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I loved Radzinsky's Rasputin bio Tom Send a noteboard - 14/09/2009 06:58:46 PM
He also wrote a FANTASTIC biography of Stalin that I highly recommend - it purges all the other bios of Stalin like the enemies of the people they are.

I think it is worthwhile to post a survey to start people talking more about non-fiction on this website as well. To me, reading fantasy and science fiction all the time is a bit like eating junk food or playing computer games - it's fun and entertaining, but when you're done and look back on the time spent you sometimes sit there and say, "What have I done?!"

Yup. Which is why I find it a little disturbing that so many people read more Fantasy than anything else. It's great and I love it but my brain requires something more.

Yes. I read the entire Mistborn trilogy (and I have Warbreaker on the shelf waiting to be read) and amazon is shipping the new Dan Brown as we speak. However, my brain also needs more and so I try to broaden my reading spectrum more and more.

- world cultures

I used to love this as a child. The high gloss books with photos and snippets of information about a place and culture were marvellous.

I still love those sorts of books, though now I like the ones with glossy photos and then in-depth articles next to them.

I like looking at pictures and reading art history.

I have a lot of coffee table books (some of them big enough to make into coffee tables) like that. Of course, I also have the "art photography" books that are essentially high-end soft core porn because it's just as cool as having porn on display but yet much more chic.

7. Do you consider books about the occult to be non-fiction or fiction? Why?

In what way do you mean about? Do you mean an occultist version of The Bible, or similar? Most likely, though, whatever your answer, I'd probably consider it to be non-fiction.

I meant more that people discuss experiences and things that likely did not happen - whether it's Aleister Crowley claiming to have summoned the devil in a ritual or Carlos Castaneda claiming to have been on a drug trip in Mexico with Yaqui shamans when records show he was checking out books that day from the university library. A certain amount of occult books present cultural traditions, but some seem to be actively making things up.

Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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Non-Fiction survey - 14/09/2009 05:38:04 PM 1173 Views
Heh. - 14/09/2009 05:58:59 PM 880 Views
You associate non-fiction with work? Are you a non-fiction book reviewer by day? - 14/09/2009 06:35:59 PM 709 Views
Nah... - 14/09/2009 06:56:41 PM 730 Views
I like non-fiction as long as it's not preachy. - 14/09/2009 06:25:42 PM 891 Views
So...Bill O'Reilly's out but Aleister Crowley is in, right? - 14/09/2009 06:34:38 PM 789 Views
I didn't say I wanted to read occult books. - 14/09/2009 09:40:40 PM 1333 Views
Fun. - 14/09/2009 06:31:28 PM 969 Views
Fact not fiction. - 14/09/2009 06:43:32 PM 910 Views
I loved Radzinsky's Rasputin bio - 14/09/2009 06:58:46 PM 799 Views
Re: I loved Radzinsky's Rasputin bio - 14/09/2009 07:10:01 PM 819 Views
You're going to force me to start a Dan Brown discussion in a different thread. - 14/09/2009 09:00:32 PM 740 Views
Well, I can do it here, no worries, just think of it as non-non-fiction. - 14/09/2009 09:06:34 PM 790 Views
This is pretty much it. - 14/09/2009 09:09:18 PM 788 Views
Re: Fact not fiction. - 17/09/2009 12:40:31 AM 838 Views
Re: Fact not fiction. - 17/09/2009 03:08:34 PM 731 Views
Re: Fact not fiction. - 17/09/2009 11:57:22 PM 686 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 14/09/2009 07:25:20 PM 726 Views
Legacy of Ashes sounds interesting - 14/09/2009 08:59:38 PM 737 Views
Re: Legacy of Ashes sounds interesting - 14/09/2009 09:09:30 PM 747 Views
So - 14/09/2009 10:14:47 PM 706 Views
Re: So - 14/09/2009 10:35:40 PM 696 Views
I do read sometimes. - 14/09/2009 08:01:03 PM 922 Views
If you liked Jesus, Interrupted... - 14/09/2009 08:58:26 PM 783 Views
Added to The List. *NM* - 14/09/2009 10:28:14 PM 327 Views
I read it quite a lot, obviously. - 14/09/2009 09:20:40 PM 813 Views
I have Antonia Fraser's bio of Oliver Cromwell. - 15/09/2009 05:14:06 AM 760 Views
Re: I have Antonia Fraser's bio of Oliver Cromwell. - 15/09/2009 08:07:28 AM 817 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 14/09/2009 09:24:35 PM 928 Views
I'd be interested to know the title of that Lincoln book. *NM* - 15/09/2009 05:11:14 AM 351 Views
Tried by War by James M. McPherson - 15/09/2009 07:01:30 PM 799 Views
Thanks! *NM* - 17/09/2009 03:07:50 PM 360 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 14/09/2009 10:05:56 PM 732 Views
I'm sorry. I just can't take "pro wrestling" seriously enough to comment on it beyond this. *NM* - 15/09/2009 05:15:13 AM 346 Views
What, pro wrestling is awesome! - 16/09/2009 05:59:44 PM 943 Views
Sweet - 14/09/2009 10:09:21 PM 879 Views
My problem with Fisk is his naivete - 15/09/2009 05:10:00 AM 751 Views
If you're referring to the passages I think you're referring to... - 15/09/2009 11:06:04 AM 879 Views
I need to read more American Indian books - 16/09/2009 07:01:21 PM 728 Views
Good survey! - 14/09/2009 11:40:58 PM 867 Views
Ah...but where do you draw the line on the occult? - 15/09/2009 05:07:14 AM 713 Views
Intent. - 15/09/2009 06:02:39 AM 737 Views
Yea, I would tend to agree. - 15/09/2009 11:10:03 AM 780 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 15/09/2009 12:25:57 AM 764 Views
You should consider reading more non-fiction. *NM* - 15/09/2009 05:04:55 AM 375 Views
It's under consideration. - 15/09/2009 11:50:47 PM 642 Views
I read a lot of it for my classes, so I read very little of it for leisure. - 15/09/2009 12:46:23 AM 814 Views
As someone who read Ab Urbe Condita in Latin...the book you reference "delenda est". - 15/09/2009 05:04:05 AM 749 Views
It's infuriating, yes. *NM* - 15/09/2009 06:22:36 PM 347 Views
Mea culpa; the book in question is Zoch's Ancient Rome. - 15/09/2009 06:45:22 PM 669 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 15/09/2009 01:07:13 AM 784 Views
I did a survey about personal libraries, too... - 15/09/2009 05:01:12 AM 755 Views
great survey. - 15/09/2009 02:17:26 AM 940 Views
Re: great survey. - 15/09/2009 04:56:50 AM 782 Views
Interesting questions! - 15/09/2009 07:20:05 AM 884 Views
I'm not sure if it's a translation issue, but - 17/09/2009 03:10:49 PM 828 Views
That's the English titel yes! - 18/09/2009 07:03:45 AM 1011 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 15/09/2009 11:35:48 AM 971 Views
Books on Napoleon.... - 15/09/2009 08:03:55 PM 768 Views
Narcissist. *NM* - 15/09/2009 08:21:44 PM 314 Views
David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon is wonderful. *NM* - 17/09/2009 03:13:03 PM 303 Views
i like non-fiction! - 15/09/2009 09:40:40 PM 813 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 17/09/2009 12:49:35 AM 1014 Views
Re: Non-Fiction survey - 26/09/2009 01:49:16 AM 794 Views

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