I need a good non fiction book

are you sure you don't want to read fifty shades of grey? i see plenty reading it. must be a literary masterpiece.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"
fun read for a history of science, really.

Jon Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven, Into the Wild
Erik Larson - Devil in the White City

Devil in the White City is amazing. I also like just about anything by David McCollough - I've been slowly making my way through is book on the Brooklyn Bridge.

I also really enjoyed James A. Michener's books like "Chesapeake" and "Alaska" although they are historical fiction rather than non-fiction so I found they always felt sort of contrived when the storyline got to modern times.

Joseph Mitchell "Up In The Old Hotel" is another favorite. Collection of Short Stories written for the New Yorker mostly about the old Bowery underclass. Really interesting and because it's short stories something you can pick up and put down at will.

a thousand years of non-linear history - manuel de landa

LOVED Devil in the White City.

I just finished Me the People ... hysterical
and
In Stitches (memoir of a medical student) ... also hysterical

If you're into history at all the Robert Caro bios of Lyndon Johnson are a great, richly detailed read. Definitely not a quick read, though. Each in the series is roughly 800-900 pages.

John T. McIntyre's "The Ragged Edge" (1902) a great novel written by a fellow Kensingtonian. He grew up and was a member of St. Michael's Parish, born about 1870, died in around 1954. He wrote like a demon, sometimes successful, mostly not, wrote mystery, for the theater, novels, dime novels, etc. He did finally get a best seller around 1936, a book called "Steps Going Down," also a great read, with an opening scene of a priest coming to get the lead character in order to direct the priest to a red light house, where a woman wants last rites. This story also takes place in Philly, maybe down on the old Tenderloin district (Vine Street west of 8th).

The Ragged Edge is about Irish ward politics in Kensington (he doesn't call it Kensington, but references a lot of things that give it away, such as the riots, etc). Great dialogue, accents for the Jews and Irish, etc.

LIke I said, he wrote a ton, but four of his novels take place in Philly, the two above, plus "Slag" and a book called "Ferment." Read three, could never get a copy of Slag at a decent price.

I guess some might call McIntyre a 'noir' writer, sort of precursor to Goodis if you ever read him.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan is a fantastic book. Quick read and very gripping.

Storm of War by Andrew Roberts

Anything by Bill Bryson. American Sphinx. Founding Brothers. The Undercover Economist. The God Particle by Leon Lederman.

And, of course, Penthouse Letters!

Second the Robert Caro Years of LBJ bios mentioned by George above. That reminds me, I need to check out the newly-released fourth volume. I still have The Power Broker on my to-read pile right now. Really need to get to that one soon.

That was quite good as well.

The Last Gangster by George Anastasia