Monday, October 19, 2015

Books/Movies That Teach You About Something

I am particularly drawn to stories that describe how a job is performed, how a new chore is learned. That is what drew me to the book and movie of THE MARTIAN. Also the Robert Redford film of last year (ALL IS LOST)
about his struggle to not drown.
Also loved the section in American Pastoral where you learned about making gloves. Or the parts of BURN NOTICE where you got information on being a CIA operative.

What are some of your favorite stories or films where you learn how something is done? 

8 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

I also liked those parts of BURN NOTICE where he showed how to make a bomb or conduct surveillance or whatever.

Jeff M.

Deb said...

The (now-retired) romance writer, LaVyrle Spencer, covered so many things in her books: bee-keeping, typesetting a newspaper, how to kill potato bugs, etc. every book had one or two occupations or functions that would be blended into the plot and covered in detail. They were good books--despite the general contempt in which "romance" novels are held--and I always learned something.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I would certainly take your word for it and look for one.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Patti, I won't say it was my favourite, but I liked JOBS, the biopic on Steve Jobs and Apple. How obsessed can you get with your dream! It was an inspirational film. I plan to read his biography.

Rick Robinson said...

I can't think of any, though there must have been some I've seen. Good question, I'll mull it over.

Graham Powell said...

Frederic Forsyth in books like DAY OF THE JACKAL and THE DOGS OF WAR takes you into the minutia of things like old-school identity theft and smuggling guns.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

I love the 'how to' stuff in BURN NOTICE - alwats makes me chuckle, its a great conceit. There is a fascination with this kind of thing even in movies about assassins say but I love the A-Team / MacGyver approach to on-the-spot problem solving!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's an interesting question, Patti. I always liked Tony Hillerman's work, in part, because of what I learned about the Navajo people.