10 votes

What is your top, unknown, non fiction recommendation ?

Posted by Thomas_Stiles
Tags: nonfiction, ask.recommendations

This is a thread for all kind of non fiction that didn't catch the mainstream attention, english or not.

8 comments

  1. shrike
    Link
    Peopleware should be mandatory reading to anyone working in, with, or leading teams in the software industry. It's from 1987 and lays out clear step by step instructions how to have an efficient...

    Peopleware should be mandatory reading to anyone working in, with, or leading teams in the software industry.

    It's from 1987 and lays out clear step by step instructions how to have an efficient team of programmers. It's 2026 and we're using none of them properly.

    3 votes
  2. SloMoMonday
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    I'm on a bit of a food-history/stories kick after I read Ritz and Escoffier (Luke Barr) at an AirBnB. Recently flew through: Provence by Luke Barr Spice by Rodger Crowley The Brewers Tale by...

    I'm on a bit of a food-history/stories kick after I read Ritz and Escoffier (Luke Barr) at an AirBnB. Recently flew through:
    Provence by Luke Barr
    Spice by Rodger Crowley
    The Brewers Tale by William Bostwick
    Frostbite by Nicola Twilley

    2 votes
  3. Chiasmic
    Link
    I don’t know what counts as obscure? Mildly successful still okay? How about used to be mainstream but now more forgotten? Here are some that I don’t see mentioned much, but might be more...

    I don’t know what counts as obscure? Mildly successful still okay? How about used to be mainstream but now more forgotten?

    Here are some that I don’t see mentioned much, but might be more mainstream than I realised:

    • with the end in mind by Kathryn Mannix- about Palliative care. Trigger warning: lots of emotional content, I rarely cry and cried listening to it in the car.
    • Range by David Epstein. Useful counter to the whole specialism argument.
    • alchemy by Rory Sunderland. About people’s expectations, perceived value and advertisement
    • how Westminster works and why it doesn’t by Ian dunt. It’s shocking how poorly it works.
    • the etymologicon by mark forsyth. A funny easy read about word origins.
    • A history of western philosophy by Bertrand Russell. It was very popular but it’s rarely said now. It’s quite a different style of writing which is quite refreshing.
    2 votes
  4. ix-ix
    Link
    "For God, Country & Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It". Really amazing book about the history of coca cola.

    "For God, Country & Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It". Really amazing book about the history of coca cola.

    1 vote
  6. myrrh
    Link
    ...just a few random titles which immediately come to mind, no particular theme nor critical grouping, but these are each books i've appreciated sufficiently to buy additional copies as gifts for...

    ...just a few random titles which immediately come to mind, no particular theme nor critical grouping, but these are each books i've appreciated sufficiently to buy additional copies as gifts for close friends...

    Temperament (Stuart Isacoff)
    Inventing Reality (Bruce Gregory)
    Inside the Machine (Jon Stokes)

    1 vote
  7. stewedrabbit
    Link
    The Toaster Project It is short, it is mostly a record by the writer on his project to try to build a toaster, but ends up very thought provoking.

    The Toaster Project
    It is short, it is mostly a record by the writer on his project to try to build a toaster, but ends up very thought provoking.

    1 vote