Some of my favorite non-fiction book recommendations to help you pass the time while we’re experiencing the Zombie apocalypse. I mean, this Corvid-19 thing.
All of these titles have Kindle editions, so you can easily buy them through the series of tubes!
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
You cannot lose with a Sarah Vowell book. She writes about American history in a singular style. Not only does she write with humor and wit, she brings out history in a way that no one else does. This is one of her most popular books, but you simply cannot lose if you buy any of her books. Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation are also a couple of my favorite Sarah Vowell books.
And how awesome is it that she has that surname and is a writer? 🙂
https://www.amazon.com/Lafayette-Somewhat-United-States-Vowell-ebook/dp/B00SI02DZ4/
Brian Greene’s Fabric of the Cosmos is simply a delight to read, and contains the absolutely best explanation of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle that I’ve ever read. Written for civilians, Greene explains astrophysics in a way that everyone can understand. Talk about unveiling the face of God!
https://www.amazon.com/Fabric-Cosmos-Space-Texture-Reality-ebook/dp/B000XUDGV2/
If Brian Greene is a bit too heavy for your physics tastes, check out Lawrence Krauss’ fun and nerdy book about the Physics of Star Trek: From warpdrive to transporters, Krauss talks about what would be involved with travelling faster than light by warping space, and the physical and metaphysical parameters of having yourself transported atom-by-atom to another place. (And you will find out some British physicists have already built and tested a transporter! They just transported a particle though, not a large thing.)
https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Star-Trek-Lawrence-Krauss-ebook/dp/B007HOO8E6/
Arika Orkent’s book In the Land of Invented Languages introduces the reader to the largely unknown history of constructed languages: From attempts to create a new world language such as Esperanto to the fictional languages of Elvish and Klingon, and much more. There’s a rich history in constructed languages that’s led to the current conlang subculture. Level up your nerd cred!
https://www.amazon.com/Land-Invented-Languages-Esperanto-Dreamers-ebook/dp/B001NLL2Q6/
Simon Singh’s history of encryption is entertaining and informative, and once you read it you will want to create your own cipher. One of the best history and science books I’ve ever read. From simple substitution ciphers to Vigenere squares to the infamous Enigma machine to the wonder of one-way modern encryption and finally speculations about the future of computer security with the advent of Quantum computing
https://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography-ebook/dp/B004IK8PLE/
Like Sarah Vowell, you can’t lose by getting a Mary Roach book. One of the best science writers around, she is probably the most entertaining and readable science writer out there. (Sorry Green and Krauss!)
Roach not only outlines all of the challenges of sending people to one of our nearest planetary neighbors, she goes over the history of the science of space flight, including all of the research involved in getting people to the moon.
https://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life-ebook/dp/B003YJEXUM/
Randy Shilt’s incredible book about the emergence and spread of the HIV epidemic might not be the one science book you want to read during a pandemic, but if you want to find out more about medical investigations and research, this is the book to read. It reads like a gripping crime novel as investigators search the country for answers to a mysterious new disease that’s killing young and healthy people.
It is also a tale of what not to do during an outbreak. Everyone, from industries to governments to social groups, all of them dropped the ball on treating, funding, and containing the outbreak of HIV. It’s a cautionary tale as much as it is a fascinating account of the AIDs outbreak. Definitely one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read.
https://www.amazon.com/Band-Played-Politics-Epidemic-20th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B000V761ZA/
