This is my second discussion post for Non-Fiction November, an exciting event celebrating non-fiction hosted by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness and Leslie at Regular Ruminations. Every Monday this month, a discussion question will be posted. Then each Friday there will be a link-up for discussion posts and non-fiction reviews, with each linky entry entered in a prize drawing at the end of the month! Today’s topic is…

Be the Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert: Share a list of nonfiction books on a topic you know a lot about. Or, ask for some advice for books on a particular topic. Or, put together a list of nonfiction books on a topic you’re curious about.

As someone who does a lot of science reading for work, I’m surprised that I can still enjoy reading about science for fun. Fortunately, in popular science books compared to professional papers there are far fewer details and far more attempts to make the subject interesting to the non-expert. As such, they can require far less brain power to read and can be enjoyed by a much wider audience. If you don’t have a science background, but are interested in what the life of a scientist it like or are interested in a topic like sports or politics that some scientific analysis can help explain, here are some books I’d recommend for you:

 The Signal and The Noise is written by a statistician who created a model that does an impressive job predicting election winners. He includes lots of great graphs that make complex topics much easier to follow. In addition to learning about stats, you’ll learn all sorts of fun facts that people have discerned using statistical methods.

Microcosm does the best job of any book I’ve read at giving a glimpse into the life of a scientist. Especially for biologists, the day-to-day work can be rote and mundane, but the big picture is awe-inspiring. If you’re thinking of going into the sciences, this would be a great book to read.

The Sports Gene was so well written that it was easy to follow even though I knew nothing about the topic before I started and it was interesting even though sports aren’t my favorite subject. I was also very impressed by the nuanced conclusions the author drew. He also handled sensitive issues like race and gender with great delicacy.

The Lives of a Cell is a collection of short but thought-provoking essays which was sometimes humorous, sometimes inspiring, and always an insightful, approachable look at some of the wonders of biology. I would particularly recommend this to people who do lab work because it’s a great reminder of how wonderful biology is, even the things that become rote in the lab.

The Emperor of All Maladies is elegantly written, with both scientific precision and human empathy, both historical interest and fascinating stories about people. It’s also one of the best written books I’ve ever read.

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Today is my first post for Non-Fiction November, an exciting event celebrating non-fiction hosted by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness and Leslie at Regular Ruminations. Every Monday this month, a discussion question will be posted. Then each Friday there will be a link-up for discussion posts and non-fiction reviews, with each linky entry entered in a prize drawing at the end of the month! Today’s topic is

Nonfiction Favorite(s): What is your favorite piece of nonfiction? Or, if you can’t pick just one, share several of your best nonfiction reads.

Favorite books… always such a tough question! I think what all of my favorite non-fiction books have in common is that they tell a fascinating story about people in the past and/or  they’re about something of particular interest to me. If going to go add one book to your to-read list after you finish this post, my choice would be for you to add Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. This book included all of the things I look for in really good non-fiction about an issue relevant to  my life: personal stories, research-backed ideas, and actionable advice. I was shocked by the pervasiveness of (mostly) unconscious descrimination against women that still exists today and I’d love to see more people made aware of what they can do about it.

 Some other books I like include humorous women’s memoirs about problems relevant to me such as Some Nerve about being brave or How To Be a Woman about feminism…

Engaging histories like The Black Count about the real-life inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo and the beautifully illustrated The Civil War in 50 Objects…

And finally books on science that are tangentially related to research I do or have done, such as the surprisingly accessible books The Signal and the Noise on big data and The Emperor of All Maladies about cancer.

And there you have it – some of my best recommendations in the non-fiction genre. If you have a topic on which you wish I’d recommend something, just ask in the comments Now, let’s all go forth and read non-fiction!

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1 – Orient Yourself in Time
My biggest problem when I started reading was that I really wanted to learn something from this book, but I had no prior knowledge of what was happening in the late 1500′s.  I also didn’t know much about when other important events took place in relation the the 1500′s.  Fortunately, I’m not as totally hopeless about history as I may sound, so I was pretty sure I just needed to find a website that gave me a timeline of events to help give me some context.  While searching, I came across this wonderful website which lets you view important world events broken down by era and geographical region.  For instance, I learned that living the late 1500′s Tycho and Kepler were living after the war of the roses, the Spanish Armada, the gun powder plot, and Joan of Arc.  It was really helpful and I highly recommend this as a place to start if you’re feeling lost in time!  

2 – Orient Yourself in Space
I hate to say this, buy my knowledge of geography is far slimmer than my knowledge of history – terrifying, I know!  Luckily, maps are an obvious and simple solution to that problem (I used this one).  Although the answer is quite clear, I wanted to bring it up anyway just to emphasize how much more enjoyable reading can be when you really get what’s going on.  And for someone as geographically challenged as myself, a map is essential for truly understanding the setting in which everything is taking place.

3 – Wikipedia is Your Friend (or If You Don’t Know, Don’t Keep Reading)
My list would certainly not be complete without mentioning wikipedia.  Use it.  Love it.  And don’t, don’t, don’t skim over references you don’t get.  You lose out on so much of the depth of the story if you do!

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