Classics Without All the Class discussion

One of our members Aadi is looking for recommendations of books on current affairs. I know you guys and gals have some titles up your sleeves...pull them out here.

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't This one is by Nate Silver and he predicted the 2012 election almost exactly and this book is about the science behind his predictions.

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power This one takes the reader from the Vietnam war to the present and talks about how big the American military has gotten.

I am really looking forward to the recommendations that others post. I enjoy reading news articles and would love to read more books in this category.

Actually my husband is listening to Nate Silver's book and really liking it.

I enjoy reading books that focus on current events and mostly follow the non-fiction genere. I have enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point and Outliers. I am currently listening to the Signal in the Noise, and I do find it intriguing and very interesting, but he does seem to get a little longwinded. Its a good explanation on some of the current events such as the recession and also the elections. For the books I tend to read it will be in my top ten for a while.

Try Game Change -- it's all about the 2008 election. It's definitely not as stiff as other titles in the genre can be.

I recently read Ted Kennedy's True Compass. It's an interesting insight into the family as well as liberal politics in America. I also currently have Marco Rubio's book on my to-read shelf.

Guns, Germs, and Steel is supposed to be a other good one.

I'm a big fan of politics, current events, and international relations so these kinds of books are right up my alley. I also have to say that sometimes there are a lot of books out there that give critical insight into those topics that might not be filed directly under "politics" or "culture." Orhan Pamuk's Snow is fictional but is rooted in Turkish culture and politics, same goes for The Master and the Margarita in regards to Russia in the 1930's.

Oh, I also loved "How Soccer Explains the World" by Franklin Foer.

Hope that made sense. It's about 5am and I haven't slept for a few hours!

In the realm of international affairs, I recommend We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, which is pretty funny and yet truly depressing, Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan, for a good overview of "the surge" in Afghanistan, and Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, or any other book by Robert Kaplan.

I agree with the poster above about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks -- it was well written and covered some interesting topics.

The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine tells the story of a very courageous woman. And Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, while written a decade or more ago, is still an interesting read on women in Islamic societies.

A book that I can't recommend enough if anyone is interested in the Arab/Israeli conflict is The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan, a veteran journalist.