Recommend clean secular nonfiction

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amother

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:12 pm

Please! Specifically secular.

amother

Snow

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:18 pm

Nonfiction is a pretty broad category! Smile

What are you most interested in? History, biographies, current affairs, art, music...?

amother

Chicory

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:22 pm

check if John Grisham is clean
Def interesting

amother

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:24 pm

amother [ Chicory ] wrote:

check if John Grisham is clean
Def interesting

He writes fiction.

amother

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:26 pm

amother [ Snow ] wrote:

Nonfiction is a pretty broad category! Smile

What are you most interested in? History, biographies, current affairs, art, music...?

True! I specifically left it vague to get recommendations in different areas.

I like history, so that would definitely be a yes. I can go for current affairs, too.

Not so into art or music (though I love Jewish music).

I'm not a huge fan of biographies, but it could be that the gedolim biographies caused that. I loved the biography of Abraham Lincoln, so it's definitely possible that the right one would be interesting to me.

I'd prefer recommendations that include a short summary.

amother

Snow

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:41 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Makes sense! Here are a few I've enjoyed recently:

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mayhem in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe. This is a history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and it's excellent - one of the best books I've read in the past few years. I knew very little about the Northern Ireland conflict before reading the book but by the end it was the most fascinating thing to me. The book does have descriptions of violence (the actual history was violent, so no real way to leave it out) so I'm not sure whether it would qualify as clean. But if you're ok with that, it's really outstanding.

Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner. Author's memoir of growing up Korean in the US after losing her mother as a teenager. Very touching, sad in spots. Lots of talk about importance of food in culture, which I found interesting.

If you liked the bio of Lincoln, you might also like the Alexander Hamilton bio by Ron Chernow - it's the one Hamilton the musical was based on.

Enjoy! I'm interested to see what others post.

amother

Lavender

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 8:57 pm

Spies of No Country by Matti Friedman (Jewish but not frum) about Jews from Arab countries who went undercover before Israel became a country

Opening Skinner's Box by Lauren Slater--about some of the groundbreaking and controversial psychological studies of the 20th century

The Inside Edge by Christine Brennan--the inside scoop on the world of figure skating

I'd like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had by Tony Danza-- former actor spent a year teaching in an inner city public school while being filmed for a reality show. After the show ended, he kept teaching till the end of the year

4pom

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 9:14 pm

Someone here recommended Normal.
Really grateful for that recommendation.

A moving memoir from the mother of a child with Treacher Collins Syndrome..

In this moving memoir, Newman, with the help of her son, tells the story of raising Nathaniel, from the shock she and her husband faced when he was born, to the inspiration of Nathaniel’s own strength and quirky humor. This uplifting story of a family tackling complex and terrifying circumstances with love and resilience is a true testament to Magda and her family, and to families everywhere who quietly but courageously persist.

For my other non fiction ideas I have to rethink about clean factor. I often forget that part.

Im planning on reading Herman wouk’s This is my Gd

Happy to have this thread too. Thank you

amother

Lemonchiffon

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 9:17 pm

I am posting images so that you can see the cover and read the back cover.
I am in the middle (beginning) of the first one the second I have lent out at least 1/2 a dozen times. It is clean and excellent.

amother

Lavender

Tue, Nov 30 2021, 9:23 pm

Forgot the author but I really enjoyed The Psychopath Next Door. Thought provoking if a bit creepy!

amother

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:45 pm

Thanks for all the replies! I'd love more if you have.

Oldest

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:55 pm

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II
By: Liza Mundy

Super Interesting

Also Educated by Tara Westover (a bit intense though)

shyner

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:03 pm

Malcolm Gladwell is great, he's a journalist and writes about societal issues from a sociological and psychological aspect, he writes in a very reader friendly way so its not heavy
He has an interesting perspective about various issues such as race, crime, successful people, the subconscious its fascinating.

some of his books are talking to strangers - is about how people interact with others and how some people deceive people by knowing how people will interpret their actions and other people are misunderstood because they don't act the way people think they should, outliers - is about how some people became successful its really interesting the ideas he comes up with other books of his are blink, the bomber mafia, what the dog saw and david and goliath
Its difficult to explain exactly what they are like but they are very enjoyable

Teomima

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:31 pm

Anything by Michael Pollan, especially The Omnivore's Dilemma.

TBW

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:37 pm

If you like history definitely O Jerusalem about the founding of the state of Israel.

Also, anything by Stephen Birmingham, particularly his books about early American Jewish immigrants (late 18/early 1900s) like "Our Crowd" and " The rest of us"

For current affairs I would recommend "Blood and Oil" about modern day Saudi Arabia ...helped me put a lot of the news in broader context

ETA: also check out books by Ruth Reichl... She was a food critic, I think for the New York times, and wrote some really interesting and entertaining books about her experience

Last edited by TBW on Wed, Dec 08 2021, 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

PinkFridge

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 3:26 pm

The Power of Half
Fannie's Last Summer
AJ Jacobs's books
Moonwalking with Einstein (though it starts with a really weird story)
The Power of a Pencil
King Peggy
Kosher Chinese (not a food memoir)
Oliver Sacks's books

To be fair, I can't say they're squeaky clean. And the language isn't great in some of the books. I want to suggest some books but don't remember if they're clean enough.
Buttermilk Graffiti
The Book of Eating (OK, you can tell I like food memoirs)
Ruth Reichl's memoirs

icedcoffee

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 3:52 pm

I really liked Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It explains how we have two ways of thinking, impulsive intuition and thoughtful logic, and how these two systems impact everything in our life. It's genuinely fascinating and written in a very engaging way, with lots of anecdotes and examples.

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore is about the teenage girls / young women who worked in radium factories after WWII and were exposed to incredibly dangerous chemicals as well as corruption when they all started to get poisoned. It's very emotional and tragic but so interesting.

Anything by Erik Larsen is great, like The Devil in the White City about a serial killer doctor and the 1893 World Fair. It reads like a suspenseful thriller but it's also a great slice of a historical moment. Though there is gore/murder.

GLUE

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 4:33 pm

Can you go to a public library?

Some of the most interesting books I have read, I found by walking up and down the non-fiction shelf's and pulling out books by random.

Empty Planet-Darrell Bricker
Empty Cradle-Philip Longman

Both books are about the way the whole world stopped having kids

amother

Ivory

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 4:41 pm

I particularly liked reading Farley Mowat books, and James Herriot books.

Chickensoupprof

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 4:53 pm

Does Tolkien and Harry Potter count as clean? I don’t like it personally but you have something to read for a long time

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