I feel like my brain is going a bit mushy lately. My attention span is shot to shit by too much internet garbage content.
Have any good recommendations for factual reading? Stuff about interesting and/or obscure regions of science, history, politics, or whatever. Ideally aimed more at being a compelling read than an in-depth expert analysis of a subject, but I'm sure there are books that can be both. I'm not an extensive reader generally so please don't consider anything too "obvious" to recommend, I probably won't have read it.
The last time I was on a reading hype I got quite into autobiographical stuff. I have PDFs knocking around somewhere for Motorcycle Diaries, Down and Out/Wigan Pier, and Limmy's book. There was one someone told me to read a bit ago about some Yank beat-generation type author just doing loads of drugs in the 50s I think, and that sounds good, but I can't remember what it was.
>There was one someone told me to read a bit ago about some Yank beat-generation type author just doing loads of drugs in the 50s I think
That is almost certainly On The Road by Jack Kerouac.
>>7438 I recently finished 'The Code Book' by Simon Singh, an excellent history of ciphers/codes/encryption. I found it fascinating how encryption and decryption have developed throughout history. From basic Caesar ciphers through to WW2/Enigma codebreaking and on to internet encryption, it was honestly the most riveting non-fiction book I've read for a while.
What are some good books for getting back into reading?
I've never exactly plowed through books like a literature professor, but now I'm at the stage where I've read two books in as many years, and one of those I only read because I was stuck in hospital with no internet for a week. That stage I'm at by the way, as far as I'm concerned, is called being a flaming moron. I still know what a comma is and why we use capital letters, but I can't make myself jump into Dune or something right now because I'm so out of practice.
Anyway, what are some easy reads someone with a functioning brain can get through in a week or so? Sorry for hijacking a thread, but it didn't seem worth making a new one with the topics being so similar.
>>7528 One of my favourite books of all time, The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J Walker, is very easy to read. Otherwise, any of those books that women read hundreds of will be pretty easy, so if you want to get back into reading and you like stories about a murderous ex-husband hunting down his sexy and beautiful and successful millionaire wife, read literally any book with that plot and you'll fly through it.
>>7528 Whenever I get stuck in a rut and haven't read for a while I pick up Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I don't even particularly like it that much, but it's quick and easy to hey through.
>>7528 Here's the post I was looking for. This weekend, I read Ronnie O'Sullivan's second autobiography, Running. I honestly think it is the easiest book I have ever read. 260 pages of biggish letters, written in a very conversational style with plenty of spelling and grammar mistakes to keep you on your toes. For example, nobody involved in the book at any point seems to know that a "gaff" is a home, while a "gaffe" is a faux pas.
I would recommend that anyone looking for an easy read, that isn't necessarily particularly worth reading, should give it a go. However, it's not great as a book, and I am aghast that I paid full price for it while I was doing my Christmas shopping last year. You can probably find a copy for 50p, and that's about how much it's worth.
>>7638 >>7639 The emergency's over, lads, but thank you regardless. Since that post I've read Carlo d'Este's Decision in Normandy and Isaac Asimov's End of Eternity. I've also been trying to force myself to read more news articles, even when the headline makes it perfectly clear I've not going to like the contents.
