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coombsfh
Original Poster
168 posts
13 months
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I have never been a great reader of novels for pleasure. I enjoy the English language and find much greater joy in reading factual books than I do in gleaning some significance A. N. Author's latest offering.
My favourite book of the moment is "Foyle's Philavery" by Christopher Foyle (owner of Foyle's Book Shop in London) - A brilliant collection of rare and underused words which you mightn't come across every day.
A close second is "A Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland" - I am a bit of a nerd with a particular interest in moths and this book is simply excellent for firstly identifying the dusty little blighters and then discovering what they get up to, what they eat and where they like to hang about.
What are your favourite factual books (if dictionary, car manual or encyclopaedia, which one) and why?
Kind regards,
Fred.
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Justayellowbadge
29,842 posts
112 months
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Mr Pies
5,684 posts
57 months
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The Haynes NASA shuttle manual.
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Snowboy
3,453 posts
21 months
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First Light.
Geoffrey Wellum Spitfire Pilot.
Bomber Boys
Story of ww2 bombers
Vulcan 607
Story of getting Vulcans out of mothballs to drop a bomb on the Falklands.
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Zaxxon
4,057 posts
30 months
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Justayellowbadge said: The Holy Bible. LOL
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Bill
26,745 posts
125 months
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Fielding's Guide to the World's Most Dangerous Places.
Or Geoff Wellum's book as mentioned above.
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Eric Mc
67,846 posts
135 months
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Mr Pies said: The Haynes NASA shuttle manual. Good choice. Their Apollo 11 manual is almost as good.
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doogz
19,262 posts
57 months
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Steel Designers Manual 6th Edition.
Technically out of date these days, in some respects, but it saves me working out a lot of things the old fashioned way. I use it every day at work.
Not very exciting, but possibly the best £70 I've ever spent.
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blindswelledrat
19,168 posts
102 months
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coombsfh said: A close second is "A Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland" - I am a bit of a nerd with a particular interest in moths and this book is simply excellent for firstly identifying the dusty little blighters and then discovering what they get up to, what they eat and where they like to hang about.
.  I always wondered what moths get up to. Of course I didn't
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Eric Mc
67,846 posts
135 months
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Where they hang out? That can't take up too much of the book - 
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Cotty
25,073 posts
154 months
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Justayellowbadge said: The Holy Bible. We are not doing fiction
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Justayellowbadge
29,842 posts
112 months
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Cotty said: Justayellowbadge said: The Holy Bible. We are not doing fiction You will burn for your heresy, blasphemer.
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S10 GTA
2,653 posts
37 months
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Dave Gorman books are fun and interesting for a little lighter reading.
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coombsfh
Original Poster
168 posts
13 months
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Justayellowbadge said: The Holy Bible. First response wins comedy award - well done. As for the moth book, I tried to put it in non-nerd terms. Really it talks about habitats, larval and adult feeding plants, distributions, when they emerge and whether there are two generations a year etc. The NASA Haynes manual sounds ace...
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PHmember
1,797 posts
41 months
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Mark Benson
2,573 posts
139 months
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'Tales of My Time' by Raymond Baxter
They simply don't make them like him any more, WW2 pilot, motor racing commentator, presenter of Tomorrow's World - for a generation of boys in the 1960s and 70s he was the voice of interesting TV.
A very varied and interesting life, well told.
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reefer
21 posts
32 months
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Lifeboat VC, the story of Cox Dick Evans.
Battle for Britain, Recollections of H R "DIZZY" Allen.
Wings on my Sleeve, Capt Eric "winkle" Brown.
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spud989
1,108 posts
50 months
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Guns, Germs & Steel - fascinating insight into the evolution of the human race.
Freakonomics - very entertaining look at some of the more unusual patterns of wealth and money in our society.
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omgus
4,977 posts
45 months
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Do Auto-biographies count?
Don't tell mum i work on the Rigs by Paul Carter. And the two follow up books as well.
They are my favourite because I have never laughed so much reading a book.
Most of the other factual books i have read came from my Fathers collection and although Military History is facinating i very rarely find myself wanting to read that kind of book more than once. My Father is a contributer to a book on the military role in Northern Ireland and i am still putting off reading it.
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Mr Pies
5,684 posts
57 months
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Eric Mc said: Mr Pies said: The Haynes NASA shuttle manual. Good choice. Their Apollo 11 manual is almost as good. I am thinking of getting the F1 manual next.
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