Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Non-fiction thread competes for widest remit ever

17:18 / 13.02.02

What are your favourite works of non-fiction?

What genres do you go for? Which authors? Who do uou like, and why? Who do you dislike, and why?

What one book would you nominate for a non-fiction Book Club review?

Could this thread be any more inclusive of its subject?

22:58 / 13.02.02

Most nonfiction bores me to tears so my favorite works of nonfiction are the two that I was able to get through. "Generation of Swine" and "Hell's Angels" both by Hunter S. Thompson.

I don't read much nonfiction so I'll just nominate the one nonfiction book I own and haven't read yet, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"

07:16 / 14.02.02

This is rather shaming, but I tend to go for pop-history books (and not so pop ones, but that rather goes with the territory), books about books and poppy lit crit, and the odd book on art and architecture. Oh, and some books on myth (but even here I tend to go for the historical approach). So, nothing very heavyweight or intellectual, and certainly nothing even approaching theory-bitching (though I have at least read Captive State).

I find it hard to read science and more heavyweight non-fiction as I can never really digest it without taking notes (and I am a slow note-taker)...

Who do I like? Tricky... the people I have most respect for tend to be academic historians, but their books aren't necessarily the best reads. I like Peter Ackroyd as a biographer and (in London: a Biography) historian. John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a must (is there anyone who hasn't read this? If so it might not be such a bad subject for some Book Club thread in the distant future).

Who do I not like? Er, the name that springs to mind immediately is Giles Milton - do not read Nathaniel's Nutmeg, it is partisan and jingoistic and generally bad history.

More when I think of it...

The Return Of Rothkoid

07:54 / 14.02.02

For me, so far, it'd have to be Daniel Farson's The Gilded Gutter Life Of Francis Bacon. Incredibly tragic, bitchy as hell, and a very, very personal look into the life of the artist. It's not as weighty as most non-fiction I've read, I guess, but it's certainly the one that sticks in my mind. Fabulous, fabulous book. Tales of palare and yelling at royalty while pissed out of one's tree; who could ask for more?

08:29 / 14.02.02

Kit-Cat, have you read In Defence of History by Richard J. Evans? It's an eminently readable examination of and response to arguments by postmodernists about the possibility of 'doing' history.

[Lost my line during the post - Bah!]

[ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: Cavatina ]

08:43 / 14.02.02

No, actually, I haven't, but I probably should... in fact, owing to an extremely theory-light university course, the only history theory I have actually read is Carr (Marxist, out of date) and Marwick ( a broad outline text - Marwick himself is a rather old-skool, Great Men-type historian, I think). But I keep meaning to. My feeling on the matter is that yes, there is a slight problem with 'doing history' - but that it can be largely overcome through recognising that fact. I think it's still a valid and valuable endeavour (but then I would...).

How does he respond to the arguments?

16:13 / 14.02.02

Lately, I've been getting into a genre that I've never heard defined - probably something like "pop philosophy."
Alan Watts' "The Book (On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are)"
and
Stephen Nachmanovitch's "Free Play"
are two prime examples. They're both about the Self and Creativity and Communication, but very accessible, and more closely related to DH Suzuki (zen buddhist) than Jacques Derrida (french theorist) in prose style and overall aim.

I also totally dig Granta's essay-style journalism.
The memoir excerpt "An Amateur Spy in Arabia," from Norman Lewis' upcoming A Voyage by Dhow was really fun. About trying to get into "the Yemen" as a European with a camera. In the 1930s. The excerpt linked to above is the least interesting part; one of the best is the bit about Emperor Haile Selassie eating raw meat with beggars during a feast. (another is about a Very Special Brothel, where for an additional fee, some of the girls could make specially selected party guests disappear forever.)
I love that stuff.

[ 19-02-2002: Message edited by: grant ]

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

07:47 / 15.02.02

My War Gone By, I Miss It So is one of my favorite nonfic. A smack addicted photographer goes to the balkans to see what war is really like.

The Tao of Physics should be read by everyone. Not only will it give you a decent grasp of eastern mysticism, but you'll come out with a good grasp on quantum and relativistic theory.

The Way of Zen by Alan Watts would be good for a book club thing. Not sure how a discussion on it would run, but it'd be funny to watch.

10:01 / 17.02.02

Posted by Kit-Cat:

"How does he [Evans] respond to the arguments?"

Sorry I didn't reply earlier to your question.

Evans spends a lot of time in his book examining traditional historicist empiricism, particularly the work of E.H. Carr and G.R. Elton. He sees himself as attempting to negotiate some sort of middle course between traditional empirical approaches and 'the extremes of postmodernist hyper-relativism'. After looking at what he calls 'the limits of objectivity', he affirms optimistically that 'objective historical knowledge is both desirable and attainable'.

As you no doubt know, the book - published in 1997, and following on Appleby, Hunt & Jacobs' Telling the Truth about History) published in 1995 - stirred up some fierce debate, prompting Evans to write an Afterforward in which he responds to what he claims are misreadings of his work by Easthope, Purkiss and others in their reviews. The debate has since continued on the net, testifying I think to its continuing importance.

10:41 / 17.02.02

Hmm. Well seeing as I started this thread, I suppose I should contribute.

Well, firstly, I suppose I should say that my love of non-fiction work led me to my job. Hunter S Thompson, and to a much latter extent Tom Wolfe, inspired me to become a journalist.

Hunter especially, beacuse he was a man whose love of words and the written language showed through in all his work - indeed, given the time to flick through the books of his I have, I am sure I could actually find him talking about his love of words.

It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that the books of Hunter S Thompson's collected work, plus the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, got me into the career I'm in today. And yes, I am aware it's rather difficult to be Hunter on a local paper. ['We were somewhere around item five, dog litter bins, on the town council agenda, when the drugs began to take hold' just doesn't have the same ring to it...]

But anyway, I digress.

Really, I'm aware that a lot of what I like in non-fiction could be described as collections of journalism and/or opinion; people like PJ O'Rourke, John Pilger, Christopher Hitchens, and John Simpson.

It's not just journalism and reportage I like in non fiction, however; but it is what I find I read most of. If anyone gives a shit, I may come back here and find a few more books to talk about.

I think, sometimes, the reason I like 'news' books is because I feel like I'm 'cheating' reading fiction when there's so much to find out about the world.

[That's not a manifesto, just a vague feeling, BTW]

Can anyone else understand/explain this?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

03:20 / 18.02.02

I am in love with David Sidaris's work, and I did read the book we all were required to read (it seemed like) John Adams. For most non-fiction, though, I tend to read true crime and books about pop-politics, which makes me pretty damn shallow when you get down to it.

14:29 / 18.02.02

Thanks for the info, Cavatina. Yes - it's the perennial problem with history: 'but what is it *for*?'

My take is I think slightly different: I am not at all sure that one can achieve objective historical knowledge, but I don't think that devalues the attempt to do so.