A really good non-fiction or realistic fiction??

Question

I want a good non-fiction book that might make me smarter like in history and stuff. But i just dont want those boring ones where they just state facts.

OR I want a good realistic fiction. One with correct dates and everything but with a good story line a characters.

Answer 1

I love the series by Paul Dowswell. It has some history in it and it is very interesting and fun to read. They are called Powder Monkey, Prison Ship, Battle Fleet.

Answer 2

Non-fiction: Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel; or Collapse. I preferred Collapse, and you probably will too. It tells stories more than GG&S.

Guns, Germs, and Steel:

"According to the author, an alternative title would be A short history about everyone for the last 13,000 years. But the book is not merely an account of the past; it attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations, as a whole, have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that: the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate in environmental differences amplified by various positive feedback loops; and that, if cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example Chinese centralized government, or improved disease resistance among Eurasians), it is only so because of the influence of geography."

Collapse:

"This book employs the comparative method to understand societal collapses to which environmental problems contribute. My previous book (Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies), had applied the comparative method to the opposite problem: the differing rates of buildup of human societies on different continents over the last 13,000 years. In the present book focusing on collapses rather than buildups, I compare many past and present societies that differed with respect to environmental fragility, relations with neighbors, political institutions, and other 'input' variables postulated to influence a society's stability. The 'output' variables that I examine are collapse or survival, and form of the collapse if collapse does occur. By relating output variables to input variables, I aim to tease out the influence of possible input variables on collapses."

Answer 3

Pillars of the Earth

World Without End both by Ken Follett - Fiction but uses the right time line.

History without the boring bits by Ian Crofton

Answer 4

The My story series. They are diaries of children involved in important historical events.

Answer 5

Any biography of someone who interests you, especially a colorful character.