Them

by Jon Ronson

A journalist goes around interviewing people who believe that the leaders of the world are conspiring together, creating all the tragedies in the world (i.e. 9/11, wars, creating and spreading AIDS, etc.) in order to suppress peoples around the world in order to stay in power.

Kind of interesting.

Longitude

The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

by Dava Sobel

John Harrison was his name. What he did was to build a clock that would keep accurate time. Before his time(!) the most accurate clocks would vary up to ten seconds a day depending upon the temperature and humidity. You need to to have a very accurate clock to sail the oceans blue (before GPS, of course.)

One of the main solutions was to make the movements out of brass and steel put together so that their varying reactions to heat and humidity would offset each other.

He also invented caged ball bearings.