Hey comrades, I’m looking for some non-fiction book recommendations that aren’t explicitly Marxist, but still interesting or engaging or entertaining.
I’ve re-read a lot of my favorites too many times, so what are your faves? Any topic really.
The Mushroom at the End of the World by anthropologist Anna Tsing is really interesting! I enjoyed it.
Downloaded. It looks interesting, thx.
Not sure of your interests, but “The Problems of Increasing Human Energy” by Nikola Tesla is a fascinating look at a genius who actually pondered the “philosophy” of science. He even discusses his thoughts on robotics, structural aluminum, solar power, and their possible effects on humanity, long before they were even a thing. (short read) “Wizard” by Marc Seifer is a good biography of Tesla.
Both, perhaps inadvertently, become critiques of capitalism, especially when Tesla is viewed against Edison, the Elon Musk of his era; someone getting rich and famous stealing the ideas of others, while never actually creating anything himself.
Ya that does sound pretty dope.
Eugenia Cheng’s “How to bake pi” and “joy of abstraction” are good introductions to category theory in math without having to take a bunch of college courses.
There’s a book from Swedish author Nina Burton that’s called ‘Notes From A Summer Cottage’ in English. It’s about her experience inheriting her parents’ summer cottage in the woods in Sweden and how she finds out about all the life that is surrounding her, both plants and animals. She goes into detail about how life is much more connected than we think, using scientific examples and explanations.
It’s a really interesting book if you are into nature and ecology and such. It was also an important part of me becoming vegan, really.
That sounds like my jam, thx. Almost like walden
I would suggest Grover Furr if you need stuff debunking any anti-Stalin shit but I feel like I’m preaching to the choir on that one.
I would suggest having a big bottle of water with you though. Those books are D R Y.
I really liked ‘Marching Powder’ about a British guy who ends up in a Bolivian prison. It has it’s own fucked up sort of economy, and becomes a sort of microcosm of capitalism and wealth inequality as a whole, with the richer inmates having what are essentially pretty nice apartments for cells and the poor inmates living in hell on earth. Eventually he adapts and starts giving tours to western tourists. A pretty dark story, but enough gallows humor to stay entertaining.
Thx, I’ll check it out.
I’m sure you’ve read Bevins work but if not those two are good
Aberration in the heartland of the real is fun
I liked anti-eodipus and a thousand plateaus. As far as non-Marxist, non-revolutionary, euro-leftist philosophy goes, they’re pretty fun.
On the other side of Marx, Hegel is also worth studying. Maybe moreso actually, since I think western leftists tend to misunderstand Marx because they don’t understand dialectics (and deleuze has been accused of such lol). I’ve heard it said that Lenin went back to Hegel to rescue Marx from the reformists (or something along those lines) and I’m beginning to suspect that may be necessary for modern theoretical struggles.
Kotkin is an anticommunist so I suppose his biographies of Stalin might count as non-Marxist lol
I found aberration as a youtube audiobook, I’ll check it out.
the first book of On War by Clausewitz of course!
Good call, I’ll add it to my list.
We also have a bunch of fun stuff on the prolewiki library if you look at the topics now that I think about it: https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki:Library#Other_topics
It’s been a while since I’ve read these but I had a lot of fun reading the “quantum physics for laypeople” books by Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe) and Sean Carroll (Something Deeply Hidden). The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean was also really cool, it discusses various chemical phenomena in an accessible way.
Thx, I’ll check them out.
A few of my favorites that I read in the last year:
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America By Brian Goldstone https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645871/there-is-no-place-for-us-by-brian-goldstone/
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night By Julian Sancton https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602593/madhouse-at-the-end-of-the-earth-by-julian-sancton/
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex By Nathaniel Philbrick https://www.nathanielphilbrick.com/in-the-heart-of-the-sea
What in Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Afterlife of Paradise Lost By Orlando Reade https://astrapublishinghouse.com/product/what-in-me-is-dark-9781662602801/
I do enjoy a good disaster book, last one I read was Krakauer’s into thin air, which was really entertaining. I’ll check some of these out.
Bore Hole by Joe Mellen - its an account of a 1950s UK anthropologist student who decided to drill a hole into his own head.
:eyes:
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs is interesting!
Thx, i’ll check it out!
I can’t recommend Hemingway’s work enough. Especially ‘In Another Country’ is personal favorite of mine, but also I loved reading through ‘The Old Man And The Sea.’
I do love me some hemingway. For whom the bell tolls is IMO one of the best leftist fiction books ever written.
Debt by David Graeber is really good.
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