Another Plea For Books and Non-Fic Blogs
I'm always looking for good non-fiction books to read, and it can be very hard to find suggestions and reviews.
Most people prefer fiction, including my friends, and so most recommendations I see are for such. Likewise, book review blogs, book clubs, best seller lists and other book aggregates are largely fiction-based. Even if there's some non-fiction on popular book lists, it's a pain to weed it out from the fiction. And often when I dig through a list of "good books," the sole non-fiction is just some crank peddling his book on homeopathy that only got some attention because Oprah plugged it.
What I'd really like is some sort of blog or virtual book club that covers exclusively non-fiction books. Googling turned up a few miscellaneous things but among the dead links and rarely-updated blogs, most weren't what I was looking for. I don't mind if there is an intentional genre or theme as long as it's not super specific (a "history books" blog is fine but "roman history books" is not).
If you know of ANYTHING like this (or have a friend who would that you can ask), please please plug it. I want to follow these kinds of things so I can have regular suggestions of good books.
Currently, the only blog of this nature that I follow is Confessions of a Science Librarian. It's not a book review blog, but he mentionss lots of awesome books and regularly links to others doing the same. Unfortunately, that only covers my science fix.
Genres I like: History, science (particularly "popsci" type books, cognitive, biological & medical science), anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, post-colonial Africa, religious studies, biographies, Jewish studies (religious or cultural).
I like technology genres with a caveat that I prefer from a historical or informational perspective (history of computers or look at the physical infrastructure of the internet), but not from a sociological approach (the ramifications of us all having cellphones and portable mp3 players).
Genres I don't (or at least not consistantly enough to want suggestions): self-help, hobbyist (crafts, gardening, home improvement) or fine arts, financial & investment, child-rearing, diet, politics, environmental, psuedo-science new age crap.
Also, if you have any specific good books to recommend, I will happily take those, too. Book you had to read for some class in college that you really liked, or just something you saw written up in Wired that sounded excited, anything.
Note: I can only read in English, needs be English-print books, English blogs.
Most people prefer fiction, including my friends, and so most recommendations I see are for such. Likewise, book review blogs, book clubs, best seller lists and other book aggregates are largely fiction-based. Even if there's some non-fiction on popular book lists, it's a pain to weed it out from the fiction. And often when I dig through a list of "good books," the sole non-fiction is just some crank peddling his book on homeopathy that only got some attention because Oprah plugged it.
What I'd really like is some sort of blog or virtual book club that covers exclusively non-fiction books. Googling turned up a few miscellaneous things but among the dead links and rarely-updated blogs, most weren't what I was looking for. I don't mind if there is an intentional genre or theme as long as it's not super specific (a "history books" blog is fine but "roman history books" is not).
If you know of ANYTHING like this (or have a friend who would that you can ask), please please plug it. I want to follow these kinds of things so I can have regular suggestions of good books.
Currently, the only blog of this nature that I follow is Confessions of a Science Librarian. It's not a book review blog, but he mentionss lots of awesome books and regularly links to others doing the same. Unfortunately, that only covers my science fix.
Genres I like: History, science (particularly "popsci" type books, cognitive, biological & medical science), anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, post-colonial Africa, religious studies, biographies, Jewish studies (religious or cultural).
I like technology genres with a caveat that I prefer from a historical or informational perspective (history of computers or look at the physical infrastructure of the internet), but not from a sociological approach (the ramifications of us all having cellphones and portable mp3 players).
Genres I don't (or at least not consistantly enough to want suggestions): self-help, hobbyist (crafts, gardening, home improvement) or fine arts, financial & investment, child-rearing, diet, politics, environmental, psuedo-science new age crap.
Also, if you have any specific good books to recommend, I will happily take those, too. Book you had to read for some class in college that you really liked, or just something you saw written up in Wired that sounded excited, anything.
Note: I can only read in English, needs be English-print books, English blogs.