Mary Roach-like books? for Questionland Seattle

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Mary Roach-like books?

I am looking for more books written in a Roach-like manner. Nonfiction, entertaining, more whimsy than stiff fact. I don't care what the subject matter is (really!); I just want nonfiction. Extra points, though, if the subjects have anything to do with:

textiles
colors
spices/food
small business

Infinity asked in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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A few off the top of my head, that you may have already read:

*Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
*Freakonomics by Steven Levitt (& some other guy whose name I can't remember)
*Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman

emily answered in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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For food: I suggest the late novelist Laurie Colwin's _Home Cooking_ and _More Home Cooking_ nonfiction books about comfort food: part memoir, part cookbook. Also, Mark Kurlansky's book _Salt_, M.F.K. Fisher's and Calvin Trillin's books.

Christina L answered in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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Natalie Angier (science writer for the New York Times) wrote a fantastic book called Woman: an intimate geography, which is maybe a little more dense with fact than you specify, but is just as hilarious as anything I've read of Roach's.

Valkyrie answered in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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Those are all great suggestions below. The problem with humorous non-Roach, non-fiction writers is that they are funny, but forgettable. (I've read dozens of those sorts of books, but they fail to stick with me for any longer than a week or two; this is why Mary Roach is so incredible.)

Have you tried David Foster Wallace's essays? Try Consider the Lobster. It's amazing and smart and funny (and, like Roach, footnote-happy) and the title essay, about whether lobsters feel pain, is very Roachlike. It's a different kind of whimsy, but there is still whimsy. (John McPhee's Oranges is a great book about food, and he discovers some real whimsical characters along the way.)

Paul Constant answered in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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This book doesn't have anything to do with textiles, colors, spices/food or small business, but it is totally awesome!!!

"The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr.

Part psychology, part history, part technology, part polemic. A fascinating read that you won't be able to put down. He doesn't say "oh, all the internet is bad" or anything like that. A much more nuanced argument and very well written.

I also just read Mary Roach's "Packing for Mars" and loved it, so I think if you like her, you will enjoy this too. :)

Kristin Bell answered in Books & Writing about 1 year ago | Report

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