Almost forgot this board existed. Can anyone recommend some good non-fiction books? I recently realized that I waste too much time on the subway and need something to read, preferably something non-fiction so I can feel like I'm learning something.
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Anonymous2009-01-13 20:26
Niccolò Machiavelli.
awesome for subways.
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Anonymous2009-01-13 23:00
>>2
I'm assuming that you're referring to The Prince? I'll have to check it out, I've been meaning to read it.
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Anonymous2009-01-14 1:24
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. By Simon Winchester.
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Anonymous2009-01-14 13:55
>>3
yes.
ok, shit maybe useless nowadays. It's like reading Sun Tzu. Still, it's fucking great to read. you feel like you are ready to conquer the world.
>>7
I can't stand moral philosophy, "morality represents the way we'd like the world to work, whereas economics can show how the world really does work", quoted from some economist.
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Anonymous2009-01-17 3:38
>>5
Just finished reading it and it actually relates pretty well to current events, though must I admit that I'm probably not in the right career path to make good use of it.
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Anonymous2009-01-17 5:32
>>8
While true, economics is a much more boring discipline than philosophy. But your post implies you're some kind of die-hard economist so I have no idea what you're doing turning a literature discussion into a debate about societal structure.
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Anonymous2009-01-19 22:31
>>7
Eugh fuck Kant.
Reading Plato's dialogues are much less like pulling teeth.
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Anonymous2009-01-21 23:57
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
Stiff by Mary Roach.
...Actually anything by either of these authors is usually both vastly entertaining and somewhat informative. Especially Bryson.