I love Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. It's a non-fiction book about Chicago in 1893 which reads much like a novel. I'd like to read other books written in the same novel-esque style about some other cities or historic events. Know of any novel-like non-fiction reads?
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - 43 answers
I've just accepted a full time (telecommuting, FWIW) position with a Fortune 50 company. What are some must-read business books? [more inside]
posted on Jun 28, 2008 - 6 answers
Book design help! I would like to find a good website or blog that can help me learn more about designing the interior of a nonfiction book. [more inside]
posted on Jun 21, 2008 - 10 answers
Looking for sites or reviewers who review books other than literary fiction [more inside]
posted on Jun 10, 2008 - 4 answers
Why isn't the sequel to The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters out in America yet when it's already published in the UK? The UK published the first book after America did, so why would the UK publish the sequel first now? Is it even going to be published in the US? Help me, booksellers and those knowledgeable in publishing! [more inside]
posted on May 27, 2008 - 4 answers 
What are your recommendations for good baby and toddler books in English? [more inside]
posted on May 17, 2008 - 22 answers
What are some good books in German for a moderately advanced student of the language? [more inside]
posted on May 13, 2008 - 17 answers
What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region [more inside]
posted on May 6, 2008 - 16 answers
Where are the good used book stores in Houston? [more inside]
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - 14 answers
I'm trying to cover all my bases for my budding book repair business. I'm sure in the process people will be asking me to appraise their books. [more inside]
posted on Apr 16, 2008 - 4 answers
What are some good books about Chicago? [more inside]
posted on Mar 20, 2008 - 24 answers
I want to hear about "anti-cool". [more inside]
posted on Mar 11, 2008 - 50 answers
I'm trying to locate a New Age-y type book that I owned a few years ago. I can't remember what it's called, sadly. [more inside]
posted on Mar 3, 2008 - 7 answers
I've been reading 'New Kings of Nonfiction' by Ira Glass and love it. I want to read more articles and books in this vein. [more inside]
posted on Feb 27, 2008 - 7 answers
Help me remember title of really explicit and racy romance novel from the 70s or 80s please! The main character was a young orphaned woman who was in love with her rich caretaker who was a male family member who took her virginity so roughly that she required surgery and was left barren. [more inside]
posted on Feb 16, 2008 - 3 answers
Looking for the name of a sci-fi book. Man is injected with a serum that causes him to shrink forever, eventually discovering there are universes smaller than atoms. [more inside]
posted on Feb 7, 2008 - 9 answers
I'm looking for books where the author immerses himself in an experience and then writes about it [more inside]
posted on Feb 7, 2008 - 54 answers
Are there any books that take a Freakonomics like approach to explaining and analyzing urban sprawl? [more inside]
posted on Feb 6, 2008 - 14 answers
What connotations does 'limited run' regarding a book have? [more inside]
posted on Feb 2, 2008 - 9 answers
I'm looking for a series of hardback science fiction anthologies I dimly remember from childhood (sometime in the mid 80s). I think it had a one word title with a number, and the series went up to at least number five. I remember two stories in particular... [more inside]
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - 11 answers
Is there such a book as "The London Times Historical Atlas"? Google and Amazon are clueless. [more inside]
posted on Dec 22, 2007 - 6 answers
I'm looking for novels that are pageturners (genres preferred: science fiction/fantasy, magic realism, mystery/suspense/thriller) but also have psychologically acute character development. Any recs?
posted on Dec 20, 2007 - 33 answers
For a Friend: Recommend a book that will list all the movies my mother would have seen back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s if she'd had the time. [more inside]
posted on Dec 16, 2007 - 6 answers
I want a set of Discworld bookends for my Terry Pratchett collection. I'm particularly interested in Death, as I already have a gift set with the Librarian and Rincewind. I'm having trouble even finding the bookends online, and shipping directly from the UK would be pretty expensive, as they're heavy (naturally) and I'm in Florida. Where to look? How to get the best deal? Any help from the hive mind would be greatly appreciated!
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - 5 answers
What is your favorite book or DVD series about Mexico? Particularly historical fiction or contemporary fiction. Preferably in English, but if you have a great recommendation in Spanish, I'd take that too! My grandmother thanks you! [more inside]
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 8 answers
Help me find some good atheist reading materials for my birthday. [more inside]
posted on Nov 6, 2007 - 31 answers
Why do book advertisements say "available wherever books are sold"? [more inside]
posted on Oct 30, 2007 - 14 answers
BookFilter: Tom Clancy novel from ~10 years ago ... Help me remember the name! [more inside]
posted on Oct 29, 2007 - 10 answers
When books are placed on a shelf, why do some books have their spine title and author type reading downward, and others have upward-reading type? [more inside]
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - 4 answers
What are some good books and magazines related to social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, and the Fourth Sector? [more inside]
posted on Oct 9, 2007 - 4 answers
Recommendations for books with bumbling wizards? [more inside]
posted on Sep 18, 2007 - 32 answers
Help me choose some books to nominate for book club. No, no, no, this one's a tad more complicated. :) [more inside]
posted on Sep 17, 2007 - 3 answers
Please help this slacker choose a startlingly good book group book TODAY. [more inside]
posted on Sep 12, 2007 - 38 answers
I'm trying to remember the name of a children's book I read when I was younger. I think it was about a guy who had his own names for everything (including fire), then one day his house caught fire and his daughter (or servant?) couldn't tell him, because she couldn't remember the word. [more inside]
posted on Sep 6, 2007 - 7 answers
Can anyone tell me the title (or author, ISBN #, any other info) of a children's alphabet book-probably published late-1960s or early 1970s, featuring fantastical creatures chasing other fantastical creatures? [more inside]
posted on Aug 1, 2007 - 13 answers
Recommend some bed-time and weekend fiction or non-fiction reading that will keep me enthralled after a long day or a long week [more inside]
posted on Jul 22, 2007 - 31 answers
Please help me remember the title of a particular fictional, young-adult book from the 80s or maybe 90s. [more inside]
posted on Jul 21, 2007 - 4 answers
Starting this fall, I plan on taking some preparatory undergrad coursework with the intention of eventually applying to a master's program in applied mathematics. I am seeking suggestions for reading material concerning the field of mathematics in general, both as a refresher and as insight into current focus areas and work being done. As a working engineer, my situation and background might be a bit different from most considering this route... [more inside]
posted on Jul 15, 2007 - 2 answers
Bookfilter: Recommend a good book on Leon Trotsky and Trotskyism. [more inside]
posted on Jul 10, 2007 - 6 answers
Help me find a series of illustrated children's hardcover books from the 70s/80s about the upcoming technologies of "The Future" [more inside]
posted on Jul 10, 2007 - 11 answers
My mom's a research scientist; I've convinced her to get an Edward Tufte book (partly because she uses Powerpoint a lot). Which one should she get?
posted on Jul 6, 2007 - 19 answers
Looking for good books with alternating narration. [more inside]
posted on Apr 25, 2007 - 43 answers
Identify this book: Black comedy involving doctors and nurses with sentences ALL IN CAPS. Published in the last five years. British female author.
posted on Apr 25, 2007 - 4 answers
BookFilter: I've recently gotten done with Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
(link here). I'm looking for more books like it. [more inside]
posted on Apr 23, 2007 - 19 answers
I need to know which book-related web service/API is best (most complete archive, most up-to-date, most metadata) for looking up information about books given an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13. [more inside]
posted on Apr 17, 2007 - 10 answers
Book search with price comparison. [more inside]
posted on Apr 16, 2007 - 10 answers
I am looking for books similar in style with Christopher Priest's "The Prestige". What i want is complex stories, epistolary in structure where the plot has to be puzzeled together by the reader.
posted on Mar 22, 2007 - 26 answers
Young Adult Literature: A little girl in an abandoned house and a room with purple wallpaper. [more inside]
posted on Mar 15, 2007 - 11 answers
Which book would you consider a "universal" book? [more inside]
posted on Mar 14, 2007 - 57 answers
I need help putting together a book about my Peace Corps experiences, though I have no idea where to even begin. Any ideas? [more inside]
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - 15 answers
Should I bother with a publisher? How much do nonfiction authors make off a book deal these days? [more inside]
posted on Feb 12, 2007 - 8 answers
Please recommend a good book about the history of the space travel. I'm particulary interested in NASA, but if it includes info about other countries, all the better.
posted on Feb 1, 2007 - 14 answers
Is there a website that will let me know when books I want go from the undesired hardcover to the coveted paperback?
posted on Dec 24, 2006 - 10 answers
Are there any books you think a smart, grieving preteen would find comforting or of use? More details inside. [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2006 - 15 answers
Anyone have any suggestions for insightful, well-written books on the history of U.S. foreign relations?
posted on Dec 8, 2006 - 5 answers
mySQLfilter: How can I ignore "A, An, & The" at the beginning of book titles when sorting results alphabetically by title? [more inside]
posted on Dec 5, 2006 - 10 answers
Where should I search in order to generate a list of all/most books published (in English, for the past 20 years or so) about a particular topic? I have a feeling that using Amazon plus my local library isn't giving me comprehensive results. Is there some kind of all-libraries database? Or all books that have been issued ISBN numbers?
posted on Dec 2, 2006 - 6 answers
I'm looking for a children's book, but I have forgotten most of the salient details, including the title and author. It involved the meanderings of a worm. Each page had a sentence that included a word that was being taught to the reader. The only specific vocabulary word from the book I remember is "erudite". The book pages were black or dark with highly stylized illustrations of the worm's adventure. [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2006 - 2 answers
Help me identify this book! A friend asked me this, and I quote: "book from the 17th century? about the guy who decided to be a tourist in his own home. he wrote a whole book about how he's exploring his kitchen and livingroom. finding things he'd never seen before. marveling at a cupboard he hasn't opened for a long time. stumbling upon a pretty rock underneath the carpet." There are no other clues. I told her I had no idea what it was, but now I too am curious and interested in reading it. Apparently, not even the person who recommended it to her could remember the title or the author. Any ideas?
posted on Nov 5, 2006 - 6 answers
I have decided to participate in NaNoWriMo, but I need help with a plot point involving the U.S. presidential order of succession. [more inside]
posted on Oct 10, 2006 - 14 answers
I want to read some good books about sports sociology. [more inside]
posted on Oct 4, 2006 - 12 answers
Please help me select a book as a present for my nephew. He's 19, and when I gave him a Chapters gift card for his high school graduation last spring, he used it to buy a complete set of Tom Clancy novels. Political espionage/intrigue/adventure has to be the genre I know the least about. If my nephew likes Tom Clancy's and Frederick Forsythe's works, what other books in the same genre would he enjoy?
posted on Sep 17, 2006 - 25 answers
Help find a SF book that my friend can't quite recall, but remembers themes of? [more inside]
posted on Sep 1, 2006 - 7 answers
I'm looking for more great non-fiction books. Requirements: writing to make an English major swoon; a thesis or narrative structure that makes for an organized, logical flow; well-reported; interesting; true, with embellishments of known fact made known by the author. [more inside]
posted on Aug 22, 2006 - 46 answers
Could you suggest good visionary (realized or unrealized) architecture and urbanism books ?
I'd be interested in well illustrated books. I can afford a 50 to 150 dollars book on that topic.
I'd like to find things like that.
posted on Jul 21, 2006 - 18 answers
I want to learn about psychoanalysis/psychotherapy/etc. -- what are the best books? [more inside]
posted on Jul 18, 2006 - 12 answers
I'm looking for literature analysis websites. Are there any suggestions for worthwhile sources? I've found a bunch of essay websites, but they seem conflicting or written by students. I'm looking for accurate information that will give me some new perspectives in a wide variety of literature. In time I would like to be able to teach more about hidden symbolism to other people including students. Right now I'm looking specifically for interpretations of Margaret Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale" and George Orwell's "1984". Thanks in advance if anyone has any advice or tips.
posted on May 29, 2006 - 12 answers
What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers
My mom loved The Secret Life of Bees and The Year of Magical Thinking. She couldn't get through much of The Time Traveler's Wife. What else might she like? [more inside]
posted on May 5, 2006 - 30 answers
Libraries + Free Audiobook Downloads? Tell me where. [more inside]
posted on Feb 16, 2006 - 19 answers
How does a first edition book compare to later printings? [more inside]
posted on Feb 6, 2006 - 6 answers
Is it possible to split up and rebind a very large book into three or four smaller books? (Yes, I know this was asked a year and a half ago, but my question is a little different.) [more inside]
posted on Dec 11, 2005 - 11 answers
Which Dune novel or novels by Frank Herbert or his successors refers to mentats as cultivating "the naive mind"? The only place I can find it is in the Wikipedia article on mentats (endlessly cloned around the Web).
posted on Oct 27, 2005 - 8 answers
I went to a first meeting of a book club tonight, and it was an utter failure. We need, at the very least, a great book with broad appeal to discuss at our next meeting. [more inside]
posted on Oct 24, 2005 - 31 answers
Sell or hold? My impulse rare book investment is appreciating nicely it seems. Maybe. [more inside]
posted on Oct 10, 2005 - 13 answers
I have always enjoyed reading the summaries that often appear in the Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (the small type at the beginning of the book that includes the date of publication, etc.) of books for young people. Just because they're amusing, I'll provide an example:
Poinsettia and the Firefighters by Felicia Bond
Summary: Poinsettia the Pig feels lonely and afraid of the dark until she learns that there is someone else awake and keeping watch all night: the fire fighters.
Why are these summaries there? Why don't books for adults have them?
posted on Feb 3, 2005 - 3 answers
Can you help me track down a volume of Nabokov's poetry? I know such volumes exist, you just can't buy them on any store I've looked at online. Thanks!
posted on Jan 29, 2005 - 5 answers
I just came into possession of a first edition Lord of the Rings, I want to sell, and I have no idea what I'm doing. Advice appreciated.
posted on Jan 4, 2005 - 19 answers
More FictionFilter: Nuclear warhead, meet Oz. Sound familiar? [more inside]
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - 8 answers
Librarians, parents, readers, ex-kids: can any of you help me remember a long-lost children's book about a bear who learns to be self-reliant? [more inside]
posted on Sep 2, 2004 - 7 answers
I'm looking for a book...[mi]
posted on Aug 8, 2004 - 3 answers
i'm reading gibson's pattern recognition. i'd like something the same, but better. more inside.
posted on Jun 20, 2004 - 28 answers
By using a computer to analyze the word usage of the anonymously authored book Primary Colors, Don Foster was able to determine that columnist Joe Klein wrote it. Foster wrote a book about his experience, but it gives very little detail into his methods. From what I gather, the general theory is that different writers have statistically significant ideosyncracies that show up in things like vocabulary choices. The FBI is supposed to be able to do this with ransom notes, and I've heard of one guy who is trying to do it with the U.S. Supreme Court's theoretically anonymous "per curiam" opinions. I'd like to do some similar work. What is this general field called--is "forensic linguistics" the right term? Can anyone recommend a good bibliography of works to read up on this, or maybe even some software that helps?
posted on Mar 25, 2004 - 11 answers
My wife and I are going to London soon. I've lived there before, but it will be her first time. What are some good books that will bring the city's history and landmarks alive for her? Fiction and non-fiction are fine, as long as they are good reads (not dry or academic). I'm looking for the type of thing that will really make you appreciate the Tower or Camden Town or whatever when you're there.
posted on Mar 9, 2004 - 23 answers
How do they create book indexes? I have a friend who's a grad student, and she needs to create an index for her hundred page scientific thesis. Is there any easy way to do it in MS Word, or another software product -- something that a non-geek could churn and burn with in a couple of hours?
posted on Jan 22, 2004 - 17 answers
Quicksilver. What am I missing? (more)
posted on Dec 9, 2003 - 16 answers
