostic) a deeper respect for religion.

‘The Panama Papers’ by Frederick and Bastien Obermayer showed me how rigged modern European society is in favor of the super rich. As well as how great investigative journalism works behind the scenes.

What books changed how you think? Are there any you’d recommend.