Reading, etymology, and Latin. (Latin? Gotta be kidding!)

I love to read. Whether for entertainment or for learning, it's a good thing. Generally, that is.

I just laid aside a book about etymology. I plowed thru 60 pages or so, but with no real narrative line...I'll be honest, I've had more fun reading the dictionary or the encyclopedia. (Oops, those are fun...bad comparison.) I've had more fun weeding the yard.

This despite the fact that the author was very careful to clarify that entomology was for bugs that bug people, not about words that bug people!) Still, I COULD put the book down. In fact, it joins the roughly one or two books per year that I can put down...and never pick back up again!

I'd rather learn Latin than listen to someone babble on about a word's roots, "The word 'gnaw' is one of many that begin with 'gn-' and may be linked by..."

When I hear, "...it may be", the educator in me immediately responds, "Thus, it also may NOT be." Phooey.

Actually, I have subscribed to the email "Latin Word of the Day," and am enjoying broadening my vocab/etymology...here's the page where one could subscribe. Subscription is, BTW, an overt confession of abject geekhood.
http://www.transparent.com/word-of-the-day/today/latin.html#.UfRjBD3n9PA

Also, English word of the day: http://wordsmith.org/words/today.html

Okay, that was a lengthy digression. Basically, I enjoy non-fiction, but it needs to be written with a better narrative line than my high-school history textbook (spontaneous yawn at the memory!) The autobiography that I just read, Louis Zamperini's DEVIL AT MY HEELS, flowed like a well-written novel, with suspense, theme, rise and fall of tension within each chapter....yeah! I think non-fiction has come a long way since I was in high school. Whatta you think? Any fav non-fiction works you'd like to share with the legions reading this? Comment below or back on FB, pls.