What is an interesting 400 page non-fiction book to do a book report on?

I don’t have any books to suggest.
It’s for your world geography class, does the book have to be related to geography and/or the world?

@Sarcasm No, the book can be about anything thankfully. :)

Barbra Tuchman’s “The Guns of August” or Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “A Team Of Rivals”.

The Bible!
But seriously, I know a book that was 322 pages. Will that cut it? :D

@filmfann What are the books about and how are they enjoyable?
@teh_kvlt_liberal I wish but my teacher is very strict on this; it must be 400 pages, but he makes an exception for books that have 390 pages and up but not 322 pages. :(

What I enjoy may be different from what you enjoy.
Guns of August is about the miscommunication and misunderstandings that led to world war one.
A Team of Rivals is about Abe Lincoln’s cabinet, and how he got many people who opposed him to work together with him.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond is supposed to be really good.

It’s 512 pages.

You might try a biography on someone who you find interesting…a recently released bio on Marilyn Monroe hit the New York Times Bestseller list, for instance.

This looks good (the story of Grace Kelly and her husband).

The Hero With A Thousand Faces (by Joseph Campbell) is great if you have any interest in writing or the stories we tell (as human beings).

Making the Mummies Dance (by Thomas Hoving) is the memoir of one of the directors of the Met, and is reputed to be juicy and fun, like a celebrity column.

(Heat, by Bill Buford is really good but only 336 pages.)

Food books are great because everyone knows something about food.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma (by Michael Pollan) is interesting, philosophical, and about food.

The Man Who Ate Everything (by Jeffery Steingarten) looks good. <adds to wishlist>

The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation (by David Kamp) looks fascinating.

Appetite for Life (by Noel Riley Fitch) is one of the biographies of Julia Child. It’s got excellent reviews on Amazon.com.

@filmfann Thats true. But I enjoy a variety of topics and that would include what you suggested. My question is it told in a way that sucks you in or is it more informative? I’ve been reading a lot of informative books lately and now I’m trying to find one not so informative.

@evegrimm Thats funny that you mention Pollan’s book. I just did a book report over it and turned it in just a few weeks ago and for the SAME class. Isn’t that ironic? Anyways I’ll check em’ out and pick the best. I think I should probably stay off a food topic for now as I have already one about food. But I’ll think about them. :) They all look really interesting. Except for Marilyn Monroe. I’m sure thats a juicy read but not for a world geo. class. Although that would be pretty fun to dissect and present it. :) And thanks for your help, I very much appreciate it.

I second @evegrimm‘s suggestion for Guns Germs and Steel. That is a book that really changed the way I think about the world.

@evegrimm That was my first thought, too. Along that line, Salt: A World Hsitory is a good one, as well.

Greg Mortenson’s THREE CUPS OF TEA (only 352 pages, but really. Ask your teacher.”

Washington Times – Ann Geracimos

The story of how this happened is a cliffhanger as well as an first-hand introduction to the people and places of a region little understood by most Americans.(Added by Gail…Pakistan and Afganistan). The subtitle, “One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time,” underscores the motivation behind his work.

He attributes his inspiration to a series of accidental encounters with strangers who cared for him after failing in his original mission to lay his sister’s necklace on the K2 summit. Clearly, he is a man apart. But the trained nurse, mountaineer, natural linguist and diplomat is also a thoroughly grounded one. ...

And another vote for Michael Pollan’s books.

@gailcalled Yeah that was a really good book. I love it. But I already asked my teacher and 390 pages is the limit. :( But thanks for it anyway.

@tinyfaery Oh thank you!!! That was one of the books on my list! And I had a friend who did a report about that. And I really wanted to do a report over it, so nows my chance. Thanks so much. I really really appreciate it. :)

@evegrimm: You weren’t lying when you said you really like to read! You’re making me want to put this Brazilian cinema article I’ve been plodding through aside, and pick up one of those!

@La_chica_gomela, thanks for the kind words! BTW, Heat is really really good. If you like food. :D

I, too, was going to say the bible, but then I realized you said “non-fiction.”

Not only does The Peter Principle by Dr. Laurence J. Peter make for a great report, reading it sets you up for the rest of your working life.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Not sure how many pages but it sounds very interesting. It’s about globalization and culture.

Not sure how many pages it is, but The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down is an amazing nonfiction read. It is about a Hmong family living in CA whose daughter has severe seizures. In their culture they believe her seizures are a sign of spiritual connection and they don’t want to treat them. In the US culture, as you might expect, all medical and social workers want the family to treat her condition. A social worker who got to know the family very well wrote the book about their saga. It’s totally engrossing.

@sarahsugs I second that! It is a great read.

I was going to say Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations, but it is only 368 pages.

There is also The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir, 656 pages. It is a non-fiction collective biography but Weir writes as if it were a novel. She has gone on to write historical novels, but this one is non-fiction.

Thanks everyone these are sound great. @janbb I’ve already read that but I think its a bit long for a book report, or at least I don’t feel like summarizing all 650 something pages of it. 400 pages is enough to dissect. Although I may not like dissecting big books, I still really enjoy reading them; the bigger the better. @frdelrosario That sounds like a good book but I think I’ve found my book now. But I still will read it when I get around to it. @sarahsugs That sounds very interesting and I would definitely like to read that sometime. @Darwin Isn’t that great that writers can do that? Usually the biographies I read are snore-fests but maybe I’m just not getting the right ones. Thanks for the suggestion. And thanks to everyone yet again for all your amazing suggestions. I want be short of anything to read for a long long time. :)