Favorite Non-Fiction Author?

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DATo
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Re: Favorite Non-Fiction Author?

Post by DATo »

1) Bruce Catton - Wrote the Civil War trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road and A Stillness at Appomattox. For the last book he received the Pulitzer.

also,

2) Barbara Tuchman - Wrote The Guns Of August for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, as well as The Proud Tower which was written as a series of essays about different aspects of the world during the period 1895 - 1914. She also wrote A Distant Mirror which told the life of a specific knight during the 100 Years War (14th century).

3) Will Durant - Wrote a wonderful little book called The Story of Philosophy, which was my introduction to this subject as a very young man. Durant writes in a manner which makes the subjects he writes about accessible to everyone. He also wrote an eleven volume series a books titled The Story Of Civilization which I happen to own, in which he describes history not only in terms of leaders and wars but concentrates on the detailed day-to-day events of the common people. The time covered is detailed between the beginning of recorded history through the Napolionic era.
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lauraforever
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Post by lauraforever »

Dean Karnazes!!! I hate to run, and all I wanted to do after reading Ultra Marathon Man was pick up a pizza and see how far I could go!
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actorcool
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Post by actorcool »

cristo33,

My favorite non-fiction author is definitely Bill Bryson. If you love reading and traveling, pick up one of his works. Here's a quote:

"Happily, all this suited my father. HIs palate only responded to two tastes-burned and ice ream-so everything suited him so long as it was sufficiently dark and not too startingly flavorful. Theirs truly was a marriage made in heaven, for no one could burn food like my mother or eat it like my dad."

-Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid
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Gerald Chukwu
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Post by Gerald Chukwu »

That should be Robert Greene and Robert Kiyosaki. Those men taught me things about life nobody ever could, not even all the elders in my village.
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lorcan111
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Post by lorcan111 »

Max Hastings. I love WW2 and his books on it at hard to beat.
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admccoy22204
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Post by admccoy22204 »

I'd have to say either James McPherson or Michael Lewis. McPherson tends to write about the Civil War while Lewis tends to focus on Wall St. Both have the ability to take complex and otherwise dry subjects and make them interesting and entertaining without sacrificing relevant information. I believe that if more academic books were written with the abilities that these two demonstrate then students may not complain as much about having to read.
Ladybug23
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Post by Ladybug23 »

Right now it would have to be Jennifer L. Scott, author of the Madame Chic books. I am a bit of a francophile and I love her perspective on being a connoisseur of life, which she learned from her time in Paris.
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NotNative
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Post by NotNative »

I`d recommend Carl Sagan. The Dragons of Eden is one of the best non-fiction books about human mind and its development.
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MissSuzyCruisey
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Post by MissSuzyCruisey »

Walter Issacson, for his detailed and brilliant biographies.
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spleibfritz
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Post by spleibfritz »

Jon Ronson. I absolutely love "So you've been publicly shamed"
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greywalker
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Post by greywalker »

Bart Ehrman. He is a religious scholar, and the focus of his books is on the Bible, the development of Christianity, and issues surrounding them. He is formerly Christian and now identifies as agnostic. His best books are Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted. I enjoy his books because the subject matter is of interest to me. Also, he is very adept at making scholarly issues comprehensible to a layperson without seminary or postgraduate training.
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the biblophile
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Post by the biblophile »

peter ackroid, and Roy porter.
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Insightsintobooks
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Post by Insightsintobooks »

I really enjoyed Jennifer Weiners autobiography Hungry Heart.
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Miguelio
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Post by Miguelio »

Erik Larson. The Devil in the White City I had to read for a class, and that book got me totally hooked. Dead Wake is also amazing!
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jessdingus
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Post by jessdingus »

The only non-fiction book I ever read was Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line by Abby Johnson. It was a great book that everyone who has an opinion about abortion should read.
I never read non-fiction because I'm afraid it will feel like reading a textbook. This book was nothing like that and I was glad I gave it a chance.
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