Non-Fiction Acquisitions

Between the postman, the holidays and the bookstore, I've bought a lot of non-fiction this month. Let's see when I get to them!

Leo Hollis: London Rising: The Men Who Made Modern London. Inspired both by Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle and a couple of books by Lisa Jardine, I had this one (and a couple of similar volumes) on my wish list.

Michael D. Lemonick: The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos. This one will link into a life-long interest in astronomy, as well as a more recent interest in England (especially spurred by The Baroque Cycle of Neal Stephenson) and the tales of Patrick O'Brian (Caroline Herschel makes an off-stage appearance).

Justin Marozzi: The Way of Herodotus: Travels with the Man who Invented History. Following on last year's read of a book on Herodotus comes this. Hopefully, as a travelogue, it will fair better with me than a previous travelogue. NYT review here.

Henry Petroski: The Toothpick. Having plumbed the depths of the pencil, Petroski turns his attention to some smaller engineering. Like Mark Kurlansky and Salt (or other subjects) or Mark Pendergrast and Coffee, I get a lot out of these "micro-histories".