Comments on: Really, really, really good non-fiction books

Question: Really, really, really good non-fiction books

signal — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:46:39 -0800

Few books have given me as much sheer joy as Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style". Tufte's "Visual Explanations" is also up there in terms of content and presentation. What other exceedingly well researched, written and designed non-fiction books would you recommend for somebody interested in Design, Architecture, Programming, Information Visualization, Maps, Math, Music and Science?

This is based on the observation that novels just don't impress me as much as they once did, whereas a well executed non-fiction book grips me the way Banks and Borges used to.
I'm not looking for "not so well written or designed, but still interesting", but rather books that fill you with joy as soon as you crack open a page. The topics are a bit broad on purpose, as it's more the quality of the book than the topic that interests me.

By: signal

signal — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:49:25 -0800

By 'well designed' I mean Beautiful, of course.

By: tocts

tocts — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:01:48 -0800

I've always loved Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" (amazon link). Well written, quite interesting, and amazingly gripping for a book that is essentially a text on math and cryptographic theory.

It's a tad dated (published in '95) but still very interesting, and I occasionally re-read parts of it in a whim.

By: luriete

luriete — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:04:15 -0800

You may also be interested in McLean's The Thames & Hudson Manual of Typography and Doyald Young's The Art of the Letter. And of course anything by Tschichold!

By: steadystate

steadystate — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:14:32 -0800

You've set a high bar. Bringhurst and Tufte are close to peerless with respect to marrying design with content in their books.

My first thought is that some of Douglas Hofstadter's books (particularly Godel, Escher, Bach and Metamagical Themas) may be a good match for you, especially given the fields you're interested in. However, Hofstadter doesn't integrate design into his books so much as use it to illustrate some of his topics.

I'll try to think of a better suggestion.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:16:06 -0800

I just read an interesting book called The Origins of Virtue, which looks at the evolution of human cooperation largely in terms of game theory. It discusses the development of game theory through computer programs. As an anthropology student with an interest in the cooler applications of math, I found it fascinating.

By: [@I][:+:][@I]

[@I][:+:][@I] — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:20:23 -0800

A few books that leap to mind. Their common thread is being awesome and engaging no matter what your level of interest in the subject matter. Stop me if you've read them all:

The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman.

In Suspect Terrain (geology) and The Curve of Binding Energy (nuclear physics), by John McPhee (or pretty much any of his other books).

The Making of The Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes, which turns out to be a spectacularly comprehensive history of the first half of the 20th century from all sorts of angles.

Longitude, by Dava Sobel.

The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story of Percelain, by Janet Gleeson.

Emporer of Scent, by Chandler Burr. (about perfume and a science radical)

And last but not least, despite it's awful title, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, by Gary Kinder, turn out to be one of the most mindblowing real life stories I've ever read.

By: jquinby

jquinby — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:21:00 -0800

I like The Look of the Century by Michael Tambini and The Way Things Work By David Macaulay. Acually, I like everything by Macaulay.

By: advicepig

advicepig — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:22:22 -0800

"Ways of Seeing" by John Berger is the classic art school required reading.

You might also enjoy books by the book artist Keith Smith. "Text in the Book Format" comes immediately to mind.

By: infobomb

infobomb — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:22:25 -0800

Seconding the recommendation of Hofstadter's books. They are beautiful reflections on beauty, and Hofstadter takes a meticulous interest in every level of the book: typography, indexing, design and so on. I think Metamagical Themas has dated less than Godel, Escher, Bach.

By: jquinby

jquinby — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:23:32 -0800

...almost forgot: for pure beauty, take a look at the Kelmscott Chaucer. I do not own a copy, but I dearly wish that I did.

By: [@I][:+:][@I]

[@I][:+:][@I] — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:28:20 -0800

Oh, that Tom Wolfe book about modern art is pretty cool.

By: RogerB

RogerB — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:39:32 -0800

I'd second Tschichold as an obvious choice. It's slightly further outside your tech/science/design interests, but Ways of Seeing was a great suggestion, and you might also want to look at John Berger's Another Way of Telling, about the intersection between photography and narration. You could also check out Franco Moretti's Atlas of the European Novel for some Tuftean ideas about information display adapted to present an unconventional work of literary history and criticism. It's a bit hard to tell whether you're asking for pretty books or compelling reading, but if stunning page design is not a requirement then A Pattern Language (and its companion volumes) is another strong match for your interests.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:49:06 -0800

David Hockney's Secret Knowledge is elegantly reasoned and presented.

By: rush

rush — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:56:23 -0800

The Art of Computer Programming series is the most mind-blowing and challenging text I've seen under the heading of Programming. It's interesting not just for the insight into computer programming, but also for Knuth's interesting approach to format. I'll confess that I've not read all of it, and I've understood less, but it's a heck of a read, in a "pick it up from time to time and get lost" way.

Thank you for the great question - I hope to see more fantastic answers.

By: ChromeDome

ChromeDome — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:14:38 -0800

Nth-ing Tufte and Hofstadter and McPhee.
I really enjoyed Chaos by James Gleick. I love his style and the subject matter crosses a wide range of fields you'd probably find interesting.
Perhaps not as elegant but equally enjoyable to me is James Burke's Connections.
And I too am looking forward to more great answers.

By: Mapes

Mapes — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:37:06 -0800

Stewart Brand's How Buildings Learn is exceptional.

By: king walnut

king walnut — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:40:42 -0800

Visual Complex Analysis by Tristan Needham. A beautiful book, on a beautiful subject, with illustrations (and text) that will make you see the light.

By: alikins

alikins — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:55:04 -0800

A few that might fit that haven't been mentioned.

Industrial Design by Raymond Lowery

Boundaries by Maya Lin, more of an art book, but interesting none the less

The Code Book: The Evolution Of Secrecy From Mary, To Queen Of Scots To Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh

An Eames Primer by Eames Demetrios< br>
Code: the hidden language of computer hardware and software by Charles Petzold

Also, any Andy Goldsworthy art books. Any Henry Petrowski.

By: rush

rush — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:17:02 -0800

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

By: Lanark

Lanark — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:04:07 -0800

The Death and Life of Great American Cities - by Jane Jacobs

By: signal

signal — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:30:20 -0800

Wow, lots of great answers. Hard to mark best answers until I get the actual books (via Bookmooch, natch), but I will update with the books I actually read.
Thanks, and keep them coming!

By: lovejones

lovejones — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:48:01 -0800

Weingart's Typography, Bosshard's The Typographic Grid, and any of the Joseph Muller-Brockmann books, really, if you want it hardcore. All beautiful objects...

By: shallowcenter

shallowcenter — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:43:01 -0800

Seconding "Longitude," and Sobel's most recent book, "The Planets," is also pretty terrific.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:12:24 -0800

S, M, L, XL by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau

By: londongeezer

londongeezer — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:07:09 -0800

Derek Birdsall, Notes on Book Design

By: Scoo

Scoo — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:08:21 -0800

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is great great great, and popped into my head as soon as I read your question. I read it once year.

By: extrabox

extrabox — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:35:44 -0800

Not a book, but BldgBlog offers spectacularly interesting and informed postings about many of your interests, and often reviews books or interviews authors you might enjoy.

It's regularly updated, and it is a wonderful resource!

By: Eringatang

Eringatang — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:44:33 -0800

This edition of The Elements of Style.

By: phliar

phliar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:29:53 -0800

I'm not a fan of any of Hofstadter's books, and I feel that GEB is grossly overrated. (But my background is theoretical CS so you might say I'm biased.)

My pick is Mapping The Next Millennium by Stephen Hall. It's about maps: starting with the earth sciences maps (and historic maps) through biological maps, math/fractal maps, and cosmological maps. The cover is a beautiful depiction of the sea floor, calculated based on extremely precise measurements of the surface of the sea (which reveal the earth's gravity and hence the topography of the seafloor).

If you have a CS or typesetting background, try The TeXBook by Knuth. I've been reading that book for around 20 years and I still learn new stuff (and I still can't do all the exercises).

If you like Math, Gamma by Julian Havil about the Euler-Mascheroni constant. It's not as glamorous as π or e but when I read the book I was shocked there was such a cool constant that I knew nothing about.

For current directions in cosmology, Voyage To The Great Attractor by Alan Dressler. If you've ever wondered how we know about things like the accelerating expansion of the universe, or the picture of the Big Bang revealed by the cosmic background radiation, this is the book for you -- told by one of the scientists involved.

And, of course anything by John McPhee or Stephen Jay Gould.

By: phliar

phliar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:43:19 -0800

One more to add the list: The New Science of Strong Materials by J. E. Gordon. That's one of the guys that developed glassfiber-reinforced plastics. He tells the story and explains the science, both very well. For me, that book really bridged the macroscopic world of billiard balls and the atomic world of covalent bonds.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:04:52 -0800

Maps of the imagination: The writer as cartographer, by Peter Turchi
You are here, by Katherine Harmon
The Mapmaker's Wife by Robert Whitaker.

All three are map related.

The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner

By: misteraitch

misteraitch — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:39:14 -0800

While it's more surface than substance, you might enjoy looking through Alan Fletcher's The Art of Looking Sideways.

By: husky

husky — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:55:34 -0800

I second the recommendation for McCloud's Understanding Comics, easily one of the most refreshing books about design, art and narratives i've ever read. Don't let the title mislead you: it's about much more than just comics.

Also, i would recommend The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich (large excerpts available for free online at Google Books). It's one of the few books i know that really goes deep into what new media are, what they aren't, and how they impact our daily lives. Especially his vision on the database as the most important 'form' (instead of narratives) in new media (chapter 4) is something everyone even remotely interested in new media should haeve read.

By: ikahime

ikahime — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:42:22 -0800

I really enjoyed The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram and have been meaning to re-read it for some time now. Space, time, language...lovely.

By: twistofrhyme

twistofrhyme — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:49:22 -0800

richard dawkins' book, "the blind watchmaker" looks at some natural-history phenomena that once confused evolutionary biologists, and often still confuse laymen about the mechanisms of evolution. dawkins' stunningly clearheaded explanations are a delight to read.

scott mccloud - "understanding comics" and "making comics", two thoughtful graphic textbooks about sequential storytelling. (the two i suggested are his first and third books: the second, "reinventing comics", is not as good).

book-jacket designer chip kidd's "good is dead", a fascinating coffee table book with great photos of his high-quality and very clever book designs. a beautifully laid-out collection.