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Free books: History & Biography

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Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (2013)

I'm fascinated by cults, religious sects, science fiction, and international intrigue - and I have a little crush on John Travolta. Scientology touches upon all those things, and Wright's book is a well-researched and well-written examination of the Church of Scientology. To sum it up, I knew thi...

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (2013) by Lawrence Wright
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Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II (2011)

This is a fascinating story of World War II. I was spellbound as the author tells the story of the Gremlin Special's crash and the subsequent rescue of the survivors. The way that medical care was brought the the plane crash victims and the method of extraction from the jungle were fascinating...

Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II (2011) by Mitchell Zuckoff
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Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race (2010)

This is not the humor and wit I have came to expect from Jon Stewart. After the first 1/3 I was ready to quit reading, but stuck with it to the half way point hoping there would be some joke, innuendo, worthy sarcasm or even a cheap pun to make it worth finishing.At the half way point I did my p...

Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race (2010) by Jon Stewart
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Monuments Men (2009)

I absolutely loved this book and wish it was much longer. I studied abroad in France while in college, so I was familiar with and actually went to a lot of places in this book. I also took a few art history courses throughout my college career. This book combined those experiences, revealing some...

Monuments Men (2009) by Robert M. Edsel
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Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010)

This is my favorite of the Mary Roach books that I've read. I love how well-researched and wide-reaching she is in her books. I love learning about space and it was great to read about how much effort and thought is involved with putting live beings (mostly people) in space for a long period of...

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010) by Mary Roach
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Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2013)

Zealot portrays Jesus neither as a prophet nor as the son of God, but as a man actively engaged in the politics of his day. I really enjoyed this, though at times it was difficult to get through (not in terms of my own religious or political convictions, but simply from a readability perspective)...

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2013) by Reza Aslan
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Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (2012)

I could not be described as a big follower (perhaps fan) of Bill O'Reilly, but then again, I'm also not a rabid anti-O'Reilly person either when it comes to listening to his commentary on TV. As an author, this is the first book I've read (although in this case actually "heard") by him. I've h...

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (2012) by Bill O'Reilly
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El emperador de todos los males: Una biografía del cáncer (2010)

Remarkable! I put off reading this for a while because I thought it would be depressing or boring or both. How interesting could something billed as a biography of cancer be? I was pleasantly surprised to find this substantial volume fascinating. Mukherjee is a great storyteller, weaving acco...

El emperador de todos los males: Una biografía del cáncer (2010) by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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O Imperador de Todos os Males (2010)

8.5/10I have started writing this review a few times, but due to recent events, I've found it extremely hard to finish. This is such a well crafted and deeply researched book. It has seemingly everything you could want from and overview of cancer and at the same time makes some complex subjects...

O Imperador de Todos os Males (2010) by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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The Emperor of All Maladies (2010)

It's really hard for me to rate this book because I read for pleasure and it was not a pleasurable book to read (or in my case, listen). For me it was an achievement to finish it because it was a bit over my head in parts and I found my thoughts wandering. Still, I did learn a bit about cancer ...

The Emperor of All Maladies (2010) by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Columbine (2009)

I want to say this is a well researched and written book, because for the most part it is. I don't take issue with Cullen's conclusions regarding primary motivation. He obviously did an incredible amount of research and knows a great deal more about all the circumstances surrounding the case than...

Columbine (2009) by Dave Cullen
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The Distant Hours (2010)

An homage to classic Gothic literature, Morton's text is haunting and suspenseful, interlaced with the mournful secrets of family legacies and jilted lovers. Following the arrival of a mysterious letter to her mother 50 years after its creation, London book editor Edie Burchill finds herself draw...

The Distant Hours (2010) by Kate Morton
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Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever (2011)

In the days before the internet and the 24 hour news cycle, few historical accounts of major events captured the key moments on an hour-by-hour basis. "Killing Lincoln" is different. Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard have given us an account of the key events leading up to the assassina...

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever (2011) by Bill O'Reilly
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Winter of the World (2012)

The soap opera continues in volume 2, and I mean that in the best possible sense. This is the second in Ken Follett's historical fiction Century Trilogy, a stroll through the madness of the 20th Century. Winter of the World takes us through WWII through the eyes of the English, the Welsh, the Fre...

Winter of the World (2012) by Ken Follett
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In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011)

About a third of the way through the book and reading about Ambassador's Dodd's daughter's escapades, it struck me how much this was like one of the movie comedies from the same era. The upright father: befuddled and ineffective in the midst of all that is going on. The wife: equally ineffective ...

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011) by Erik Larson