Books like

Books like How Music Works

12 books with a reading profile close to How Music Works by David Byrne. Outward-looking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

    Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

    by Jon Krakauer

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Jon Krakauer examines the 1984 murders of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter, committed by her brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty.

  2. 2 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

    The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

    by Erik Larson

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Erik Larson weaves together the true accounts of two men who shaped Chicago during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

  3. 3 EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS

    EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS

    by John Green

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    John Green tracks the history and persistence of tuberculosis, a bacterial infection that has killed more humans than any other pathogen.

  4. 4 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

    Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

    by Yuval Noah Harari

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Yuval Noah Harari tracks the biological and social evolution of Homo sapiens from our origins as a minor African primate to our current dominance over the biosphere.

  5. 5 Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

    Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

    by David Grann

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    During the 1920s, the Osage Nation in Oklahoma became the wealthiest people per capita in the world after oil was discovered beneath their reservation.

  6. 6 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

    Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

    by Eric Schlosser

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Eric Schlosser tracks the evolution of the American fast food industry from its roots as localized drive-ins to a global economic force.

  7. 7 BIOLOGICAL WAR

    BIOLOGICAL WAR

    by Annie Jacobsen

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    The author of “Nuclear War” describes potential outcomes of biological warfare, including mass death and societal breakdown.

  8. 8 The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

    The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

    by Michael Lewis

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Michael Lewis chronicles the efforts of a clandestine group of scientists and public health officials who spent years preparing for a viral outbreak before COVID-19 surfaced.

  9. 9 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

    Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

    by Patrick Radden Keefe

    history, analytical

    Patrick Radden Keefe reconstructs the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten taken from her Belfast home by the Irish Republican Army.

  10. 10 At Home: A Short History of Private Life

    At Home: A Short History of Private Life

    by Bill Bryson

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Bill Bryson uses his 1851 Norfolk rectory as a physical map to trace how the modern domestic world evolved.

  11. 11 A Short History of Nearly Everything

    A Short History of Nearly Everything

    by Bill Bryson

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Bill Bryson tracks the development of human understanding from the Big Bang to the arrival of modern civilization.

  12. 12 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

    1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

    by Charles C. Mann

    Also outward-looking · history, analytical

    Charles C.

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