I'm grateful for this thread as I've already read a couple of the books tipped here (The Nowhere men and forgotten soldier). Both excellent. There's a couple more that are on my list.
I've just finished Mary Beard's SPQR (very interesting, she debunks quite a lot of the stuff I learned about the Romans as a kid).
Inspired by a reference to it in an article I was reading about the Vendée Globe I'm now re-reading Joshua Slocom's book "Sailing alone around the world" which I last read when I was about 15. I'm really enjoying it.
