For me for example its “Eat me - a natural and unnatural history of cannibalism” by Bill Schutt. Its an amazing book that covers cannibalism in animals and then the history of it in humans (cultural, survival & medicinal cannibalism).

I got a lot of “oh why would someone read something like that?” And “that not something fun to read about!” From relatives but my friends enjoyed the stuff that I could tell them about cannibalism!

  • H2Oloo-Sunset@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time”.

    It’s about finding a way to determining Longitude when sailing far distances. It was a huge problem for mariners back in the day.

    • dairyqueeen@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      In a similar vein, I love hyper specific historical books. I have one that just tells the history of salt and the salt trade and it’s impact on society and history. I also have ones for coal and paper haha

      • ZomeKanan@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        history of salt and the salt trade and it’s impact on society and history

        unironically sounds great. do you have it to hand, i’d like to add it to the list.

        • H2Oloo-Sunset@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I also enjoyed “Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World”. It is another one that seems like it should be pretty dry, but is a very engaging read.