LadyStanley
Registered User
Been a few decades, but I recall enjoying Isaac Asimov's non fiction books. Really liked the one on numbers.
Easy to understand, easy comprehension.
Easy to understand, easy comprehension.
Recommend good history books
- Thread starter Muuri
- Start date
beldenhandler
Registered User
- May 6, 2019
- 4
- 0
A Short History of South East Asias
South East Asia is taken in this history to include the countries of the Asian mainland south of China, from Burma in the west to Vietnam in the east and the islands from Sumatra in the west to the Philippines and New Guinea in the east. It does not include Taiwan (Formosa), whose history seems to be more naturally part of that of China.
South East Asia is taken in this history to include the countries of the Asian mainland south of China, from Burma in the west to Vietnam in the east and the islands from Sumatra in the west to the Philippines and New Guinea in the east. It does not include Taiwan (Formosa), whose history seems to be more naturally part of that of China.
Stylizer1
SENSimillanaire
I recently read a book called "The Anarchy," by Dalrymple I think, or something like that. Very good book, more pop-history than academic, it covers the rise of the East India Company in Bengal mostly. Would definitely recommend.
Gotta second this as well, amazing story, amazing book.
I have two of this guy's other books, "Beyond the Blue Horizon" & "The Attacking Ocean" which are also good.
Gotta second this as well, amazing story, amazing book.
I have two of this guy's other books, "Beyond the Blue Horizon" & "The Attacking Ocean" which are also good.
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heatnikki
Registered User
- Dec 18, 2018
- 163
- 44
The Landscape of History by John Gaddis. Gaddis' book is good for dispelling the notion that objectivity or completely accurate narratives can be accomplished in any way in history. I'm working on my History Essay and this book is a must read. With a little help of writing service I'll finish my essay faster.
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- Jun 23, 2020
- 5,327
- 7,481
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (1986) - This is not only an excellent history of the Manhattan Project, but it is an excellent introductory summary of the development of atomic physics in the first half of the twentieth century, and the first third of the book could easily have been turned into a book of its own that focused purely on the scientific development of atomic theory and quantum theory.
The Longest Night by David J. Eicher (2001) - This is a thick, single-volume military history of the American Civil War, focusing primarily on the strategic and operational levels of the conflict. If you want an overall summary of the purely military aspects of the war, this is for you.
Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie (2003) - This is a sort of sequel to Massie's earlier Dreadnought, focused on the naval conflicts of the First World War involving the Royal Navy. The Battle of Jutland is obviously the highlight, but this covers the entire conflict in and around the North Sea, the Gallipoli peninsula, and the coasts of South America, on a strategic and tactical level, along with a lot of political concerns related to the naval conflict.
The Wars of Louis XIV: 1667-1714 by John A. Lynn (1999) - The Sun King's reign was a bloody one, with three massive wars that engulfed all of Western Europe. Lynn's work covers all of these conflicts, as well as the many smaller, but still important, conflicts and actions involving the use of military force to enforce his policies, while adequately detailing the practice of warfare in the 17th century (as pike and shot gave way to muskets alone).
The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson (2009) - I used to joke that I was reading this book in real time, but this book, by the nature of its topic, has to cover a huge swath of history leading up to the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, as well as cover the rather arcane structure of the Holy Roman Empire. The copy I have also doesn't exactly fill the whole of every page with type, so the physical book looks thicker than it reads, but this is dense. It is, however, a very good single-volume work covering an extraordinarily complex topic fairly well.
A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918 by G.J. Meyer (2006) - I always pick up books on the First World War when I am able, and this is the best single-volume (I like single-volume works, if you couldn't tell - if they're good, they're excellent introductory works that can lead you to greater depth in subjects you find yourself interested in) book on the First World War I am aware of, which is obviously only a survey.
The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by Norman Stone (1975) - This is still the seminal English-language work on the war between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, a largely ignored conflict west of the Rhine, despite its size.
The Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze (2006) - I saw a Tooze work recommended earlier in the thread, but this is specifically about the German economy under the Nazis, and just how monumentally inefficient it was; essentially six years of smoke and mirrors, institutionalized theft, and bluffing, staggering along from crisis to crisis until the facade finally collapsed.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully (2005) - There are many myths about the Battle of Midway that are "common knowledge," but Parshall and Tully really cover the battle, minute by minute, with particular focus on the Japanese, to explain what exactly happened and why.
Voyager's Grand Tour: to the Outer Planets and Beyond by Henry C. Dethloff and Ronald A. Schorn - This covers the history of the Voyager program, from the original Mariner Grand Tour proposal through Voyager 2's encounter with Neptune, and its discoveries.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris (1988) - Carl Sagan famously wrote a companion text to his series Cosmos, and Ferris' book is a very complementary companion to Sagan's book, with more emphasis on the development of science and less on the inter-connectivity between the various scientific disciplines.
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James (2001) - Not a history book per se, but James did cover a lot of baseball history in the decadal chapters of this book (making up about 20% of the text), and the 900+ player comments themselves contain a fair amount of historical comment or anecdote. This is also an excellent book for developing an analytical way of just thinking about baseball (or, really, any sport), and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a bookish child interested in baseball. I just wish James would produce an update - its been twenty years.
The Longest Night by David J. Eicher (2001) - This is a thick, single-volume military history of the American Civil War, focusing primarily on the strategic and operational levels of the conflict. If you want an overall summary of the purely military aspects of the war, this is for you.
Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie (2003) - This is a sort of sequel to Massie's earlier Dreadnought, focused on the naval conflicts of the First World War involving the Royal Navy. The Battle of Jutland is obviously the highlight, but this covers the entire conflict in and around the North Sea, the Gallipoli peninsula, and the coasts of South America, on a strategic and tactical level, along with a lot of political concerns related to the naval conflict.
The Wars of Louis XIV: 1667-1714 by John A. Lynn (1999) - The Sun King's reign was a bloody one, with three massive wars that engulfed all of Western Europe. Lynn's work covers all of these conflicts, as well as the many smaller, but still important, conflicts and actions involving the use of military force to enforce his policies, while adequately detailing the practice of warfare in the 17th century (as pike and shot gave way to muskets alone).
The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson (2009) - I used to joke that I was reading this book in real time, but this book, by the nature of its topic, has to cover a huge swath of history leading up to the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, as well as cover the rather arcane structure of the Holy Roman Empire. The copy I have also doesn't exactly fill the whole of every page with type, so the physical book looks thicker than it reads, but this is dense. It is, however, a very good single-volume work covering an extraordinarily complex topic fairly well.
A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918 by G.J. Meyer (2006) - I always pick up books on the First World War when I am able, and this is the best single-volume (I like single-volume works, if you couldn't tell - if they're good, they're excellent introductory works that can lead you to greater depth in subjects you find yourself interested in) book on the First World War I am aware of, which is obviously only a survey.
The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by Norman Stone (1975) - This is still the seminal English-language work on the war between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, a largely ignored conflict west of the Rhine, despite its size.
The Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze (2006) - I saw a Tooze work recommended earlier in the thread, but this is specifically about the German economy under the Nazis, and just how monumentally inefficient it was; essentially six years of smoke and mirrors, institutionalized theft, and bluffing, staggering along from crisis to crisis until the facade finally collapsed.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully (2005) - There are many myths about the Battle of Midway that are "common knowledge," but Parshall and Tully really cover the battle, minute by minute, with particular focus on the Japanese, to explain what exactly happened and why.
Voyager's Grand Tour: to the Outer Planets and Beyond by Henry C. Dethloff and Ronald A. Schorn - This covers the history of the Voyager program, from the original Mariner Grand Tour proposal through Voyager 2's encounter with Neptune, and its discoveries.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris (1988) - Carl Sagan famously wrote a companion text to his series Cosmos, and Ferris' book is a very complementary companion to Sagan's book, with more emphasis on the development of science and less on the inter-connectivity between the various scientific disciplines.
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James (2001) - Not a history book per se, but James did cover a lot of baseball history in the decadal chapters of this book (making up about 20% of the text), and the 900+ player comments themselves contain a fair amount of historical comment or anecdote. This is also an excellent book for developing an analytical way of just thinking about baseball (or, really, any sport), and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a bookish child interested in baseball. I just wish James would produce an update - its been twenty years.
LadyStanley
Registered User
Started reading Winston Churchill's writings. He has a number of series on the history of Europe/UK, how they fit with WWI and WWII (especially some of the back story of animosity that I was not that aware of living in US).
RandV
It's a wolf v2.0
When I run out of podcasts I sometimes look for history audio books from the library and have gone through two recently.
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper - Obviously there's been a ton of work devoted to the fall of the Roman Empire. This book published in 2019 compiles modern scientific findings to analyze and present climate change and disease as the overwhelming factor.
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend - Went with something a little different here. When the church followed the initial conquest of Mexico by Hernando Cortes they took in indigenous youth and taught them the alphabet. As these youths grew older they used this new concept to start collecting and recording their own oral traditions in their own language. These sources have always been around, but until the last few decades scholars have never had a good enough grasp of the language to start digging into them so indigenous history in Central America retained a European-centric viewpoint. This book presents the Aztec history from their perspective.
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper - Obviously there's been a ton of work devoted to the fall of the Roman Empire. This book published in 2019 compiles modern scientific findings to analyze and present climate change and disease as the overwhelming factor.
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend - Went with something a little different here. When the church followed the initial conquest of Mexico by Hernando Cortes they took in indigenous youth and taught them the alphabet. As these youths grew older they used this new concept to start collecting and recording their own oral traditions in their own language. These sources have always been around, but until the last few decades scholars have never had a good enough grasp of the language to start digging into them so indigenous history in Central America retained a European-centric viewpoint. This book presents the Aztec history from their perspective.
napoleon in rags
Fred's dead, Baby... Fred's dead
"The Dark Side of the Earth" by Robert Muir Wood.
A history of the development of plate tectonic theory. I loved it, but I was a Geology prof in a past life.
A history of the development of plate tectonic theory. I loved it, but I was a Geology prof in a past life.
LadyStanley
Registered User
Not a book, but a podcast, if you like HOURS of reflection on a historic subject.
www.dancarlin.com
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. Usually each episode is multiple hours (3-4+ hour podcasts are not unusual), and sometimes the subject is so dense, it's 2-4 PARTS (each 3+ hours). (Emphasis on Western Hemisphere)
He often has a tangential "let's follow this idea" that he discusses. He'll read a number of segments from various (sometimes translated) history books to make his point or contrast.
Dan Carlin
www.dancarlin.com
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. Usually each episode is multiple hours (3-4+ hour podcasts are not unusual), and sometimes the subject is so dense, it's 2-4 PARTS (each 3+ hours). (Emphasis on Western Hemisphere)
He often has a tangential "let's follow this idea" that he discusses. He'll read a number of segments from various (sometimes translated) history books to make his point or contrast.
Not sure if this thread is still active.
I was re-reading CW Ceram's "Gods, Graves and Scholars" and remembered once again why this is considered a seminal work. Designed for the layman, it's easy to see the desire and passion behind it. The prose is inspiring. Other authors that strike me as similar are Barbara Tuchman and the Durants among others.
Speaking of Tuchman, "The Guns of August" , "Stilwell and the American Experience in China" and "A Distant Mirror" are true masterpieces of their genre. You can see the influence she had on other authors such as Eric Cline and Adrian Goldsworthy.
I was re-reading CW Ceram's "Gods, Graves and Scholars" and remembered once again why this is considered a seminal work. Designed for the layman, it's easy to see the desire and passion behind it. The prose is inspiring. Other authors that strike me as similar are Barbara Tuchman and the Durants among others.
Speaking of Tuchman, "The Guns of August" , "Stilwell and the American Experience in China" and "A Distant Mirror" are true masterpieces of their genre. You can see the influence she had on other authors such as Eric Cline and Adrian Goldsworthy.
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JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
LadyStanley
Registered User
Currently reading a biography of Florence Nightingale. I hadn't realized the dismal conditions of "hospitals" during the Crimean war and all she did to improve conditions. (And the scandalous actions of the military leadership, Queen Victoria burying the reports written about it, including the report Nightingale researched and wrote. Including arguably the first use of pie charts. )
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Florence Nightingale was born in 1820. Scottish economics writer William Playfair published a summary paper in 1801 which included a pie chart to describe statistical data - ref. Who Made That Pie Chart? | New York Times.
Nevertheless, what are the name & author of that Nightingale biography? Sounds like a book my daughter & Mrs. JMC would enjoy reading.
LadyStanley
Registered User
LadyStanley
Registered User
With the recent release of Napoleon, I started reading the famous "Notebooks of Capitaine Coignet". A unique account by an illiterate grunt in the Imperial Guard who somehow managed to survive most of Napoleon's major battles and campaigns completely unscathed. It's often a harrowing tale. The life of a junior enlisted man of that era was extremely difficult. The hardships they had to endure would likely discourage the modern soldier. Some interesting titbits.
- You had to be able to read and write to get promoted to corporal.
- The French Army enlisted men survived on a diet of hot wine and sugar in winter.
- A surprising number of Napoleon's elite Grenadiers of the Old Guard chose to commit suicide rather than go on campaign or endure hardship.
- Empress Marie Louise was apparently an expert billiards player and lusted after by many members of the Guard including Coignet.
Highly recommended and far more interesting than Ridley Scott's Napoleon.
- You had to be able to read and write to get promoted to corporal.
- The French Army enlisted men survived on a diet of hot wine and sugar in winter.
- A surprising number of Napoleon's elite Grenadiers of the Old Guard chose to commit suicide rather than go on campaign or endure hardship.
- Empress Marie Louise was apparently an expert billiards player and lusted after by many members of the Guard including Coignet.
Highly recommended and far more interesting than Ridley Scott's Napoleon.
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