One of the very first things you do after packing for that long awaited holiday, is to think about what you will do on that 16 hour bus trip all the way to the coast. Reading is one of the best ways to pass the time and to give you some ideas, I’ve prepared a short review of the top 5 nonfiction books of all time.
1. The Education of Henry Adams – by Henry Adams
This Pulitzer Prize winning book speaks of the difficulty Henry Adams (1838-1918) had in the beginning of his old age to fully understand and accept the changes in the world at the dawning of the 20th century. Adams struggled to adapt to the world that was becoming so different from the world of his younger days. It’s a sharp critique of the 19th century educational theory and practice. First distribution of this book was by Adams himself as he privately began circulating copies of a limited edition that he printed at his own expense. Upon his death in 1918, commercial publication had no more reason to wait and subsequently the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1919.
2. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money – by John Maynard Keynes
This book was written by an English economist called John Maynard Keynes. Its aim was to bring about a revolution that is commonly referred to as the Keynesian Revolution, impacting on the way economists think, especially in relation to the idea that a market economy naturally tends to restore itself to full employment after temporary economic shots. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money is seen as the cornerstone of Keynesian thought as the book challenged established economics and introduced imperative concepts to the modern economist. This book was first published in 1936.
3. The Interpretation of Dreams – by Sigmund Freud
A very well-known book, Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams introduces his theory of the unconscious in relation to dream interpretation. In his view, dreams are the attempts of the unconscious to resolve a conflict – whether current or in the past. His theory continues on by stating that the information in the unconscious is often in an unruly and disturbing form and therefore a type of censor in the preconscious will not allow through to the conscious without it being altered. The preconscious is more lax in his duties during dreams, Freud believes, so if the unconscious slightly distorts the dream or warp the meaning of its information, it has a chance of slipping through “unnoticed”. Freud therefore believes that dreams need interpretation to be understood. The first publication was in 1899.
4. The Second World War – by Winston Churchill
This six volume history of the period between the end of the First World War to July 1945 was largely responsible for him winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. He labelled the "moral of the work" as follows: "In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill”. The book is actually considered to be an incomplete memoir by a leading participant in determining the direction the war would take. Churchill wrote it while still working as a politician and wrote the history from his personal point of view. Its first publication was in 1953.
5. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA – by James D. Watson
This autobiographical book by James D. Watson accounts the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and was first published in 1968. Upon its release it was considered to be controversial and the view remains the same. Criticised for excessive sexism toward a female participant of the discovery, Rosalind Franklin, this account was placed at number 7 on the Modern Library’s list of the 20th century’s best works of nonfiction.
Now that you have some ideas for what you might want to read aboard the bus, get yourself a copy at your local bookstore or on your e-reader device and tick that last small thing off the to-do list!
