Best Historical non Fiction Books

“You frequently state, and in your letter you imply, that I have developed a completely one-sided outlook and look at everything in terms of science. Obviously my method of thought and reasoning is influenced by a scientific training – if that were not so my scientific training will have been a waste and a failure. But you look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralizing invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separate from everyday existence. But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment. Your theories are those which you and many other people find easiest and pleasantest to believe, but so far as I can see, they have no foundation other than they leaf to a pleasanter view of life (and an exaggerated idea of our own importance)...
I agree that faith is essential to success in life (success of any sort) but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e. belief in life after death. In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining. Anyone able to believe in all that religion implies obviously must have such faith, but I maintain that faith in this world is perfectly possible without faith in another world…
It has just occurred to me that you may raise the question of the creator. A creator of what? ... I see no reason to believe that a creator of protoplasm or primeval matter, if such there be, has any reason to be interested in our significant race in a tiny corner of the universe, and still less in us, as still more significant individuals. Again, I see no reason why the belief that we are insignificant or fortuitous should lessen our faith – as I have defined it.”
― Rosalind Franklin
Source: www.goodreads.com
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The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl Book (Mariner Books) |
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To expand and enhance my mind
2003-12-09 10:33:01 by grendelI read books for all kinds of reasons; entertainment, knowledge, instruction, enlightenment, self actualization, historical perspective, and truth.
For the last 5 years I was mostly reading non-fiction but recently I've started reading fiction again. I'm currently reading Mario Puzo's mafia books. Just finished the Godfather and am now reading The Sicilian. Don Vito Corleone is one of the best characters I've ever encountered in a book of fiction. I've learned a lot about the history of Sicily and I'm just half way through the Scicilian.
I have to do a lot of research for my job
Reading poll
2009-11-02 13:48:26 by doufeuI re-read any book that meant a great deal to me upon first reading, at least every few years, to feel whether my changes have changed how I feel about the book - favorite poets must be read every year.
Am almost always reading more than one book at a time. In fact, if I'm on a mystery genre streak - say gobbling up Maigret - I have to read a related non-fiction work. It expands my appreciation of the fictional context and keeps my brain from addiction to junk reading.
Don't skip - but I read so fast that I've never been tempted.
No
If you are keen for historical mysteries - try the Masie Dobbs series
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Irish Moon (Moon Magick Series) eBooks (Tholden Press) |



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Fever 1793 Book (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) |
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I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 Book (Scholastic Paperbacks) |
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In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin Book (Broadway Books) |
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