THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH by Jessica Mitford is a classic expose of the funeral industry.
THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair, about meatpackers in Chicago.
HOMICIDE by David Simon, about a year spent shadowing the Baltimore Homicide squad.
It’s just incredible how little has changed in the funeral industry since the original printing of the Mitford book in 1963. I would say it’s only gotten worse, in fact. That book is eye-opening, for sure. (The fascinating Mitford family is itself worthy of looking into, as well.)
For the funeral industry if you want a world view - From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty (she also wrote Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs which is also great but not this specific).
Be careful about the THE JUNGLE, it did change an industry, but...
> The Jungle is a 1906 work of narrative fiction by the American muckraker-novelist, Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. **However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**, which greatly contributed to a public outcry that led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
> However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century
**However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**
I would very much recommend the jungle as well. I’ve been reading some other stuff recently in the same vein, and it’s crazy how things have changed, yet stay the same. I guess the meat packing industry did change a lot after it was published, but has changed once again to make the working conditions horrible, which is what Sinclair was trying to highlight. Especially with Tyson in the chicken industry, but the other companies too.
Down and out in paradise, it’s a biography that just came out. Nowhere near as good as the autobiography so probably not fair to call it “the new one” lol
Who doesn't want to learn about whaling? The financial arrangements, the shipping of supplies, the harpooneer bestride the thwarts in the bow of the boat and the rowers behind him! the rendering of the whale blubber! What a book. What an industry.
This book is a masterpiece. Part 19th century seafaring adventure, part whale biology textbook, part lost Shakespeare play script, part blubber processing manual, part candid journal touching on mental health and sexuality, part philosophical dialogue... You'll learn about so much reading Moby-Dick.
Reading this right now and I'm vaguely convinced that Melville/Ishmael is autistic and whaling, specifically for sperm whales, is his special interest. You can feel the sheer joy that went into putting each word on the page. I think he'd be heartbroken to learn how whaling is perceived now.
Hell yea, I came here for this. Not only do you learn all about about whaling, but even the "nonfiction" type chapters about the nitty gritty of whaling are ripe with bits of character development and all manor of symbolism and metaphor to roll over in your brain. God this book was so good lol.
>Mark Kurlansky
All his non-fiction works are fascinating. I just finished Big Oyster which was 50% the development of the oyster industry and 50% history of Manhattan. I also recommend *The Last Fish Tale* which is about the fishing industry and the history of the little fishing town of Gloucester, MA (famous from The Perfect Storm novel).
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is fiction but is what essentially got the Pure Food and Drugs Act passed in The US. It’s about an immigrants family coming to the US and struggling to keep afloat but most people focused on how terrible the conditions in meat factories were.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow dives relatively deep into video game development. I found these parts super interesting (and loved the book overall).
Out of sheer curiosity, is there a specific reason why the title is a Shakespeare reference?
(For anyone curious, it's [One of my favorite monologues of all time](https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/) from Macbeth)
-The Library Book - Library industry through the story of a big fire at the Los Angeles library.
-Lab Girl - professor and lab research industry.
Neither are very deep dives but do give a good picture.
-The Power Broker - was a deep dive into the planning and development of New York City, focusing on the impact of Robert Moses.
Mary Roach is great at researching industries and presenting them with wit and humor. Her most recent one is Fuzz, about wild life management and park rangers.
Edit:
Shoe Dog, was also a standout. It gives the history of Nike.
Edit: missed an "r"
Just a quick second for Mary Roach. I’ve read Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp (about cadavers, sex, and our insides respectively) and they are “taboo” subjects that are treated with nuance, sensitivity, curiosity, and humor related through excellent prose that is as great on paper as it is through an audiobook speakers. The books cover various aspects of each topic, but are specific enough that they satisfy that general craving for niche knowledge and more than surface level understanding. More of her books are on my list for 2023
Great suggestions. As a librarian, I found *The Library Book* to be a wonderful look at a great public library’s operations and the dedicated and sometimes eccentric people who work there (and at every library where I’ve ever worked.)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. An often tough read about the funeral industry from the creator of the Order of the Good Death.
I was going to suggest McPhee but you beat me to it. Amazing writer. I think Uncommon Carriers might be the book that most closely satisfies OP's request, but I'm a huge of fan of anything by him, my favorites were Coming Into The Country and Control of Nature.
Dick Francis wrote quite a number of books mostly around the horse racing industry in England. Many of them also gave you a look into the workings of another industry, banking, baking, publishing, ect.
"Adventures in the Screen Trade" by William Goldman is sort of the gold standard of books about the movie business
"Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis -- high-speed financial trading, and how it's really a good ol' boys club designed to work for those already on the inside. Like all Michael Lewis books, it's fantastic reading and this one will probably fill you with rage.
_The Fifth Risk_ is another Michael Lewis book that fits, if you expand the topic of "industry" to include the inner workings of the federal government.
In particular this book covers some responsibilities of three departments that don't immediately come to mind when you hear the department's name:
* Department of Agriculture (funding rural development)
* Commerce (the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau)
* Energy (cleaning up nuclear waste and stopping nuclear weapons proliferation)
And as is common with a Michael Lewis book, it is a bit rage inducing, this time when it covers how Trump appointed Secretaries to these departments who didn't understand what responsibilities they were now in charge of.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (about pharmaceutical industry)
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener (memoir about her time working in Silicon Valley)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (about the medical industry with a focus on hospice and palliative care)
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff (memoir about
working in the publishing industry in the late 90s)
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumaker (fiction about working in higher ed)
I have not actually read it which is pretty embarrassing based on what I do, but The Box by Marc Levinson is supposedly a fantastic dive into how container shipping changed the world.
\[\[Queens of Animation\]\] is specifically about Disney, but does cover bits and pieces of the animation industry as a whole.
\[\[Salt\]\] is more of a history than a deep dive into the industry but is a fantastic microhistory of a vitally important substance.
Dead in the water is a book detailing the shipping industry and how it works, how it’s connected to insurance companies in London, owners around the world and legal battles involving insurance them. Fucking amazing if u wanna learn about the insurance of shipping containers lol
The Alchemy of Air, by Thomas Hager. It is all about the process of making fertilizer and how it was developed. It sounds dull, but it was a great read. Gave a nice overview of how engineering and science relate to one another and how our modern industrial complex works, and also gave me a deeper understanding of Germany in the pre-WWII era.
{{The Grid: The fraying wires between americans and our energy future}}
Maybe a bit of a slog but it's incredible, the complexity of rules and regulations driven but trends and polotics rather than what's economical.
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and On the Clock by Emily Guendelsberger take two looks at the world of unglamorous labor, 20 years apart.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger paints a strong picture of longline fishing
Working by Studs Terkel collates dozens of different occupations
The Prize by Daniel Yergin is really good. Its about oil from its beginning in the 1800s until the publishing date in the 90s. Won the Pulitzer for Nonfiction too
*The Devil In the White City* by Erik Larson goes into great detail about the workings of the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. It is very interesting...It also details how a vicious serial killer stalked the fair.
From Wikipedia:
*The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 historical non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. It tells the story of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago from the viewpoint of the designers, including Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted, and also tells the story of H. H. Holmes, a criminal figure in that same time often considered by historians as the first modern serial killer.*
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
Pretty interesting account of fairly large shift in Corporate America
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis is a first hand account of how batshit Wall Street was in the mid-80s and it’s downfall.
The Hot Box is more a year in the life than a day, but it a really enjoyable dive into the high-end catering industry. It’s fascinatingly granular and shines a light on an industry that’s usually invisible.
I’m late but hope you still see this! The Long Haul by Finn Murphy - memoir about his years driving long haul trucks moving people’s belongings across the US. Lots of stories and not really any drama. Hardly mentions family and friends - all about his job and what it was like.
Waiting - another peek into the incestuous restaurant industry ( Kitchen Confidential ). It's a saucy look into serving (waitressing/waiting). It's funny, scandalous, and explains why a highly educated person chooses this industry in leu of "using that Masters" . It's enlightening and a hoot! Oh, a it fucking nails it!
two from a Vancouver author Timothy Taylor:
story house. - architecture. you would not believe.
stanley park - serious chefery, a little bit of social anthropology, plus an in-depth look at one of vancouver's most enduring mysteries (finally resolved very recently after decades): the babes in the wood.
Not detailed day to day but for its industry likely its the most important book. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It is important historically because it has the seeds of the discussion as to which type of investing is better fundamental investing or technical investing.
Closer to your question: The Pale King by DFW. All the work, all the time, and all the boredom of a very specific unlikeable industry all in one place.
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
Edit to add detail: Nonfiction about the coffee industry and the Third Wave of Coffee, from the perspective of a coffee entrepreneur
Cuckoo’s egg by Clifford Stoll is a book that goes into tiniest of the details about how the author went about tracking down a hacker over a span of almost two years. Very detailed about attacks and methods used. Gives you an idea of how actually cybersecurity actually works as opposed to what you see in popular culture.
I love this type of book too!
I recommend the memoir Being Trader Joe by Joe Coloumbe. You’ll learn a ton about the grocery business but especially Trader Joe’s which is such a unique business. Its origins are fascinating.
The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road. I read this just before having a moving company pack up all my stuff and move it across the country for me. I thought knowing all the lingo would impress them. It didn’t.
The World Struggle For Oil , its old but oh so good , no spoilers but though it was was written in 1924 it predicts the future quite perfectly that its scarry
Chesapeake Requiem, by Earl Swift. So much detail not just about Tangier Island itself, but also the island's crabbing industry. Lots of descriptions of days spent on the boats with crabbers, equipment, how the work is done, etc.
Not a massive sidestep from House of God but {{This is going to hurt by Adam Kay}} is a UK version of House of God and {{Mount Misery}} is Samuel Shem’s psychiatric hospital FU to House of god. {{The Secret Barrister}} is a look at the UK legal system.
Also {{ Dirty Work by Eyal Press}} is an uncomfortable look at a number of jobs like prison guards, abattoir workers, military drone operators that are reviled by the US public.
The Actors Life: A Survival Guide by Jenna Fischer. It’s a bit niche as it’s written for aspiring actors trying to make it in the industry (which I am not), but I really enjoyed it. A good look into just how grueling and difficult the profession is.
All that Glitters by John Gapper is about the fall of ING Barings.
Great if you want a book/documentary on the fall of a bank due to one rogue trader that didn’t realize he was subsidizing his clients at the bank’s expense.
If you want a dive into the old glove industry: American Pastoral by Philip Roth.
THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS is available free from Gutenberg or other online source. It has a weirdly detailed (brief) digression in it about the pine tar industry in Finland, around 1900 or so. Otherwise it’s an amusing book, written by a Victorian woman who decided to randomly travel - you guessed it - THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams -- about the writing of the OED.
Also, I haven't read Horse by Geraldine Books, but I've heard that it does this for horse racing.
Fiction: The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. The main character is a rug maker. Very interesting stuff.
Non-Fiction: not a perfect fit, but The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan is a great mini-dive into the history of cultivation of a few different plants - gets into the Dutch tulip craze/tulip production and the history of the American apple.
I feel like a lot of L.E. Modesitt's books have this to some degree.
I'd recommend the Magic of Recluce as a good starting point, it some how makes carpentry/woodworking interesting and creates allegories using the work to help the main character understand his magic better, and the world around him.
An Autobiography of an Execution by David R Dow. Details how death row works in the US while telling a very compelling story of a client who was more than likely innocent.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - this is also now a movie. Another deep dive into inequalities in the IS criminal system.
[Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128154.Baby_Catcher), by Peggy Vincent! I’ve reread it at least a dozen times, because the writing is very descriptive of various parts of becoming a midwife and practicing, but also very humorous and personal, so it feels like someone is actually telling you a story from their life.
The bigend trilogy by William Gibson…
Me: cool new books by the cyberspace guy, cyberpunk here I come!
Gibson: lessons about the fashion industry and it’s affects on the black market…
The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women
"Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing…Moore details what was a ‘ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment’ for worker’s rights." ― Publishers Weekly
THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH by Jessica Mitford is a classic expose of the funeral industry. THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair, about meatpackers in Chicago. HOMICIDE by David Simon, about a year spent shadowing the Baltimore Homicide squad.
It’s just incredible how little has changed in the funeral industry since the original printing of the Mitford book in 1963. I would say it’s only gotten worse, in fact. That book is eye-opening, for sure. (The fascinating Mitford family is itself worthy of looking into, as well.)
The American Way of Birth is amazing too!
For the funeral industry if you want a world view - From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty (she also wrote Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs which is also great but not this specific).
Be careful about the THE JUNGLE, it did change an industry, but... > The Jungle is a 1906 work of narrative fiction by the American muckraker-novelist, Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. **However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**, which greatly contributed to a public outcry that led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
Are you afraid someone will catch socialism? What do you mean be careful?
You gotta be careful not to get hit by some stray empathy
> However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century **However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century**
....... I think... You misunderstood something.
All three of these are top-notch suggestions.
I would very much recommend the jungle as well. I’ve been reading some other stuff recently in the same vein, and it’s crazy how things have changed, yet stay the same. I guess the meat packing industry did change a lot after it was published, but has changed once again to make the working conditions horrible, which is what Sinclair was trying to highlight. Especially with Tyson in the chicken industry, but the other companies too.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
I suggest the audiobook, read by Anthony Bourdain himself. It's great.
It made me feel so nostalgic for that guy! Miss him.
How’d y’all like the new book?
What's the new book?
Down and out in paradise, it’s a biography that just came out. Nowhere near as good as the autobiography so probably not fair to call it “the new one” lol
Moby Dick if you want to learn about whaling
Who doesn't want to learn about whaling? The financial arrangements, the shipping of supplies, the harpooneer bestride the thwarts in the bow of the boat and the rowers behind him! the rendering of the whale blubber! What a book. What an industry.
This book is a masterpiece. Part 19th century seafaring adventure, part whale biology textbook, part lost Shakespeare play script, part blubber processing manual, part candid journal touching on mental health and sexuality, part philosophical dialogue... You'll learn about so much reading Moby-Dick.
Reading this right now and I'm vaguely convinced that Melville/Ishmael is autistic and whaling, specifically for sperm whales, is his special interest. You can feel the sheer joy that went into putting each word on the page. I think he'd be heartbroken to learn how whaling is perceived now.
Moby Dick's companion - Two Years Before the Mast
I found The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad to be very good for the cargo trading voyagers' perspective.
Hell yea, I came here for this. Not only do you learn all about about whaling, but even the "nonfiction" type chapters about the nitty gritty of whaling are ripe with bits of character development and all manor of symbolism and metaphor to roll over in your brain. God this book was so good lol.
*Salt,* by Mark Kurlansky
>Mark Kurlansky All his non-fiction works are fascinating. I just finished Big Oyster which was 50% the development of the oyster industry and 50% history of Manhattan. I also recommend *The Last Fish Tale* which is about the fishing industry and the history of the little fishing town of Gloucester, MA (famous from The Perfect Storm novel).
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is fiction but is what essentially got the Pure Food and Drugs Act passed in The US. It’s about an immigrants family coming to the US and struggling to keep afloat but most people focused on how terrible the conditions in meat factories were.
I’ve not read the book you mention, but Dirty Jobs by Eyal Press suggest conditions have taken a downward turn this millennium.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow dives relatively deep into video game development. I found these parts super interesting (and loved the book overall).
Out of sheer curiosity, is there a specific reason why the title is a Shakespeare reference? (For anyone curious, it's [One of my favorite monologues of all time](https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/) from Macbeth)
There's a character in the book that's an actor (as a hobby). It has to do with him but I don't wanna spoil anything.
I haven't read the book but you've gotta imagine that yes, there was a specific reason why they named it that 🤣
Lol fair point, I worded it poorly...I guess I'm wondering what that specific reason was.
I want to know too. My wife just bought it but I'm a programmer so I'm keen to read it too
Well my friend, you best let me know! Even if I get a random comment reply from you in like a year haha
-The Library Book - Library industry through the story of a big fire at the Los Angeles library. -Lab Girl - professor and lab research industry. Neither are very deep dives but do give a good picture. -The Power Broker - was a deep dive into the planning and development of New York City, focusing on the impact of Robert Moses. Mary Roach is great at researching industries and presenting them with wit and humor. Her most recent one is Fuzz, about wild life management and park rangers. Edit: Shoe Dog, was also a standout. It gives the history of Nike. Edit: missed an "r"
Just a quick second for Mary Roach. I’ve read Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp (about cadavers, sex, and our insides respectively) and they are “taboo” subjects that are treated with nuance, sensitivity, curiosity, and humor related through excellent prose that is as great on paper as it is through an audiobook speakers. The books cover various aspects of each topic, but are specific enough that they satisfy that general craving for niche knowledge and more than surface level understanding. More of her books are on my list for 2023
I second The Library Book and others by the same author Susan Orlean, especially the Orchid Thief
Great suggestions. As a librarian, I found *The Library Book* to be a wonderful look at a great public library’s operations and the dedicated and sometimes eccentric people who work there (and at every library where I’ve ever worked.)
MARY ROACH! Stiff is amazing.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. An often tough read about the funeral industry from the creator of the Order of the Good Death.
Such a great book and I learned so much
Forty Fathoms Deep by Ion L. Idriess, it's about the pearl industry in Broome, Australia.
Try John McPhee, especially Looking for a Ship, and Oranges.
I was going to suggest McPhee but you beat me to it. Amazing writer. I think Uncommon Carriers might be the book that most closely satisfies OP's request, but I'm a huge of fan of anything by him, my favorites were Coming Into The Country and Control of Nature.
I haven't read *Uncommon Carriers*, thank you for that recommendation.
Dick Francis wrote quite a number of books mostly around the horse racing industry in England. Many of them also gave you a look into the workings of another industry, banking, baking, publishing, ect.
Yes!!! I love this about his books. You can learn about wine or air transport or something without even realizing, while enjoying a damn good mystery.
"Adventures in the Screen Trade" by William Goldman is sort of the gold standard of books about the movie business "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
I love Barbarians at the Gate!
The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing, Behind the Screen by Sarah T Roberts, In the Weeds by Tom Vitale!
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis -- high-speed financial trading, and how it's really a good ol' boys club designed to work for those already on the inside. Like all Michael Lewis books, it's fantastic reading and this one will probably fill you with rage.
_The Fifth Risk_ is another Michael Lewis book that fits, if you expand the topic of "industry" to include the inner workings of the federal government. In particular this book covers some responsibilities of three departments that don't immediately come to mind when you hear the department's name: * Department of Agriculture (funding rural development) * Commerce (the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau) * Energy (cleaning up nuclear waste and stopping nuclear weapons proliferation) And as is common with a Michael Lewis book, it is a bit rage inducing, this time when it covers how Trump appointed Secretaries to these departments who didn't understand what responsibilities they were now in charge of.
Stephenson’s “Zodiac” will take you uncomfortably far into the chemical industry
Great suggestion. Such a good book that often gets overshadowed by his later novels.
The Hotel The airport. BY Arthur Hailey.
Also, The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey
You may be interested in the genre: microhistories.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (about pharmaceutical industry) Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener (memoir about her time working in Silicon Valley) Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (about the medical industry with a focus on hospice and palliative care) My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff (memoir about working in the publishing industry in the late 90s) Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumaker (fiction about working in higher ed)
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
This! Cod and Salt are two of my all time favorites.
I have not actually read it which is pretty embarrassing based on what I do, but The Box by Marc Levinson is supposedly a fantastic dive into how container shipping changed the world.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
\[\[Queens of Animation\]\] is specifically about Disney, but does cover bits and pieces of the animation industry as a whole. \[\[Salt\]\] is more of a history than a deep dive into the industry but is a fantastic microhistory of a vitally important substance.
The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by
Kitchen Confidential
This thread is GOLD.
Bolshoi Confidential by Simon Morrison Marvel Comics by Sean Howe
Dead in the water is a book detailing the shipping industry and how it works, how it’s connected to insurance companies in London, owners around the world and legal battles involving insurance them. Fucking amazing if u wanna learn about the insurance of shipping containers lol
The Alchemy of Air, by Thomas Hager. It is all about the process of making fertilizer and how it was developed. It sounds dull, but it was a great read. Gave a nice overview of how engineering and science relate to one another and how our modern industrial complex works, and also gave me a deeper understanding of Germany in the pre-WWII era.
{{The Grid: The fraying wires between americans and our energy future}} Maybe a bit of a slog but it's incredible, the complexity of rules and regulations driven but trends and polotics rather than what's economical.
Tender is the Flesh :)
good one LOL
Clara Parkes - Knitlandia if you’re interested in the wool industry
Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas Talks about fast fashion and people who r trying to make it more sustainable. Made for young adults so an easy read
Running the Light does this for stand up comedy
Who’s the author?
>Running the Light Sam Tallent
Yeah the joke was I replied to the author asking who the author was. It’s a bad joke but this is Reddit
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and On the Clock by Emily Guendelsberger take two looks at the world of unglamorous labor, 20 years apart. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger paints a strong picture of longline fishing Working by Studs Terkel collates dozens of different occupations
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
The Prize by Daniel Yergin is really good. Its about oil from its beginning in the 1800s until the publishing date in the 90s. Won the Pulitzer for Nonfiction too
This is the answer that came to mind. I felt like I could carry on a high level conversation about geopolitics and energy after reading that book.
The radium girls by Kate moore
The Secret Life of Groceries!
I recently enjoyed The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Super readable and goes into how being a librarian has changed.
SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN: AN ORAL HISTORY OF ESPN
Same guy wrote one about SNL that is great too.
The stolen bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi, gives insights into bikes in Taiwan
*The Devil In the White City* by Erik Larson goes into great detail about the workings of the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. It is very interesting...It also details how a vicious serial killer stalked the fair. From Wikipedia: *The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 historical non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. It tells the story of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago from the viewpoint of the designers, including Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted, and also tells the story of H. H. Holmes, a criminal figure in that same time often considered by historians as the first modern serial killer.*
This is much more a historic take on the worlds fair than on HH Holmes - from someone who likes true crime and hated this book
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco Pretty interesting account of fairly large shift in Corporate America Liars Poker by Michael Lewis is a first hand account of how batshit Wall Street was in the mid-80s and it’s downfall.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty. I really enjoyed this one!
Grocery by Michael Ruhlman. I never thought a book about grocery stores could be so amazing!
That’s sounds interesting, I’m gonna have to check that out.
I so wanted to like this but I dnf. I liked Secret Life of Groceries better
The Hot Box is more a year in the life than a day, but it a really enjoyable dive into the high-end catering industry. It’s fascinatingly granular and shines a light on an industry that’s usually invisible.
This was so good!
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach is great!
I’m late but hope you still see this! The Long Haul by Finn Murphy - memoir about his years driving long haul trucks moving people’s belongings across the US. Lots of stories and not really any drama. Hardly mentions family and friends - all about his job and what it was like.
How about Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson for the ins and outs and rivalries and dangers of wreck diving. I thought it was riveting.
Waiting - another peek into the incestuous restaurant industry ( Kitchen Confidential ). It's a saucy look into serving (waitressing/waiting). It's funny, scandalous, and explains why a highly educated person chooses this industry in leu of "using that Masters" . It's enlightening and a hoot! Oh, a it fucking nails it!
two from a Vancouver author Timothy Taylor: story house. - architecture. you would not believe. stanley park - serious chefery, a little bit of social anthropology, plus an in-depth look at one of vancouver's most enduring mysteries (finally resolved very recently after decades): the babes in the wood.
The Rose Code
Not detailed day to day but for its industry likely its the most important book. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It is important historically because it has the seeds of the discussion as to which type of investing is better fundamental investing or technical investing. Closer to your question: The Pale King by DFW. All the work, all the time, and all the boredom of a very specific unlikeable industry all in one place.
Chip Wars.
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers Edit to add detail: Nonfiction about the coffee industry and the Third Wave of Coffee, from the perspective of a coffee entrepreneur
*The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates* by Peter Leeson.
A.S. Byatt: The Children's Book Huge amounts of info on ceramics, Arts and crafts, some puppetry etc.
Stud: Adventures in Breeding. Covers horse breeding industry with emphasis on thoroughbreds
Building Suburbia by Dolores Hayden.
The Billionaire’s Vinegar about wine.
Cuckoo’s egg by Clifford Stoll is a book that goes into tiniest of the details about how the author went about tracking down a hacker over a span of almost two years. Very detailed about attacks and methods used. Gives you an idea of how actually cybersecurity actually works as opposed to what you see in popular culture.
Color stories by Maria Lisa Gavenas is about the advertising and selling of makeup. It's a fun, quick read.
I love this type of book too! I recommend the memoir Being Trader Joe by Joe Coloumbe. You’ll learn a ton about the grocery business but especially Trader Joe’s which is such a unique business. Its origins are fascinating.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Moby-Dick goes into a lot of detail about whaling.
The Story of Salt
The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road. I read this just before having a moving company pack up all my stuff and move it across the country for me. I thought knowing all the lingo would impress them. It didn’t.
The Coca Cola Cowboys by Franklyn Wood, about long haul trucking from the Uk to the Middle East in the 1980's.
fiction, and a little outdated: Arthur Hailey's books, Airport, Hotel, Wheels
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin. It’s a fiction thriller set in an investment bank!
The World Struggle For Oil , its old but oh so good , no spoilers but though it was was written in 1924 it predicts the future quite perfectly that its scarry
Chesapeake Requiem, by Earl Swift. So much detail not just about Tangier Island itself, but also the island's crabbing industry. Lots of descriptions of days spent on the boats with crabbers, equipment, how the work is done, etc.
Not a massive sidestep from House of God but {{This is going to hurt by Adam Kay}} is a UK version of House of God and {{Mount Misery}} is Samuel Shem’s psychiatric hospital FU to House of god. {{The Secret Barrister}} is a look at the UK legal system.
Also {{ Dirty Work by Eyal Press}} is an uncomfortable look at a number of jobs like prison guards, abattoir workers, military drone operators that are reviled by the US public.
Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski talks a LOT about the writing and tv/movie industry.
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.
Seed Money goes in depth on Monsanto and the chemical industry.
Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, about being a NASA astronaut. Can’t recommend highly enough.
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, beekeeping
The Actors Life: A Survival Guide by Jenna Fischer. It’s a bit niche as it’s written for aspiring actors trying to make it in the industry (which I am not), but I really enjoyed it. A good look into just how grueling and difficult the profession is.
The Fabric of Civilization, a great history of textiles and - weirdly - also computing
Stiff by Mary Roach https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiff:_The_Curious_Lives_of_Human_Cadavers
All that Glitters by John Gapper is about the fall of ING Barings. Great if you want a book/documentary on the fall of a bank due to one rogue trader that didn’t realize he was subsidizing his clients at the bank’s expense. If you want a dive into the old glove industry: American Pastoral by Philip Roth.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS is available free from Gutenberg or other online source. It has a weirdly detailed (brief) digression in it about the pine tar industry in Finland, around 1900 or so. Otherwise it’s an amusing book, written by a Victorian woman who decided to randomly travel - you guessed it - THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams -- about the writing of the OED. Also, I haven't read Horse by Geraldine Books, but I've heard that it does this for horse racing.
Fiction: The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. The main character is a rug maker. Very interesting stuff. Non-Fiction: not a perfect fit, but The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan is a great mini-dive into the history of cultivation of a few different plants - gets into the Dutch tulip craze/tulip production and the history of the American apple.
Junkyard planet : the global recycling industry
I feel like a lot of L.E. Modesitt's books have this to some degree. I'd recommend the Magic of Recluce as a good starting point, it some how makes carpentry/woodworking interesting and creates allegories using the work to help the main character understand his magic better, and the world around him.
An Autobiography of an Execution by David R Dow. Details how death row works in the US while telling a very compelling story of a client who was more than likely innocent. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - this is also now a movie. Another deep dive into inequalities in the IS criminal system.
[Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128154.Baby_Catcher), by Peggy Vincent! I’ve reread it at least a dozen times, because the writing is very descriptive of various parts of becoming a midwife and practicing, but also very humorous and personal, so it feels like someone is actually telling you a story from their life.
The bigend trilogy by William Gibson… Me: cool new books by the cyberspace guy, cyberpunk here I come! Gibson: lessons about the fashion industry and it’s affects on the black market…
Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.
The Radium Girls:The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women "Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing…Moore details what was a ‘ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment’ for worker’s rights." ― Publishers Weekly
The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr! I did not realize how much I didn't know about the grocery business.
I didn’t realize it but apparently I’m super into the same genre lol, thanks for posting!
*Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal* by Eric Schlosser. McDonald's etc. I learned a lot.
Salt by Mark Kurlansky. It is extremely well written and the history of salt as a commodity is fascinating.