Our sweet DS13 is required to read 1000 pages of non-fiction/semester in his Honors Social Studies class. Though he typically devours books, he is finding this particular assignment difficult. This seems a bit surprising as his favorite channels on TV are The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, PBS generally, and even the Travel Channel. He also spends time frequenting philosophy blogs (where college students spend a lot of time.)

Does anyone have any particular suggestions of non-fiction reading that he might find interesting? Though he's fully capable of reading pretty much anything that we could find for him at the library, he's having a difficult time finding books that he is interested enough in to complete. He was reading Fast Food Nation, but didn't finish it and a couple of others that I can't recall at the moment. My husband now has him reading Roots, which he does seem to be enjoying, but I'm concerned that though we found it in the non-fiction section of the library it will be disqualified because it is written as a novel..?

Obviously, I am not well read when it comes to non-fiction myself - except for those fun/informative relationship/temperment books! Not sure that that's what he needs either. Oh! I do recall that he skimmed "Losing our Minds" by Deborah Ruf a couple of years ago and seemed to find that fascinating. He has said that he is not allowed to use books for his assignment that he has previously read though.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Hi, MOTF!

I'm on the fly, but had a quick idea--without knowing more about what he's interested in, it's difficult to make suggestions, but maybe biography or local history? My suggestion, based on your location, is Ivan Doig's Winter Brothers--it's a dual diary of the Seattle writer Ivan Doig (my favourite contemporary writer) and the 1850s Washington settler James Gilchrist Swan. Doig follows Swan's footsteps--maybe you and your son could take a little trip around some of the places, too?

I'll rustle up a couple other ideas for you after I've rustled up Sunday lunch for the peanuts!

minnie

Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods was entertaining.
Maybe Barack Obama or another President's books?

Does it have to be books? Or will magazines do? I know that's a lot of magazines but if he has a hobby or interest, he could get a ways toward this goals by reading several magazines about it. Other thoughts: books about sports heroes, if he's interested in that, and always biographies. You might find books related to the TV shows he watches. Or books like "How things work" might interest him. Or "How to" books, like how to build a pirate ship or Computers for Dummies or even textbooks. And, is the requirement that he finish the book or just read the required number of pages? If he doesn't have to finish, he might get 100 pages from one book and 150 from another. Not an ideal way to read as most books are designed to be read from beginning to end but if it works, it works.

I don't know if that seems helpful, but just looking at it from a different persepective than "read this long book" might give him ideas. I hope you find some things that work.

OK, I'm back, with everyone all fed and watered!

Cast a quick glance around the shelves--any of these do?

-Simon Singh, "The Code Book" (history of codes and ciphers, around the world)

-John MacPhee--anything really, he's so wonderful--how 'bout "Looking for a Ship" about the merchant marine

-Paul Collins, "Sixpence House" (life in a city o'books, in Wales)

-TE Carhart, "The Piano Shop on the Left Bank" (American in Paris gets to know the world of the French atelier--lots of music, history of pianos, tradition of European craftsmanship)

-Richard Fortey, "Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum" (former senior palaeontologist in London's NHM tells behind-the-scenes tales of the artifacts collected and the characters who work there)

-along those same lines, Thomas Hoving wrote a couple of books about the Metropolitan Museum of Art--titles something like Making the Mummies Dance, and King of the Confessors

-Witold Rybczynski, again almost anything because he's great, maybe try "The Most Beautiful House in the World" (architecture in history and social aspects of architecture)

-Thomas Livingstone, "Tommy's War: A First World War Diary" (Glasgow shipping clerk in 1913 starts diary, complete with charming sketches--a picture of life at the time, and how the Great War changed everything)

-Roger Ebert, "Scorsese" (a great critic writes the life of a great director)

-Anthony Lane, "Nobody's Perfect" (a collection of film reviews by a critic who "writes the way Astaire dances")

-travel writing by Bruce Chatwin or Paul Theroux

-art history by Simon Schama (there's a wonderful one about the Dutch gilded age, whose title I can't remember, nor can I lay my hands on the book right this minute--think I loaned it out)

-not to get all political on you, but Barack Obama's "Dreams from my Father" is beautifully written, no matter which side of the aisle you're on

-not to get all religious on you, either, but Obama's fellow Punahou alum Kathleen Norris has written some wonderfully well-written books about spirituality ("Dakota" and "The Cloister Walk" are my favourites)

-AJ Jacobs, "The Know-It-All" (funny guy reads the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and reports back on his findings)

-David Bodanis, "The Secret House: Extraordinary Science of an Ordinary Day" (science about everyday life--pillow mites, electrical fields in your lightbulbs, etc.)

-Harpo Marx (how can I resist?), "Harpo Speaks" (autobiography of the nicest man ever to work in Hollywood)

Dunno--we've got thousands of books here, but thought some of these looked more likely than others for a 13 yo.

Cheers!

minnie

PS Oh, oh, oh--Patrick Leigh Fermor! There's no travel writer quite like him--such adventures!

Wow! Thanks everyone! We did pick up some books about the American Revolution (as we are direct descendents of those involved) and he showed some interest. He also started to read "The Audacity of Hope" (Obama) as politics is of some interest to him. Honestly, this has been surprisingly difficult as this young man usually devours books VERY quickly -and he really does enjoy watching documentaries (my husband remembered enjoying "Roots" when it came out in the late 70s so that's why he thought our son might enjoy reading the book - which he seems to be.)

I will have him look over the suggestions that have been made so far and see if anything strikes a chord with him. As for sports - he's not much of a fan. He's quite tall, and so has always been a bit of a "Marmaduke." Though built like a jock, his nervous system hadn't caught up with his musculo-skeltal system so he was a bit clutzy until recently. So, through the years, he has focused more on his other talents - intellectual, artistic, and musical. I will inquire as to magazines.

Anyway, more suggestions are welcome, and thanks for those that have already been made!! You folks are the best!!

I'm a big fan of the Norse. I think the culture is just fascinating. I could recommend a few titles if you're interested in that part of history.

Is he interested in aviation? There are all the wonderful Antoine de Saint-Exupery books ("Wind, Sand and Stars" is my favourite one), and Beryl Markham's "West with the Night." Other transport-related books that I liked in my teens were Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley" and William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways"--both the stories of writers just heading down the road and writing about what they saw there.

It occurs to me that many teens enjoy the James Herriot books about life as a veterinarian in Yorkshire.

If he's into politics, does he know the Robert Caro biography of LBJ? It's in three volumes (so far; Frenchie and I have been waiting very impatiently for the fourth installment)--the first is probably the best one--compulsively readable.

Maybe a volume of essays might be a way to slide a toe into this project--nice short bits at a go; I love Anne Fadiman's books ("Ex Libris" and "At Large and at Small"--books mostly about books and reading), but am not sure how much they'd appeal to a teenage boy.

Harold Bloom's "Genius" is similarly constituted of lots of short bits--and is over 800 pages, so one book would do a pretty big chunk of his project! He's so outrageously opinionated that it's a pretty fun read.

Some music books of possible interest are Maynard Solomon's biographies of Beethoven and Mozart (caveat: rather sexy); he's a Freudian psychiatrist and musicologist--they're very absorbing--and frequently moving--reads. Much funnier is Nicolas Slonimsky's "Perfect Pitch"--a memoir of a man who spent a life in music.

Something I myself love are collections of letters--good gossipy fun! Maybe poke around the library and see if there's anything there that would grab him? The fun thing about those is that one leads you to another and another...people who knew other people and so on.

bye for now!
minnie

'The Hiding Place' by Corrie TenBoom made an impression upon me.
I've been wanting to read this book, 'And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of 12 Gifted Inner-City High School Students' by Miles Corwin.
One from my high school days, 'Black Like Me' by John Howard Griffin.
Three books about a cat by Cleveland Amory.
Gary Paulsen has written a number of nonfiction and they seem to be as interesting as his fiction.

Oooh, book thread!

DD13 was assigned "Catfish and Mandala" by Andrew Pham for English/Social Studies - it's the story of Vietnamese-American guy who returns to Vietnam and travels the country by bicycle. She wasn't too thrilled with it at first but eventually got into the story and really enjoyed it.

If he liked "Losing Our Minds", he might also enjoy "Raisin' Brains" - it's a lighthearted look at giftedness.

Or how about "Freakonomics"? (Though you might want to pre-read for some of the content there.) I just finished "The Logic of Life", in that same vein and thought it was very good. Also, "Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sacks was one of my faves from this past year. If he's into science at all he should enjoy it.


Well I could go on and on here, but hopefully some of those are of interest!

"Uncle Tungsten" was great! All of Oliver Sacks is great!

minnie

Oh, and I just bought a bio of Abigail Adams that I haven't read yet. She fascinates me!

Hmm.

Oh! Looking at Grinity's post on Bill Bryson reminds me of "A Short History on (or was it of?) Nearly Everything". It's about exactly what the title says, from quarks to evolution to electricity. Great book on science.

"Into Thin Air" is a great book about a tragedy on Mount Everest. It's pretty long and should fulfill almost half of his 1000 reading requirement.

If he can stomach it, "Deadly Feasts" is one of my favorites, about BSE (mad cow disease), how it was discovered, similarities to other diseases, etc.

"Planet Chicken: the shameful story of the bird on your plate" is about how chickens are mistreated as they are raised for their meat and eggs. Also a somewhat gruesome book, and I found this wonderful book in Britain, so you might have trouble getting it if you're in the U.S.

"Longitude" is short but great. It's about the quest to make a clock that can still keep accurate time at sea to help measure longitude. A reward was put up for such a clock in Britain, and John Harrison attempts to make the clock. This book was one of the first nonfiction books I ever read. It was a great introduction to the genre.

I do remember there being a book on the history of salt I enjoyed, but can't recall the exact title.

"Communism" by Richard Pipes is what I'm currently reading right now, it's a brief book on the history of Marxism/social democracy/communism, but the first chapter may be a little advanced and boring for DS13 unless he really enjoys reading about governments and economics.

"Cool It" by Bjorn Lomborg (sp.?) is a very interesting book about global warming and presents a unique point of view that is often lacking in books on the subject. (I may be biased here, as I'm a skeptic.) :P

That's all I can think of for now. I hope this list will help your son.

I second A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I was reading it last night. Also the Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.

If he likes Philosophy, then I highly recommend "Godel, Escher, Bach."

Its highly accessible for most mature readers and its written along the lines of "The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." and Plato's "Socratic Dialogues", but covers much more ground in areas of Math, Art and Music by looking at the patterns in knowledge. Historical figures in each area are introduced and their ideas explored.

I got a copy when I was 15 and was hooked.

http://www.amazon.com/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach

"G,E,B" is excellent! Hofstadter also wrote an interesting book called "Le ton beau de Marot: In praise of the music of language"--also good.

"Longitude" is very good, too! Another Dava Sobel title of potential interest is "Galileo's Daughter".

My son liked "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story"

Thanks again for the suggestions! With family in town to enjoy the holidays, I haven't visited this link for awhile. How exciting to come back and read even more suggestions! I told DS about this thread and he was equally appreciative of the suggestions. He will read through each carefully and check to see which ones are available at our local library.

Thanks again - and HAPPY new year!!

Actually DS13 read the Diary of Anne Frank about 3-4 years ago and was quite impressed by it. He did an amazing book report on it, IMO. He enjoys watching the History Channel, and presumably would enjoy reading well-written (perhaps personal) historical accounts of major events.

Again, this has been a wonderful and informative thread.

I've always enjoyed biographies of writers and scientists (eg: Isaac Asimov, Thomas Edison).

I think Dickens wrote a lot of non-fiction essays. I seem to remember reading about his travels in america; a short story or short book, can't even remember the title right now, but it was very amusing.
My ds8 isn't really drawn to non-fiction so I figure we might need some of these ideas in future. Good thread!