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  1. Comment on Suggest nonfiction that can be understood/enjoyed by nonspecialists in ~books

    stefan
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    I'll include some classics: Behave - The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky Holistic approach to understanding human behavior, it describes how various biological...

    I'll include some classics:

    • Behave - The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky
      Holistic approach to understanding human behavior, it describes how various biological processes influence human behavior, on scales ranging from less than a second before an action to thousands of years before. (from Wikipedia). One of my all-time favorite reads!

    • A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
      The title says it all. Popular science book about the history of (nearly) everything, easily digestable. Basically an overview on what we know today and how we know what we know today. Maybe a bit outdated, but I'm sure there are current revisions.

    • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
      Perspective-changing and provocative take on why humans rule the world.
      From the press release: "It explains that money is the most pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised; that capitalism is the most successful religion ever invented; that the treatment of animals in modern agriculture is probably the worst crime in history; and that even though we are far more powerful than our ancient ancestors, we aren’t much happier."

    • Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks
      Published in 1969. Twelve short, but very(!) entertaining essays about the old american corporate world and lessons to be learned from them. Still very relevant, even today.

    • Thunder Below! by Eugene B. Fluckey
      First-hand account of a decorated US submarine captain during WWII. Captivating on a technical and personal level, even for people who aren't interested in war stories. Maybe a bit dry sometimes, but there are stories about the testing/first use of torpedoes/rocket launchers from subs, night-time sabotage sorties on Japanese land, rescuing downed British pilots during high seas and many more.

    • The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor
      Very thorough retelling of the final months of Berlin at the end of WWII, through hundreds (maybe thousands) of eye-witness accounts. From insights into high-ranking politics to the most gut-wrenching descriptions of vile war-actions, interweaved with military strategy and personal anecdotes by people ranging from lowest soldiers to highest Generals.
      I'm still floored by the scope of that book. Antony Beevor apparently dug through mountains of untouched Soviet archives to get all of the required material. Took me a while to process the atrocities I read about.

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