Interesting Books

Some stuff I've read over that last couple of years. I highly recommend all of these.

History

• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higgenbotham. About the series of mistakes that resulted in the famous disaster.
• To Hell and Back by Ian Kershaw. History of Europe between the two world wars. The parallels to our current era are a little scary.
• The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. The run up to World War I.
• The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes. How the Bolsheviks took over Russia. 
• The Great Mortality by John Kelly. The Black Death in the 14th century. 
• The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. What it would be like to live in  Medieval England.
• The Time Travelers Guide to Restoration Britain. By Ian Mortimer. Interesting look at Britain in the era 1660-1700.
• 1177 BC The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline. The disastrous decline of Bronze Age Europe. 

Science

• The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. Talks about what is going to happen as the planet warms.
• The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen. Talks about the five mass extinctions in Earth's history with comments on the one we're currently in.
• How I Killed Pluto and Why it had it Coming by Mike Brown. The astrophysicist talks about why Pluto got demoted from being a planet.
• The Tale of the Axe by David Miles. A look into Neolithic Britain.
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Interesting insights into how trees communicate with each other.
• The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte. Dinosaurs have always fascinated me.
• Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich. Recent developments in genetic analysis of ancient DNA. 
• The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. Talks about the birth of forensic medicine.
• The Cambrian Explosion by Douglas Erwin. The incredible growth of life 500 million years ago. 
• Britain Begins by Barry Cunliffe. Early archaeological history of Britain.
• By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean by Barry Cunliffe. An examination of the connections between Europe, the Near East, and the Far East.
• Europe Between the Oceans by Barry Cunliffe.  Early archaeological history of Europe.
• Cosmic Catastrophes by Craig Wheeler. An introduction to Astrophysics.
• Welcome to the Universe by Tyson, Strauss, Gott. An introduction to Astrophysics. 
• Annals of the Former World by John McPhee. The geology of the North American continent. 
• T Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez. The death of the dinosaurs. 

Roman History

• SPQR by Mary Beard. A history of ancient Rome.
• Empires and Barbarians by Peter Heather. The Fall of Rome.
• Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy. Bio of the Dictator.
• Augustus by Anthony Evert. Bio of the first Roman emperor.
• Pax Romana by Adrian Goldsworthy. 
• The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather. The Fall of Rome.
• The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy. The Punic wars.

Biography-Autobiograpy-Memoir

•  Riding the Elephant by Craig Ferguson. The late night talk host and comedian talks about some wild stuff he did before he got his shit together.
• Literary Outlaw by Ted Morgan. A bio of William S. Burroughs.
• The Long Haul by Finn Murphy. A trucker talks about his life on the road 
• Sailing Alone Around the World. Joshua Slocum describes his sailing voyage around the world. 
• Just Kids. By Patti Smith. Memoir of her years with Robert Mapplethorpe.
• M Train. By Patti Smith. Memoir of her travels, favorite cafes, and coffee.
• The Year of the Monkey. By Patti Smith. More travels and old friends.

Human Behavior

• Moral Politics by George Lakoff. How Liberal and Conservatives think.
• Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff. How Democrats fail to frame the discussion.
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahenman. Conscious thought vs unconscious thought.
• The Master and His Emissary by Ian McGilchrist. Left brain vs right brain thinking.
• Misbehaving by Richard Thaler. An introduction to Behavioral Economics. 
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Politics 

• Why the Right Went Wrong by EJ Dionne. An analysis of right wing politics.