Readings 2014 - Nonfiction

This year I've divided my annual reading list into two separate list. One for fiction and the other for non-fiction which includes biographies and memoirs. On Paper was my favorite nonfiction book this year followed closely by The Monuments Men. I finally got started on the Rick Atkinson WWII trilogy. His writing about the war is amazing and reads like a novel.

I read several books on soccer this year and especially liked The Ball is Round. History, geography and politics as usual but also some science this year. Music too of course.

The Civil War as told by people in letters and journals was fascinating and in particular it was amazing to see how well people wrote at that time. Letter writing was one of the most basic forms of communication in the 19th century.

I also really loved reading the biography of Duke Ellington'

1. On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History, 2013 -  Nicholas Basbanes
2. The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, 2009 - Robert Edsel
3. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, 2002 - Rick Atkinson
4. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, 2014 - Elizabeth Kolbert
5. The Battle For America: The Story of an Extraordinary Election, 2009 - Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson
6. The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, 2012 - Robert D. Kaplan
7. The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer, 2008 - David Goldblatt
8. Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific, 2014 - Robert D. Kaplan
9. The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs, 2014 - Greil Marcus
10. To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, 2011 - Adam Hochschild
11. The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It, 2011 - Brooks Simpson
12. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, 2008 - Kate Summerscale
13. Duke: A Life, 2013 - Terry Teachout
14. The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind, Michio Kaku
15. A History of the World Cup: 1930-2006, 2007- Clemente Lisi
16. Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite: The Science of Monsters, 2012 - Matt Kaplan

I also spent a lot of time this year reading the biography of William Burroughs which I have not finished yet. I had to take it in small doses but I really love reading it when I am in the mood but I really do need to take some significant breaks. I will try to finish it by the end of next month and it will go on next year's list but it deserves mentioning here.

Call Me Burroughs: A Life, 2014 - Barry Miles