Not a fiction man, I have to say. That's why I got bored of my Archaeology and Ancient History degree pretty quickly, because everything ever written about these subjects is made up bullshit. I wish I could enjoy novels, but I just find it difficult to care about ficticious people because I'm a boring bastard. Ordinary individuals I can relate to are a different matter, though. One of my favourite autobiographies is Penguins Stopped Play: 11 Village Cricketers Take on the World. Well written, funny, interesting and emotional.
Overall, though, I much prefer philosophical liberation or understanding the latest Science buzzwords, so Hawking's A Brief History of Time etc and psychological explorations are more my scene. I am currently reading Thinking Fast and Slow by D.Kahneman. I've only scanned the first 25 or so pages on the bus this evening, but it's seemingly intellectually stimulating to sufficient degree to ignore DT's attempted conversations, so it's got potential. Basically it is about decision making processes, understanding our inherent biases and recognizing the brain's substitution of "expert" solutions (brought about by practice or genius in a specific field, producing a correct answer quickly) for "heuristic" solutions (whereby we are unable to decipher meaning from a question or challenge, and thus re-route the thought to another question or challenge which is easier and seemingly related, but not necessarily relevant to the original problem). These two principles essentially form "system 1", whereby you make a quick value judgement through either method (hence fast in the title). The more complex System 2 of breaking down the problem into logical components and evaluating the best possible answer requires more effort, is slower but inherently more rational. Human beings overestimate their rational logic, without understanding the processes which culminate their ultimate decisions, and without factoring in things like "luck".
Now, that is probably of very little interest to any but the perverted, but books like that and contemplation on these matters can be useful in understanding many things, like why a certain footballer or manager is successful.
) but this is probably the only 'literary' one!
