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[Alex C]

I don't read as much non-fiction as I should, and I'd like to change that. I was thinking we could compare notes about journalists and non-fiction authors we've read and maybe if we're really lucky we can all find someone through this thread that maybe changes the way we see the world for the better.

Anyway, I get off pretty easy since I started the thread; the author I'd like to mention is Malcolm Gladwell, and I'm sure many of you have already heard of him. He's a pretty famous writer for the New Yorker and the author of The Tipping Point and Blink. He's an excellent writer and mostly he covers the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences and how we should always think critically about the information in front of us yet he always manages to make things very approachable.

Here's a link to his site, which also happens to contain links to his very good New Yorker articles.
http://www.gladwell.com/

[KvP]

Jared Diamond writes excellent non-fiction books which also happen to be quite popular.

William Saletan writes a brisk and informative science / tech / ethics column over at Slate called "Human Nature" which is updated most weekdays. Christopher Hitchens is also there and good for a giggle every now and again.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Hunter S. Thompson! Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas and Hells Angels are mandatory.

pretty much anything but The Rum Diary because that's fiction.

[thehollow]

I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel right now and it's fascinating. Diamond's other stuff is next on my list.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i meant to pick that up last time i was at the book store but forgot the authors name then got distracted by a book about physics. thanks for reminding me.

[Trillian]

As far as journalists go, Peter Jennings is a man that I truly admire.  He has written three books with Todd Brewster: The Century, The Century for Young People, and In Search of America.  I really enjoyed In Search of America. 

Also, Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge is rather interesting.  It details his "life as a journalist and human being in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana/Mississippi". 

In Fact is a good book comprised of non-fiction essays by a myriad of authors. 

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov is a memoir, and is quite beautifully written.  His other work, such as Lolita, is also good, but that is fiction. 

Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James is rather interesting.  He is not making a case for any particular religion or belief system, what he is doing, rather, is trying to understand the various ways that people experience God or the supernatural and what that means for humanity. 

I could probably go on, but I think that is good for now. 

[RedLion]

Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco" is the best, most scholarly account of the American 'skirmish' in Iraq yet published. It's a year or so out of date now, but it's still the most authoritative source for any information of our Middle Eastern misadventure.

[Johnny C]

If you're counting Nabokov, you can count the essay collection How To Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen.

[Alex C]

Sounds like I'll definitely be checking out this Jared Diamond guy's stuff. I love history.

[Alex C]

While he wasn't what I had in mind, I can't say I'm willing to disagree with a man armed with a bowel disruptor.

[Trillian]

I finished the book below today...

This history points to the flaws in intelligence leading up to the Iraq war as merely the latest major misstep by the Central Intelligence Agency, a bureaucracy that has rarely accomplished its central mission since its birth, the author argues. The work, which won a National Book Award, is scathingly critical, carefully researched and smartly written, painting a frightening portrait of a hapless bureaucracy whose drastic miscalculations — from Korea through the Cold War to Vietnam and now Iraq — have cost the United States dearly in blood, treasure, and prestige.

I thought it was very interesting.  It is a very critical look at what this author claims to be an ineffective hierarchy.  I rather enjoyed it, although I could see the scathing look at the nation's government/conduct not sitting well with some.  If you would like a good commentary and a well researched viewpoint of the internal workings of the US government centered specifically around the CIA, then this is probably a good book to pick up.   

[Ishotdanieljohnston]

That actually looks pretty interesting. He's not quite a journalist but has anyone here read anything by W.G Sebald? I've been meaning to read his stuff for a while- apparently he's an absolute genius.