AIBU to ask for the best book in your discipline

[5SecondRuleJr]

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right topic but thought I’d cast my net wider in AIBU. I enjoy non-fiction but I find it quite hard to find books which are really entertaining outside of my own area of focus.

I’m an economist by training and I’ve read most of the recent economics based books but if someone who isn’t in the field asks me for a recommendation, I always recommend Freakomomics, which is so entertaining and accessible.

A biologist friend recommended the Selfish Gene and I loved it, but when I’ve blindly bought biology books it’s been a bit hit and miss. Similarly, Sapiens really brought anthropology to life for me.

So if you could recommend one really excellent, entertaining book in your discipline or your area of interest, which would it be?

Sorry, didn’t mean to enable voting!

I work in Internet Infrastructure and always recommend Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum. It's a really accessible way to understand this hidden world that underpins all the new technology we take for granted.

I also enjoyed How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone by Brian McCullough - it was my holiday reading last year on the beach!

Informal Education by Jeffs and Smith

Or Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey is a good read.

For an economist, perhaps The Spirit Level by Pickett and Wilkinson would appeal.

I’m a solicitor. The Secret Barrister is very illuminating and entertaining.

Drive by Daniel Pink. Behavioural economics. Not my field of work, but what he talks about is relevant for most people.

The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data by David Spiegelhalter

"The Panda's Thumb" by Stephen J Gould. Zoology.

Great idea for a thread. Will have a think.

For history A short history of drunkenness " by Mark forsythia or John o farrel's An utterly impartial history of Britain.

For work" the blunders of our governments "

Secret Cells of Henrietta Lack by Rebecca Skloot
Being Mortal. Medicine and why it matters Atul Gawande
Medical ethics in the ancient world by Paul Garrick
The ethical and legal consequences of posthumous reproduction by Browne Lewis

I’m a writer. I always recommend ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ to those interested in creative writing. It’s actually about mythology and the hero archetype but it’s just such a good starting point.

Thank you for all the responses, I’m adding all of these to my reading list and will probably take a year to work through them. Really looking forward to it.