The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

A thread to talk about all things non-fiction (books and articles)

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I used to read more non-fiction than I do now. From the time I was in college until around five years ago, that's basically all I read. Since then, especially since becoming involved in this group, the composition has changed with fiction accounting for 90%+ of my reading list.

As for what I read -- uh, probably more dystopian non-fiction than is healthy. I just started How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them by Barbara F. Walter and have read a number of other depressing titles in recent years, with Edward Luce's The Retreat of Western Liberalism kicking off this pessimistic trend. (I now keep up with Luce's writing in articles at the Financial Times, when not paywalled).

When I'm not reading cheerful books like this, I like to read economics (the dismal science), history & genealogy (the dustier the better), and whatever else I am currently obsessed with at the moment, which is subject to whim, always changing and sometimes completely random (I tend to go down rabbit holes).

I am interested in hearing from others about your interest (or lack of) in non-fiction.

I love reading non-fiction! It makes up about 30 to 40 percent of my annual reading. I enjoy history, exploration, travel, memoirs, biographies, science, mathematics, psychology/mental health, business, and books related to the arts.

I enjoy pairing a non-fiction and fiction on the same topic. I also go down rabbit holes when I find a new area of interest.

Great idea, Debra, not that I read nonfiction.

Joy D wrote: "I enjoy pairing a non-fiction and fiction on the same topic. I also go down rabbit holes when I find a new area of interest."

I do the same. I am still not finished with After Sappho!

I used to read a lot more non-fiction than I do now. Biographies, memoirs, books about walking, climbing and the natural world, history, popular science, music, politics, a little literary criticism and sport (mainly cricket and mostly dating from my teens and early 20s). These days there is so much fiction I want to read that I struggle to find time for it.

I'm reading a wonderful collection of newspaper columns by Clarice Lispector at the moment, 'Too Much of Life' (on my phone so no link, sorry) which is going to be one of my books of the year. They're like mini essays.

In NF I read history, essays, also love writers' letters and journals.

I don't think of myself as reading much non-fiction, but I read ~25 non-fiction books last year, so I guess I do actually read a lot more than I realize. I like having a non-fiction book going at the same time as fiction (it's a nice change of pace and I feel like they are much easier to sit down and pick back up in general).

Some favorites of the last year or so:
- We Organize to Change Everything: Fighting for Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice
- The Fire Next Time (my first time reading Baldwin--wow!)
- Me & Other Writing (Marguerite Duras)
- Parenthesis (Élodie Durand)
- The Empathy Exams (Leslie Jamison)
- The Mindfulness Survival Kit: Five Essential Practices (Thich Nhat Hanh)
- Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness (Peter Godfrey-Smith)
- In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)
- The Argonauts (Maggie Nelson)

Yes to rabbit holes, Debra!
:D

Sounds like a great reading list. I've never read Baldwin before, so should add him to my list. This looks like a good book to start with.

I'm intrigued, but a little spooked about the Other Minds book.

Debra wrote: "Sounds like a great reading list. I've never read Baldwin before, so should add him to my list. This looks like a good book to start with.

I'm intrigued, but a little spooked about the Other Minds..."

I'd been meaning to read Baldwin for a while and then this volume popped up in one of the local Little Free Libraries, so I took it as a sign from the reading gods. It's short, but quite powerful.

Other Minds is a fascinating read as it looks at how humans and octopuses separately developed rather complex brains.

How is the civil wars book so far?

The non-fiction I read tends to fall into categories reflecting my interests both professional and personal. These include
nature, the natural world , books about words, language. (These can be on linguistics or tips on language learning). Some books on politics, current events, although I’m more inclined to read articles.Some history, some sociology. And other interests, like mythology

Some good reads I’ve come across in the last few years, with 5 or 4 stars

The Library: A Fragile History Andrew Pettegree. Perhaps a bit too academic for many, but I found it to be fascinating

The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors David George Haskell

Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse Dave Goulson

Field Study: Meditations on a Year at the Herbarium Helen Humphreys

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence Michael Pollan

Essays of E.B. White (listened to as audio book)

Surviving Autocracy. Marsha Gessan

Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now Jaron Lanier

The Heroine with 1001 Faces Maria Tatar

I’ve read more nonfiction than I thought- I find that when I’m working, listening to nonfiction is easier. Probably a throwback to all the notes I took in school.

Currently listening to The Woman Warrior. It’s fascinating- tales from a first generation Chinese woman.

Anything by Baldwin is amazing- fiction or nonfiction.

Most of my professional reading comprises medical journal articles so my escape is to fiction. That said, my non-fiction reading generally falls into one of a few categories: 1. Unsurprisingly- science and medicine ( The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddharth Khosla; Cosmos by Carl Sagan…); 2. Art - Leonardo DaVinci by William Isaacson; Truth and Beauty by S. Chandrasekhar; & 3. History and culture- in particular Im fascinated with Venice, Japan, South Asia, and the Aboriginal peoples of the world. But that said my ratio of fiction:nonfiction is probably 4:1.

I have a lot of nonfiction and start a lot of nonfiction I just rarely finish nonfiction books.

I’ve just listened to Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate, it was wonderful. Not as easy to read while working though. I had to replay long sections, but it was very interesting.

Marc wrote: "How is the civil wars book so far?"

It's good so far, but I am still early in the book (chapter 2). I have read a number of articles by the author (NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian) and watched an interview with her on CNN, and decided to order the book.

Walter has studied a number of civil wars over the years and has identified two key factors that are most predictive of armed conflict:

1. Countries that fall within a zone between democracy and autocracy (so-called anocracies or illiberal democracies). Countries at the extremes (liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes) are less risky than countries in between.

2. Countries with weakened governments and a population deeply divided by identity — by race, ethnicity, or religion. In the US, she is particularly concerned with the tendency of many politicians on the right to embrace an “almost white supremacist strategy” that rallies far-right activists who are willing to take up arms.

Lots of interesting and varied reading interests mentioned above. The Three Rings book looks like an intriguing (and a quick) read.

Debra wrote: "Marc wrote: "How is the civil wars book so far?"

It's good so far, but I am still early in the book (chapter 2). I have read a number of articles by the author (NY Times, Washington Post, The Guar..."

I think I heard the author interviewed on the radio. Re: #2, it seems like the GOP never gave up on the "Southern strategy" mixed in with a little xenophobia/anti-immigration policy... Hope the rest of the book is enlightening/enjoyable.

I met Nixon's campaign advisor, Kevin Phillips, at a book signing in 2006. Phillips was expert on voting patterns and is considered one of the key architects of the Southern Strategy. His controversial and consequential 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority, has served as a blueprint for Republican campaign strategy in the years to come.

Phillips has since had a change of heart and has written a number of books critical of the Republican Party. When I met him in 2006, he was there to promote his book American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. (Interestingly, the last chapter of that book is entitled "The Erring Republican Majority").

My non-fiction reading is broad but I lean to history and political. The Baldwin book Marc mentioned is great. Combining both along with a biography is the marvelous series by Robert A. Caro on Lyndon Johnson. It's been about 10 years since the last installment and I'm hoping Caro finishes the next before either he or I die!

I tend to not read memoirs, although there are two that I absolutely love --
When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine by Monica Wood (love her fiction also), and
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller