Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in History (past 6 months)

All Time Past 6 Months

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Jared Diamond Ph.D.

4.5 on Amazon

10 HN comments

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Dava Sobel

4.5 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

Malcolm Gladwell and Pushkin Industries

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Energy and Civilization: A History (The MIT Press)

Vaclav Smil

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Robert D. Putnam

4.3 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Common Sense: The Origin and Design of Government

Thomas Paine and Coventry House Publishing

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition

Jared Diamond

4.5 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World

Vincent Bevins, Tim Paige, et al.

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork

Reeves Wiedeman

4.4 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World (Politics of Place)

Tim Marshall

4.6 on Amazon

2 HN comments

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

Daniel Immerwahr

4.7 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

Jane Mayer

4.7 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi, Christopher Dontrell Piper, et al.

4.8 on Amazon

1 HN comments

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Tom Standage

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

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mjparrottonJune 1, 2021

Malcolm Gladwell published a pretty interesting history on LeMay in his new book The Bomber Mafia https://www.pushkin.fm/audiobook/bomber-mafia/

chiefalchemistonJune 16, 2021

> "The only issue is that Gladwell’s account doesn’t withstand serious scrutiny. As a piece of writing, The Bomber Mafia is engaging. As a work of history, it borders on reckless."

So it's classic MG? He's a good easy - often feel good - read. However, the pattern that's too clear is he rarely supplies a counter argumemt or counter view. He takes his position and then plays pile on with "the facts."

slgonJune 16, 2021

>The only issue is that Gladwell’s account doesn’t withstand serious scrutiny. As a piece of writing, The Bomber Mafia is engaging. As a work of history, it borders on reckless. Setting aside the numerous errors of fact and interpretation, Gladwell consistently cherry-picks from the historical record. Wittingly or not, he omits or downplays evidence that undermines the very premise of the book.

Sub out history for science in the above paragraph and it is the same criticism that Gladwell has been receiving for literally decades. The guy is a good writer and storyteller but he seemingly prioritizes good writing and story over telling the most honest story. That isn't an unusual trait among pop-non-fiction writers. The reason they become popular is what they write is interesting and it is easier to make things interesting if you are a little loose with the truth.

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