How about "Chariots of the Gods" by Erich von Daniken?

I had to read it in a philosophy class in college many years ago and it was so bad that I still remember the title and author, tho probably most people are lucky enough never to have heard of either: "Individuals" by P.F. Strawson.

Any book written by Susan Powter. Need I say more?

I don't read much non fiction-but a friend had me pick up a copy of Who Moved My Cheese for her-so I read it-what a load of...!

Pat

Oh, Pat! I'm so sorry. My employer made us read that book, too, and I agree with you. I nearly gagged on it. What makes management think these books ever work ?????

I also intensely disliked Charles Van Doren's History of Knowledge (yes... it's the same Van Doren of Quiz Show fame who wrote it). It's one of those books where the author inserts his biased views as facts rather than mere opinion. I got so disgusted after a few chapters, I actually threw the book away and I've never done that with a book before or since.

april, I don't think people in the UK are familiar with Susan Bloom so perhaps you could say a bit more!

I'll have to give some thought to the worst non-fiction I have ever read.
Probably a badly written 'travel' book when the author (usually a TV-type personality) had done a deal with a publisher to produce so many words on a journey with a twist. Something like Round Ireland With a 'Fridge by Tony Hawkes, or the endless books that are now on sale in the UK about families who up-sticks and move to France or Spain. I think that Peter Mayle started the trend (not that his books are so bad).
Beware books that have a citrus fruit in the title.

The whole peyote-infused oeuvre of the late Carlos Castaneda, beginning with The Teachings of Don Juan and getting progressively worse for ten to fifteen (I don't know how many) more books. Don Juan, The Journey to Ixtlan and A Separate Reality were required in anthropology courses I took in the 1970s, but I think much of Castaneda's work was later discredited. However, I was surprised that his books still get glowing reviews (at Amazon, anyway). It seems that his line was swallowed by a lot of New Agers.

Several people have insisted to me that The Celestine Prophecy and Mutant Message Down Under are nonfiction. Those two were going to be my first choices, but I looked them up and Amazon categorizes them as fiction. I'm relieved, because I thought both were too full of hooey to be real.

My own worst is probably Chariots of the Gods by Von Daniken. He's come up with a theory, and then carefully selected his facts to fit it. Sometimes, of course, the facts don't fit properly and he has to hammer it to make it fit, but what the heck?

Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky deserves an honourable mention here. I haven't actually read it, but it was published in about 1950, and deserves mention as the first real pseudo-scientific garbage best seller.

There was a technical book I once read about how to use NT and UNIX together which was RIDDLED with technical errors - it was truly appalling. It was clear that the people who wrote it were experts on NT and knew nothing about UNIX.

>How about "Chariots of the Gods" by Erich von Daniken?

Ha! Great minds think alike! Last night I was thinking that if we did a non-fiction thread, that book would top my list. Do you remember the show when Carl Sagan tore him to shreds? Oh my....

Mutant Message Down Under because it was first marketed as non-fiction. Our reading group knew it was a piece of garbage, so were not surprised when she was 'found out' and now see the book on the fiction shelves.

(WHY DO I HAVE TO RE-LOG IN EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS?)

Chariot of the Gods - Yes.

Though, those so-called autobiographies, ghosted by nameless ones: Famous Footballers and Spice Girls and Pretty People generally, aged between 18 and 18+ who are still wet behind the ears and other places MUST qualify as the worst of the lot (someone came up to me in the pub and said, 'I'm 65 next week and the story of my life is amazing: would you like to write it for me?' As if she was doing me some kind of favour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and I don't usually use screamers!!!!!!) This is surely some kind of trend: where they think writers are there solely for them to use and not for any other purpose? All comments and thoughts on this matter gratefully welcomed)

Dido

Not worst book ever, but certainly biggest disappointment of last year: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown. I was expecting lots of good things from it, but I found it boring and pointless, diggressive and full of the vague legends it purported to elucidate. Can't understand why it became a bestseller and critical favourite.

dido, I have to log in every time I return here now - could be several times a day - really annoying!!

I agree with Chariots of the Gods but a close runner up would have to be The Confessions of an Heiress by - you guessed it- Paris Hilton. We have inexplicably sold boxes of this rubbish, complete as it is with a sickly pink cover and photos of Paris posing in various places. It is worth looking at the contents page below.

As a side line, her best mate Nicole Ritchie recently had a book published too. It was called The Truth about Diamonds, and so as not to confuse the reader who might be attracted to said book, the cover had 'A Novel, A Novel, A Novel' written across the front *g*

Here is a link that might be useful: Table of contents for Paris Hilton's book

Good grief, Kath. I seem to dimly recall hearing Ms Hilton's name, but as I am just emerging from my cave, this is the first time I've seen photos of her. Yeah, I know that I get a failing mark for current cultural knowledge, but I really don't care! You've sold boxes of this book? I'm stupefied.

Chariots of the Gods, ha! I remember that as an absolute screaming hoot to read. Aliens built the pyramids, or something like that, didn't they? About the same time that book came out, Charles Berlitz's The Bermuda Triangle was also very popular. Both entertained me vastly, and I don't even like science fiction...er, nonfiction.

Worst biography was the one about Kate Hepburn, which came out soon after she died. The author apparently had a great deal of contact with her, and she agreed for him to write her bio. What she didn't realize was that half of the book was going to be about his contacts with her, not about her. Bleh. My fav actress too.

venusia, you remind me that I have one or two 'biggest disappointment'. One was Simon Winchester's book on the SF Earthquake. I loved his Professor and the Madman, yet every other book I've read of his has fallen flat. This one tho was I was so looking forward to, coz I love SF. I couldn't finish the book. Its especially frustrating because I have heard him speak several times, once in person, and hes a dynamic and interesting speaker. But his books have been failing me.

Yes, I must agree that Chariots of the Gods? and the other books in the series (Gold of the Gods, Gods From Outer Space, Signs of the Gods and others) are quite, um, interesting. Yes, I must admit (I feel so dirty having to confess!) I have read most of these at one time or another. However, I must say that I read them before I was even sixteen so youthful enthusiasm and naivete may excuse my initial liking for these books.

That being said, the passage of time has significantly dulled this enthusiasm and I now just look upon the matter as an isolated youthful indiscretion. I was young! I didn't know any better! I throw myself upon the mercy of the court! ;-)

I do realize now that von Daniken's theories, while seemingly interesting (you have to admit, it was somewhat original at the time), borders on the ridiculous. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he was saying that the Nazca lines and the pyramids and Tiahuanaco were built by extraterrestrials. I was even willing to say "maybe" to the idea of little people building tunnels in South America and to Mayans worshipping astronauts. But I was quite taken aback when he said that a lot of the Christian miracles of modern times were, again, influenced by astronauts. It was just distasteful to read that the Fatima miracle was allegedly due to alien intervention. (For full disclosure, I should mention that I'm officially a Catholic but a bit of a relapsed one -- hey, I was even an altar boy when I was a kid!) It would seem that, to Herr von Daniken, everything we cannot explain and everything that is unusual is due to "aliens" and "astronauts".

On the topic of weird and bad "non-fiction" books, how about Baigent and Leigh's Holy Blood, Holy Grail? When I first read it, the theory was very interesting. But, that being said, there are apparently glaring historical problems with not just the theory but with the evidence he uses. (Ok, I have to admit it -- it made for some interesting reading.)

Wow. So that's two bad books from the same theory -- The Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood, Holy Grail. At least no major fiction bestseller came out of von Daniken's books. I know that at least one fiction work came out of it -- I remember reading it when I was much younger and, even then, I thought it was crap. Thank God I've forgotten the title!

Pat & Georgia,

I haven't (luckily) read Who Moved My Cheese? but my employer showed us a film based on it (a cartoon no less). Sometimes I think our management are all descendants of the emperor (from The Emperor's New Clothes)- they so gullibly buy into all this cr*p!

There should be a special category for "professional inspirational" books. It is a classification that should be condemned to the outer circle.
Who Moved My Cheese
To Lead Is To Serve
What Color Is Your Parachute?
the one about the fish market in Seattle

every single one of them has elicted one response..."well, duh." Major lightning bolt-You (or your employees) work better when you (they) feel valued and empowered and have fun. We're all in this together. Do what you love.
But at least the book can be tossed...being stuck listening to one of these authors is even worse.

>april, I don't think people in the UK are familiar with Susan Bloom so perhaps you could say a bit more!

Consider yourself lucky! Susan Powter is/was a woman who hopped on the "self-help" train. She admittedly shed several pounds and improved her life. Her wacky books like "Stop the Madness" (haven't figured out how to italics titles yet, bear with me) hit the best seller list and were screamingly ridiculous.

I don't know where she aquired the expertise to write about weight loss, exercise, diet, drug dependence and recovery but she somehow thinks she's an expert. Stop the madness is right, I run like heck when I see her books on the shelves (at the bookstore).

Speaking of biographies, some about the late Princess Diana were pretty badly written. There were so many that seemed to come rolling off the presses all at once that I've forgotten the authors' names. I did read a bunch of these, but they seemed to have been written in haste. All, as I recall, featured full color photos of Lady Di and family.

Dyno, you stole my thunder, :-). I was going to mention Leigh and Baignent's "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". But even worse have been the NF spin-offs from that one.

FWIW, I have to log in anew each day, too. It's no big deal.

Frieda, I thought of Carlos Castaneda when I saw the title of the thread. I had to read The Teachings of Don Juan for an English prof who considered himself to be "one of the gang" and who didn't teach me (as an adult student) much of anything. It really was an awful book.

Are those of you having to sign in repeatedly checking the little box at the bottom left that says it will keep this from happening? It still seems like I have to sign in about once a month but every time I open RP.

cc, I completely agree with those books. And while you are tossing those out, can we put a moritoruim on the 'inspirational speakers'? Their stupid games are juvenile and embarrassing, and when we are forced to attend yet another one at the beginning of the school year, instead of preparing our room and lessons, all you develop is resentment.

>while seemingly interesting (you have to admit, it was somewhat original at the time),

I agree - and when I read them as a kid, also thought they sounded reasonable. I think that was the first time I realized that just because someone gives you logical arguments, doesn't make the concept valid.

I didn't read Holy Blood Holy Grail, but I have read much that presents similar theories and findings. I don't think you can throw it all out. Certainly they give food for thought and perhaps lead the way to a more historic look at early Christianity.

I had to read "Who Moved My Cheese" for work a couple years ago, and while it was 3 times longer than it needed to be, I found the deliberately silly Aesop's Fable approach far more palatable than the religious proselytizing masquerading as management theory in Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." A book that should have never gone beyond 7 Powerpoint charts, if that many! Although the 'cheese' book was poorly written, at least I could laugh at it. :)

cheryl

> Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."

I once spoofed that book in a speech. It was called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Procrastinators (of which I am one). I had a lot of fun with that speech! I wish I had saved it. It's been years ago that I did that. Brings back some memories!

Actually, I thought of all the management books I've read, or been forced to read, Seven Habits... was one of the best - it's actually pretty sensible. It is over-preachy, yes, but it does point out the obvious mistakes that everyone makes. It's all very fine to say "yes, it's obvious..." - but still most people spend too much time fighting fire and not delegating properly...!

I've never read the Cheese book...one day I guess I ought to, if only to see what all the fuss is about.

Oh, confession time. It's been years and years since I read it but I LOVED Chariots of the Gods? simply because it was different. I loved the way he took stuff from the Bible and twisted it to fit his ideas... after all, isn't that what many believers do at some point or another? I did not find proof positive in his books, no, my enjoyment was from discovering how any group of facts/statements/ideas can be mashed into a theory. It taught me to sit back and take a second glance at things, to see them in different ways, to take all of my thoughts, experiences and books I've read to come up with my own opinions.

My own contribution to this thread is a whole genre. True crime books... Ann Rule and others who take a heinous crime and make money from it. I have to exclude Truman Capote's In Cold Blood because he seemed to have a certain respect for the victims throughout the book. Yes, it was a vicious book, but there was an underlying saddness to it.

And I already added Queenan Country to the fiction thread but it belongs here on non-fiction. I won't bore all of you by repeating what I typed over there.

PAM

I liked the 7 Habits, I still refer to the concept of the quadrants. Very useful for taking stock of your time and are you using it effectively.

I agree with you about True Crime books (and agree that In Cold Blood is an exception). I'd add several books which might be labeled 'Torn from the Headlines'. The worst case of this lately was the Schiavo book which came out one day before the autopsy report came out. Horrible exploitation of an issue and a family, written for no other reason but to make money off the suffering that everyone involved was going through.

and on a lighter note...back when the earth was cooling,anyone remember Marabel Morgan's The Total Woman? She's the woman who recommended that housewives get naked and wrap themselves in cellophane and greet their husbands at the door. Why did I read this?

mwoods, Was it to find out how much cellophane to buy? Teasing, of course.

While there are very few "classics" in the True Crime genre and there's a lot of ripped-from-the-headlines stuff that is not well thought out, I think many of the true-crime books are legitimate and educational -- the psychology, the cultural factors, the history, and the forensical aspects. Perhaps it's because I find human nature, even the most base and vile, fascinating, and the puzzle-solving findings of science also appeal to me -- but I have always liked mysteries, anyway.

In Cold Blood is indeed exceptional, but there are others that I think also provide great insight into the things I listed above: Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, And the Sea Will Tell by Bugliosi and Bruce Henderson, and Thomas Thompson's Serpentine. Luc Sante's collations of the historical crimes of New York City are also extremely worthwhile, in my opinion, and there are many others. I don't mind Ann Rule's books either. Although I don't think she's the best writer around, I do think she shows great sympathy for victims, and in none of her books that I've read does she seem to gratuitously dwell on the gore. There are some true-crime writers I've read that do; but unless I can perceive a good reason for their doing so, I usually toss their books, pronto.

However, there was a time when I realized that I was reading too many true-crime books and they were depressing me and making me cynical, so I've since backed off. I've found that older, historical crime books -- while no less pitiful, of course -- don't affect me quite so badly, emotionally. I can certainly understand why many readers don't want to read true crime, but I also understand the many readers who do!

I haven't read a lot of Ann Rule, but I did like "The Stranger Beside Me." It's the psychological and "fate" (or chance) aspects that I find so fascinating. I also liked "In Cold Blood." I don't read much of this genre nowadays, as it only added to my depression....

> Horrible exploitation of an issue and a family, written for no other reason but to make money off the suffering that everyone involved was going through.

I had a sleepless weekend. Read this as:

>Horrible exploitation of the suffering this family has gone through, for no other reason but to profit by it. Oh and BTW - I am referring to that exploitation, not to the issue itself. Thats for a whole other forum...

>The Total Woman

I never read it, but remember my friends and I in HS teasing about it. We also wondered at the price of the cellophane....

Vee, I liked both "Driving Over Lemons" and "The Olive Farm", as a would-be expat! ;-) The mysterious divergence of taste....

I didn't post on this before as I usually put down non-fiction rather quickly when it's no good (usually before buying it). However, I have just remembered T.H.White's "Gos", a non-fiction account of his attempts to train himself as an austringer with the aid of a goshawk. About a third of the way in, 'Gos' escapes, never to return. That would have been a good time to give up on writing the book, but he didn't. While well-written, the story is curmudgeonly and ultimately totally pointless.

Please tell me I'm not crazy, but it appears that there are dozens of posts missing from this thread. Have I lost my mind?

ColorMe, the systems have been funky lately.

Interestingly enough, the movement of tectonic plates was embraced earliest by some very strange people of the Von Daniken ilk (but a decade earlier.) I read all those books and enjoyed them mainly because they gave me permission to think about things in a new way. Most of what I read I didn't believe or agree with, but for some reason the plate tectonics stuff held. So, by reading some incredibly stupid book probably about the hollow earth, I learned enough about plate tectonics to dazzle a geologist with my learning a decade or so later. Go figure. Of course I've also learned enough stuff that is dead wrong to cure anyone's bedazzlement.

My vote for the worst non-ficion would be the biography Sara & Gerald, of her parents Sara and Gerald Murphy by daughter Honoria Donnelly. These two incredibly interesting and exciting characters (according to two biographies Living Well is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins and Everyone Was So Young by Amanda Vail) gave birth to a daughter who made them sound dull as ditch water.

Maybe I was just having one of those senior moments, because now I see all the posts. Thanks for making me feel better, though, Chris.

OT - but when did funky become synonymous with "bad", "flawed", "broken", "naff"? When I were a little lad, something that was funky was cool, neat. Do the Funky Chicken by Rufus Thomas being an example.

according to the resident "trendy lingusitics expert":

funky means strange, odd, offbeat, out of the ordinary in a "so not cool" way-acting that way is "being funky" but
it is also used to describe the unpleasant result of a night of too much drinking or food poisoning, as in "He's leaning over the loo being funky."
the result of being funky in that way is known as "the funk."

oddly, being "in a funk" is still feeling melancoly, blue-maybe because it is a prelude to "being funky" and producing funk?

True - I'd forgotten being "in a funk". Guess it's just one of those words which just means what you want it to mean, neither more or less. Humpty Dumpty would be proud.

Any book written by Peter Kolosimo. He had is heyday in the senventies, and used to write the same
garbage as Danken did. I read only a book of his , where he states that Stonehedge is an ancient...kind
of airport or something else for outer space saucers flying , and in his opinion graffitos are , without
any doubt, a clear proof that aliens once has been here, and therefore they are our ancestor

grelobe

Blimey. An airport for flying saucers, eh? Well, I'm totally convinced.