NonFiction of the week 17 December

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

Fairly busy non-fic week here. I'm wrapping up Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan, and will get to two more works this week, both on the short side:

Nitobee Inazo – Bushido

Bushido = The Way of the Samurai, but this book also delves into how the samurai were a reflection of the greater Japanese culture. Teddy Roosevelt and JFK were both admirers of this work. Fun fact: Nitobe wrote the book in English, and later translated it into Japanese for that market.

Ida Wells-Barnett – Southern Horrors & The Red Record

Wells-Barnett was a fearless reporter, among the first to address the horrors of Jim Crow in the south from the black perspective. These works focused primarily on lynching, and how whites lied that it was about punishment for crimes, when it was actually a tool to terrorize black people.

So what non-fiction is everyone else reading this week?

[MOMFUDSKI]

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

John Le Carre. I am enjoying the story and writing style. Then I will delve into the author based on the ‘About the Author’ at the back of the book. Fun

[mike_c]

2. A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

Arguing that human settlements off Earth will be technologically difficult and extremely unpleasant places to live, at best, A City on Mars is well researched and presents a compelling case for waiting another few centuries before getting too serious about off planet migration. However, the Weinersmiths' narration, which initially sounds refreshingly irreverent, slowly becomes annoyingly glib. Yes, they can find humor in explosive decompression, but after a while that loses it's charm. I'm two-thirds through it and beginning to wonder how much further I'll read. It is informative, in a "Yeah, that's pretty obvious when you think about it," sort of way. Living in claustrophobic habitats where somebody else owns the air, surrounded by instantly fatal conditions, will be hard and unforgiving. That's the one sentence synopsis without the pervasive glibness.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

3. Reminds me of Philip K Dick

Living in claustrophobic habitats where somebody else owns the air, surrounded by instantly fatal conditions, will be hard and unforgiving.

That's what everything ended up being about in Philip K Dick's short story, 'I Can Remember It for You Wholesale.' Most people haven't read that, but millions have seen its big-screen adaptation, 'Total Recall,' starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.