<p>I am wondering if anyone has any good, nonfiction book selections for D. She’s not much of a reader (for pleasure) and she’s trying to change that.</p>
<p>She prefers nonfiction to fiction – doesn’t care for Twilight or any of the other stuff that’s often popular with teen girls.</p>
<p>She recently watched a series of documentaries on CNBC that had things like “How Coca-Cola is made” or “how xyz brands market themselves” or “the rise and fall of a trend” - things that were sort of current-eventy or historical or how-stuff-is-made, but not history-book stuff per se. I don’t really know how to describe this genre very well.
She has enjoyed both Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics, if that gives somewhat of a clue. Maybe along the idea of Mythbusters if Mythbusters was in book form. </p>
<p>She might enjoy the weird stories of neurological disorders by Oliver Sacks. (The Man who mistook his wife for a Hat is one.) I thought they were fascinating. </p>
<p>She might enjoy Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference or Outliers: The Story of Success.</p>
<p>Haven’t read it, but I think I heard the author interviewed on NPR: *Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions *by Zachary Shore.</p>
<p>She might be interested in Chew on This by Eric Schlosser. Here is one review (shown on Amazon’s webpage)
“From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up An important addition to most libraries. Useful for health classes and nutrition units, it will also be an eye-opener for general readers who regularly indulge at the Golden Arches. An adaptation of Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (Houghton, 2001), Chew on This covers the history of the fast-food industry and delves into the agribusiness and animal husbandry methods that support it. From the 37-day life of the pre-McNugget chicken to the appallingly inhumane conditions of slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants, the author lays out the gruesome details behind the tasty burgers and sandwiches. Equally disturbing is his revelation of the way that the fast-food giants have studied childhood behavior and geared their commercials and free toy inclusions to hook the youngest consumers. The text is written in a lively, lay-out-the-facts manner. Occasional photographs add bits of visual interest, but the emphasis here is on the truth about soda pop and obesity, fries and lies. Schlosser is a crusader writing with an obviously strong purpose. While at times veering toward the inflammatory edge, he backs up and documents all of his points, ensuring that his insights will incite”</p>
<p>I have known a number of teenagers who enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Some of the nonfiction I’ve enjoyed most in the past year:</p>
<p>-Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach (not for the squeamish, but really fascinating!)</p>
<p>-The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, by A. J. Jacobs (hilarious AND informative)</p>
<p>Some biographies:
Farewell to Manzanar
The Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass
Night (Wiesel)
The Diary of A Young Girl
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mein Kampf</p>
<p>I don’t read much fiction anymore. What I like in nonfiction are biographies (Churchill’s autobiography- My Early Life- is funny at many points), political books by good writers, and archeology tales (Walking the Bible is one I can think of). As to biographies, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt are interesting (Doris Kearns Goodwin is an interesting writer and wrote one on them), and biographies on the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor are also interesting. I also read only part of Bill Clinton’s autobiography (it is long) and it was a good read until it was overdue at the library. I don’t pick people that I necessarily admire, but who had interesting lives. I also liked “The Snowball” about Warren Buffet. Others that come to mind - Oswald’s Tale by Norman Mailer; books by Joseph Ellis about our early presidents; Liar’s Poker (about financial crisis a couple of decades ago). McCullough is good too (see post above).</p>
<p>These may not be what she thinks she likes, but just a few suggestions. I used to read only fiction, and kind of stumbled into different reading a while ago.</p>
<p>I have found that helping the best way to help a child become a reader is to find out what kinds of books they enjoy reading. In your case, non-fiction. Then, start out with relativily “easy reads”…like Freakonomics. Mein Kampf is a difficult and hard to read book. I am not sure that it would inspire anyone to say “I am a reader” after reading it. Don’t get me wrong, it should be read. My S is currently slogging through parts of it for his term paper in history…he hates reading it. And he loved Freaknomics. </p>
<p>So with that in mind, I offer the following books…maybe I should say here that I was a math major in college. I couldn’t stand english and the taking apart of a good book to talk about plots or character growth, etc. I like a good read! So, no flames on how light and fluffy my reading is…I get enough of that from my sister who has a PhD from Oxford in English (of some type).</p>
<p>So, try:
Three Cups of Tea - Mortenson - About building schools in Pakistan - There is a second one by him also.</p>
<p>Outliers - My kids all loved this</p>
<p>Through the Eyes of Innocents - Werner - Diaries of children in WWII (not jewish children)</p>
<p>Fire Burn - Irene White - autobiography (or diary) of a young female chemical Engineer in Latvia who graduates just before WWII</p>
<p>The Stranger beside Me - Ann Rule - About Ted Bundy, the serial Killer - Of course she has written tons of this type of book.</p>
<p>Heat - Mario Batali</p>
<p>A cooks Tour - Anthony Bourdain</p>
<p>Art of Happiness by the Dala Lama</p>
<p>The year of living Biblically - I second this…it was a great read!</p>
<p>Good Luck…Let us know what she liked so we can brainstorm some more!</p>
<p>Seconding Erik Larson’s books - also check out his “Isaac’s Storm” about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Fascinating mix of science and history.</p>
<p>My youngest loves Simon Winchester’s books, especially “The Professor and the Madman” about the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and one of its major contributors, who just happened to be a murderer, committed to an asylum.</p>
<p>Jared Diamond writes great, page-turning non-fiction that draws on a variety of fields in hard and social sciences - I think “Guns, Germs and Steel” is especially wonderful, but I also recommend “The Third Chimpanzee” and “Collapse.”</p>
<p>Susan Orlean is a wonderful writer, too - “The Orchid Thief” is the only full-length book of hers I’ve read, but her New Yorker articles are terrific.</p>
<p>How about Sarah Vowell? Marvelous humorist who explores American history in her own memorably quirky way. I especially liked “Assassination Vacation” and “The Wordy Shipmates.” She is so funny that I once had to pull over to the side of the road when I heard her reading a selection on the radio because I was laughing too hard to drive.</p>
<p>Also highly recommended: the essay collections of the late, great David Foster Wallace, including “Consider the Lobster” and “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.”</p>
<p>I was just going to suggest Sarah Vowell. Great stuff. I also wanted to suggest The River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelt and his trip down the Amazon. That was some trip.</p>
<p>Many good suggestions. I’m a writer and voracious reader – prefer non-fiction, too – and agree that reading about something you’re interested in is important. Another important fact is GOOD, engaging, WRITING. Harder to find than some think.</p>
<p>I would recommend Kitchen Confidential instead of the other book. Much more engaging style. Real insiders kind of thing.</p>
<p>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is dated and a real “guy” book. Sorry for being so sexist.</p>
<p>Three Cups of Tea is a wonderful story, but the writing is stilted and poor. Makes for very rough going if not interested in the subject.</p>
<p>I’d recommend these by Tracy Kidder: Strength in What Remains, which is the community reading this year at many colleges, House, and the classic, Soul of a New Machine. [Tracy</a> Kidder](<a href=“http://www.tracykidder.com/]Tracy”>http://www.tracykidder.com/)</p>
<p>Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik is a fantastic book. Some are reworked essays from the New Yorker. He was the Paris correspondent for the magazine, and many chapters can be read stand alone. The chapter on French v. American gyms and ideas of exercise is very funny. An theme of PTM is how we learn more about our own country than the country we visit when we travel.</p>
<p>If she likes sports: Outcasts United.
Science: Botany of Desire
Stormy Weather – Hilarious, dark comedy about the carpetbaggers that come to Florida after a hurricane by a Miami Herald columnist and Florida native. You can’t make this stuff up!
Cod - Mark Kurlansky If a writer can make a subject one has no interest in, then the writing has to be fantastic.
Just for fun: The Spellman Files. Very lively, hilarious-boiled detective novel. Very up to date. Not a cozy English mystery.</p>
<p>I loved Three Cups of Tea. I also think that The World if Flat and Hot, Flat & Crowded, both by Thomas Friedman, are very relevant to our world now.</p>
<p>My younger son and I both read My Early Life by Winston Churchill this summer and loved it. Probably helps to be a bit of a history buff.</p>
<p>Count me in as someone who did not get Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at all. My partner in a yearlong crosscountry trip thought we ought to read it for inspiration, but I just thought it was booooooring.</p>
<p>I think Thomas Friedman is full of himself. (Just listened to a bit of his World is Flat on audio and couldn’t stand him), but my younger son likes him a lot. </p>
<p>I agree Jared Diamond is a great read and very interesting.</p>
<p>I also enjoyed most of Stephen J. Gould’s collections of essays. (Mostly about evolution.)</p>