Challenge: Books That Did A Great Job of Explaining X

So, I'm coming at this late and half-sick, and this response is going to be much shorter than it probably should.

Starting with the usual bit of context: the topic is from the Weekly Blogging Challenge over at Long and Short Reviews. Hit their homepage to see the current week's responses, and add a link to your own if you're so inclined.

This week's challenge is Books That Did A Great Job of Explaining X.

I don't have an extensive list for this, mostly because I'm doing this at the last minute and off the top of my head, and I have no brain this week. (Well, I mean, I do. What I don't have is any energy. I seem to be shaking off some sort of virus or cold, but it's stubborn and enervating.) So I'm only going to put out one recommendation here, and it's one of the YA classics:

My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George. I haven't actually read it in years, but it's basically about a boy who runs away from New York to go live in on his own in the Appalachians (on some family land, if I remember correctly). This book explains (in just enough detail to be interesting) the various things that Sam Gribley has to do in order to survive -- hunting, trapping, foraging, making his own soap, carving out a shelter -- and is largely responsible for my early interest in camping, wilderness survival, and various other things that came up in my response to last week's question about what I'd want on a desert island.

So, yeah... only one recommendation this week, but it's a heartfelt one.