Trey, a loyal MR reader, asks:
What are good techniques for becoming a better reader of popular non-fiction and history? I analytically approach articles and academic monographs in one way but often find myself having just finished a volume of history or popular non-fiction and am unable to bring my social scientific knowledge to bear on the topic. Rather than asking myself, "What is this a case of?" or "What does social theory have to say about this?" I find myself saying, "That was interesting. What’s for dinner?" Any advice for breaking down this wall is appreciated.
There are (at least) three kinds of useful popular non-fiction works. The first open up a whole new world to you where previously none had existed. Many people felt this way when they read Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene for the first time. For obvious reasons, books like this are increasingly hard to find as you continue your reading career.
The second kind are to be read in batches. No one of them is good enough to thrill you and maybe no one of them is accurate enough to trust. But if you read five to ten of them you get a sense of a field and its critical issues.
The third kind are to be read as marginal additions to a body of knowledge you already have a good grasp of.
The key is to have the kind of book that matches the kind you want.
Good question and very helpful answer!
From my part I would recommend these wonderful non-fiction books, which are my favorites in related fields:
1. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking;
2. Dreams of a Final Theory by Steven Weinberg;
These two are best in physics, if you are more social than natural-science guy.
3. The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior: Evolutionary Psychology by Jack A. Palmer and Linda K. Palmer is the best introduction to the Evolutionary Theory and it’s implications
4. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, as was mentioned is highly recommended. After this book your understanding of how the world works will be much more coherent
5. History of Western Philosophy by Bertran Russel is the best overview of human mind through recorded history
Tyler, what’s your take on audio books? I’ve greatly improved my time walking to work and working out at the gym by listening to a lot of popular books (mostly nonfiction) from Audible. Much of it was recommended by you on this blog.
Reappraisals – Tony Judt
How Doctors Think – Jerome Groopman
Irons in the Fire – John McPhee
Evolution – Edward J. Larson
Nudge – Thaler & Sunstein
Gang Leader for a Day – Sudhir Venkatesh
The Happiness Hypothesis – Jonathan Haidt
Super Crunchers – Ian Ayres
Stumbling on Happiness – Daniel Gilbert
The Conscience of a Liberal – Paul Krugman
The Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Old Way – Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
The Swimming Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
Status Anxiety – Alain de Botton
Lolita – Nabokov (read by Jeremy Irons)
American Prometheus – Bird & Sherwin
Marcel Proust – Edmund White
The Dark Side – Jane Mayer
On the Origin of Species (excepts) – Darwin (read by Richard Dawkins)
Human Smoke – Nicholson Baker
Musicophilia – Oliver Sacks
Books are only $9.60 a piece if you buy in the greatest bulk.
I would also highly recomment “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, a thoughtful look at likely causes of what caused the vast differences in societies throughout the world and why some seemed to do so much better and eventually dominated the world.
Oh, Tyler, would you be willing to post a short list of books which you’d place firmly in the first category? I’m not that far along in my reading career and am sure that there are plenty of worlds yet to be unlocked. Just point me to the keys!
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, is not science.If you want a good book on evolution read Brian Leiths Descent of Darwin where he debunk the many falsities of the unscientific approach by Dawkins and others.
I recently discovered “What Smart Students Know” by Adam Robinson. I wish I had it 20 years ago. I’ve already learned most of the techniques the hard way and the rest may be too late to internalize.
Seems like a good book close to the subject. I don’t know of a better one. Tyler should write it. Come on Tyler, get paid!
I got the impression Tyler’s advice on the subject would be: READ.
How about reading books with opposing viewpoints, like Pinker’s The Language Instinct and Samson’s The Language Instinct Debate, or Wilson’s Sociobiologyand Lewontin and Rose’s Not in our Genes? Reading opposing books back-to-back forces you to think about the author’s arguments.
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