Does anyone read books that aren't narratives?

[Dinstruction]

IB English isn't my favorite class because I've always had trouble retaining knowledge or avoiding the temptation to daydream. So some of my favorite books aren't narratives, and don't really have any literary devices begging to be analyzed.

One of my favorite books right now is Mathematics 1001 by Richard Elwes. It's a reference book filled with interesting blurbs about topics of math ranging from arithmetic to Fourier series. For example, the sum of all of reciprocals of the factorials converges to e (though most people doing the Series and Differential Equations option should know this). I highly recommend checking it out if you have even a minute interest in math.

What about you?

[Slovakov]

I've just started reading Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Although I've chosen it because of Tolkien's narratives, his letters in this bok have little to do with his books (at least so far...). However these letters present both the author and the times he lived in in a specific light. He's got very interesting views on several things (not all that I can agree with), but without boubt it's worth to see the argumentation of such a great person to be able to create your own views on things you could have never thought of.

What's more the language that Tolkien uses is really amazing. It's so much different from what you hear everyday and takes you to a quiet and balanced world of a reputable Oxford professor.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Slovakov

[aldld]

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter. Essentially, the author discusses topics revolving mainly around how things like meaning, self-reference and intelligence can arise from systems of meaningless components, like how a brain which can think about itself on a higher level can be made up of individual, "meaningless" neurons which themselves are simply made of atoms.

Plus there are tons of little easter eggs and stuff which are fun to come across as you read

I've been taking my time to read through this, and I find myself just stopping and thinking for a minute every once in a while to really, fully understand what's being said. I might be exaggerating only slightly, but this book is a mind-blowing experience. I recommend it to anybody who is interested in math, music/art, philosophy or computer science.