In my younger days, I'm ashamed to admit that I had a pretty low opinion of history. I had arrogantly/childishly decided that it just wasn't a subject I cared about and I rationalized not paying attention in class and ignoring opportunities to learn when they were presented. Then, when I went to college, I majored in a subject without any history requirements and blundered on in my ignorance.
Eventually I grew an interest in politics, world events, and travel and found myself with questions that could be most effectively answered by a knowledge of history. It begun to dawn on my what I'd missed out on for all those years. I was in a bind.
So what does one do when confronted with their own glaring lack of knowledge about a prominent aspect of human culture? Read books of course! And I'd like your help in finding the good ones.
On the bookshelf already:
-American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J.Robert Oppenheimer
-Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe
-Chaos by James Gleick
-Einstein by Walter Issacson
-Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of a Nation
-Inside the Third Reich
-Science and Secrets of Early Medicine
I've read the first three on the list and would be happy to discuss them, but I'm far more interested in hearing about your favorites.