Recommend me books about ants, termites, Quakerism and black cowboys

September 1, 2005 3:33 AM

Recommend me some books/articles about specific, somewhat esoteric, subjects.

Can anyone recommend good books/articles about the following subjects: black cowboys, ants and termites, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a history of Methodism and Quakerism.

I'm thinking books in the vein of Cod: A Biography, Salt: A World History, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Something readable and engaging. I'm also going to buy a few "groups" of books (Zero, Infinity, Chaos, in one go, Salt, Cod, Potato, in another, etc.) and read them in one go. Any recommendations for other groups?

posted by xpermanentx to Writing & Language (17 answers total)

This doesn't specifically answer your first question, but I would nominate Fermat's Enigma to go with the first, mathy group. It discusses the move from regular geometry to non-Euclidian geometry in the context of this one specific, seemingly unsolvable proof. Pretty cool stuff and goes well with the others you are thinking about.
As to the others, try going to a college bookstore and browsing the textbook shelves in the religion, sociology, middle eastern studies and american studies areas. You may find what you're looking for - most classes don't use actual textbooks anymore and a decent liberal arts college will have classes that address at least one of these subjects.
Sorry to not be more helpful with the specifics.
posted by ohio at 4:33 AM on September 1, 2005

The Life of the White Ant by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Out of print, alas, but it can be found. Try abebooks.com. Also wrote on bees. Charming in its way. Said to be, um, influenced by The Soul of the White Ant by Eugene Marais
posted by IndigoJones at 4:57 AM on September 1, 2005

Journey to the Ants, by E.O. Wilson and Bert Holldobler, is a pop-science overview of the diversity of ant species. It's a fun read. If you want something a lot more complete (and a lot more expensive), check out The Ants, by the same authors.
posted by fuzz at 5:04 AM on September 1, 2005

Other groups:

Seeds of Change : Six Plants that Transformed Mankind
Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich
Forces of Change: An Unorthodox View of History

all by Henry Hobhouse. The first edition of book one had only five plants. I could be wrong, but I think he more or less started the flood of this kind of book, that is, the more recent flood. Good stuff, though, well written.

There's a classic work on the potato, late nineteenth century, author's name begins with an S. Very solemn and very funny, but I can't place it off hand.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:29 AM on September 1, 2005

I can't help with the first group you mention, but you should check out The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.
posted by josh at 5:37 AM on September 1, 2005

E.O. Wilson IS the ant man. Excellent reference.
posted by bonehead at 5:55 AM on September 1, 2005

Longitude
Shackleton

A Natural History of the Senses
A Natural History of Love
posted by junkbox at 5:57 AM on September 1, 2005

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums by Stephen T. Asma

All this talk about Bodyworlds exhibits in modern museums is just rehashing the past. In the olden days, they just dug up recently buried bodies and dissected them for fun and profit.
posted by rabbitsnake at 6:08 AM on September 1, 2005

pencils

screws

see also
posted by scratch at 6:20 AM on September 1, 2005

Along the lines of Salt (sodium being one of the 17 molecules featured in this book), check out Napoleon's Buttons: 17 Molecules That Changed History.
posted by nancoix at 6:22 AM on September 1, 2005

I second Seeds of Change, and recommend La Diva Nicotina.
posted by the cuban at 6:41 AM on September 1, 2005

Wikipedia's article on the Religious Society of Friends is a well-written and comprehensive introduction to Quakerism. Any books or links that I was going to recommend are in the article.
posted by scruss at 7:10 AM on September 1, 2005

Add "An Imaginary Tale" to your list of math-y books.
posted by duck at 7:36 AM on September 1, 2005

I want to write a book called "Monothesis: How Books About Single Topics Changing the Course of History Changed Publishing"

For fun math books, Rudy Rucker is the man. I especially enjoyed "The Fourth Dimension" and "Mind Tools"
posted by bendybendy at 8:45 AM on September 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

If botany is at all interesting to you, I recommend Wade Davis' One River, a fascinating study of the ethnobotany of the Amazon, told through the histories of his Indiana Jones-ish field studies and those of his mentor.
posted by docgonzo at 9:22 AM on September 1, 2005

The Wade Davis book is good.

Here's an article, called The Swarm, from last month's Harper's. It's all about the termite problem in New Orleans. It has some references to good books about termites, besides being good itself.
posted by OmieWise at 11:26 AM on September 1, 2005

The Soul of the White Ant by Eugene Marais is the book that is recommended in the article I link to above. It's about termites.
posted by OmieWise at 11:32 AM on September 1, 2005