Only interesting book I could see was about Mesopotamia. The author's fear of technical books is worrying - if you don't start reading hard at one point, you never will. The list he has compiled will merely skim the surface of many unrelated topics and make the author form uneducated biased opinions, since he won't be getting into the gritty realitiesof the matters.

1. If you really need to read technical books during your holidays, you're probably a bad professional, with poor training, little network and worse experience.

2. If you think that authors like Robert Caro, Mencken, Patrick Bouchard, and the others I mentioned will merely "skim the surface", you're uninformed and need to get out of your bubble.

3. If you don't begin reading other stuff than technical stuff, you'll end up without education. Your choice.

4. On a more positive note, what would be your list? I am curious.