I enjoy reading popular-level books on a wide variety of subjects, and I love getting new book recommendations. In the spirit of lukeprog's The Best Textbooks on Every Subject, can we put together a list of the best popular books on every subject?
Here's what I mean by popular-level books:
- Written very well and clearly, preferably even entertaining.
- Does not require the reader to write anything (e.g., practice problems) or do anything beyond just reading and thinking, except perhaps on very rare occasions.
- Cannot be "heavy" reading that requires the reader to proceed slowly and carefully and/or do lots of heavy thinking.
- Can be understood by anyone with a decent high school education (not including calculus). However, sometimes this requirement can be circumvented, if the following additional criteria are met:
- There must be other books on this list that cover all the prerequisite information.
- When you suggest the book, list any prerequisites.
- There shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 prerequisites.
- Post the title of your favorite book on a given subject.
- You must have read at least two other books on that same subject.
- You must briefly name the other books you've read on the subject and explain why you think your chosen book is superior to them.
Meta: Should we be encouraging people to read popular books? Popular books have their place, but there is a common failure mode where people read popularizations, get their daily fix of insight porn, and go away without having learned anything substantial.
Reading popular books on the same subject have sharply decreasing marginal utility, and I'm guessing that the kind of person who reads LW is the kind of person who has already read enough popularizations that reading another is probably a waste of time.
I think a bigger problem with popular books is that they are often just wrong.