Tag: non-fiction

How Music Works

How Music Works

by David Byrne (Canongate, 2012)

Byrne_How Music Works

As with The Bicycle Diaries, Byrne shows himself to be eloquent, thoughtful, erudite, and surprisingly scholarly in his quest for understanding; in this instance of the practical and philosophical underpinnings of (a career in) music. Talking Heads fans and wannabe musicians rejoice!

 

 

Photograph

Photograph

by Ringo Starr (Genesis, 2015)

Starr_Photograph

‘I just loved taking pictures and I still do,’ writes Ringo Starr; hence this big glossy book that pairs his photographs with skerricks of unpretentious memoir (primarily pre-Beatles and Beatlemania). As with the music, Ringo had the best seat in the house.

 

 

Around the World in 50 Years

Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth

by Albert Podell (Thomas Dunne, 2015)

Podell_Around the World

Podell writes lucidly on the difficulties (both physical and bureaucratic) of travel, his personal philosophies, and the pros and cons of visiting some of the world’s least accommodating, most beautiful, at times unthinkably dangerous countries. Podell’s achievement sometimes inspires, but mostly deters.

 

Orwell’s Cough

Orwell’s Cough: Diagnosing the Medical Maladies & Last Gasps of the Great Writers

by John Ross (Oneworld, 2013)

Ross_Orwell's Cough

Whereas the medical diagnoses alone would have made for a much shorter book, (Dr) Ross has used the subject of medicine as a unifying theme by which to biograph and contextualise a dozen famous writers, astutely dissecting their lives and (squalid) times.

 

The Men Who Stare at Goats

The Men Who Stare at Goats

by Jon Ronson (Simon & Schuster, 2004); audiobook read by Sean Mangan (Bolinda, 2005)

Ronson_Men Who Stare at Goats

Ronson’s exposé on the US military’s attempts to develop paranormal regiments after the Vietnam War is so outrageous yet somehow so plausible, it reads half as absurd fiction, half as laugh-out-loud scary fact. Mangan treads the perfect line between deadpan and disbelief.

 

Improbable Libraries

Improbable Libraries

by Alex Johnson (Thames & Hudson, 2015)

Johnson_Improbable Libraries

What library could consider itself complete without this book about… libraries! Johnson has compiled a stout coffee table compendium of innovative and unusual book-borrowing facilities from around the world, all beautifully photographed and all celebrating (and inspiring) our collective love of reading.

 

The King’s Speech

The King’s Speech

by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi (Quercus, 2010)

Logue_Conradi_The King's Speech

This significant if straightforward dual biography of speech therapist Lionel Logue and King George VI, supplemented by excerpts from both men’s correspondence, will be of particular interest to those familiar with the film but not the liberties this took in dramatising events.

 

The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception

The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception

by John Mulholland (Unpublished, 1953)

ed. H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace (Hardie Grant, 2010)

Mulholland_CIA Manual

Although the editors try to spruik the significance of two instructional manuals commissioned from magician John Mulholland by the CIA during the Cold War, closer inspection reveals the most interesting facet of these works to be that they were written at all.

 

Hiding the Elephant

Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible

by Jim Steinmeyer (Heinemann, 2004)

Steinmeyer_Hiding the Elephant

Even for the reader with no prior interest in magicians and their world, Steinmeyer’s history of the golden age of magic makes for an engrossing read. A book rich in passion, written by an expert who keeps his subject matter refreshingly accessible.

 

Star Wars and History

Star Wars and History

ed. Nancy R. Reagin & Janice Liedl (Wiley, 2012)

Reagin_Liedl_Star Wars and History

This collection of academic articles, ostensibly undertaken in close collaboration with George Lucas, purports to show the manner and extent to which Star Wars draws on real history. In truth it clutches at loose parallels, showing little or no evidence of causation.

 

Derelict Space Sheep