Best non-fiction book you read where you learned something new? (Note if audio format is best, long flight coming up. Need some good material) Thanks!
Best non-fiction book you read where you learned something new? (Note if audio format is best, long flight coming up. Need some good material) Thanks!
hmmm. So many! Recently Bad Blood.
Born A Crime. Entertaining, humorous, educational, and Trevor Noah has a great voice!
I can’t wait to listen to this!
He really does!
For me… The Willpower Instinct, The Power of Habit, Start with Why, Born to Run
LOVED the Power of Habit!
Me too!
@Janice oh I’m getting The Willpower Instinct next! Looks great!
I Contain Multitudes (about the microbiome) and This is Your Brain on Parasites (about the many small creatures that can have an effect on the larger creatures they inhabit)
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
The Professor and the Madman – the story of how the OED came to be https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25019.The_Professor_and_the_Madman
Great book
Have it. Haven’t read it yet!
Thank you for posting the goodreads link. You are fabulous!
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver… and I also loved Remembering Smell by Bonnie Blodgett. This is my kind of topic. I am non-fiction through and through!
The Woman Who Smashed Codes
Dreamland. It is about the opioid crisis, and includes US based perspectives (people struggling with addiction, the role of pharma and other aspects of society) as well as the perspectives of people in Mexico who become involved in the heroin trade. Very well researched and well written.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks audiobook.
Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey. I listed to it and loved it!
The Skies Belong to Us was a great book…I also think Missoula by John Krakauer is essential reading
The radium girls
The New Earth. The Unteathered Soul
Currently listening to Stiff. So interesting. Also Killers of the Flower Moon.
@Sara I thought Stiff was fascinating.
I work in pre op at a hospital and wanted so bad to ask doctors if they practiced all their surgical procedures on corpses.
I read Stiff like 15 years ago and it’s still one of my favorites!
@Sara I just finished reading Hot Lights, Cold Steel and I think he talked about working on a corpse during his training.
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
Also by him: In the Heart of the Sea. SO GOOD!
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. OMG, ridiculously good.
REally good.
Great book!
The Swerve: How the world became modern
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
Loved that book!
I can’t think of a nonfiction where I DIDN’T learn something new!! I love listening on audio.
@Jennifer good point. But some are more engaging than others.
@Janice true. I enjoyed the one about the Wolves in Yellowstone recently. Can’t remember the title.
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-Jon-Krakauer/dp/0385486804
Boomerang: travels in the new third world
Bad Blood is probably the best book I’ve read this year. Also, the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is wonderful too! I read the actual books for both, so not sure what the audio books are like, but I’m sure they’re available. I would check your local library to see if they have any as you can often “rent” digital copies of audio books now!
I loved Bad blood.
Agreed on both!!
Banker to the Poor: micro-lending and the battle against world poverty
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; AJ Jacobs My Year of Living Biblically (he’s also done TEDtalks and tons of podcasts on the subject)
Also, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
This
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
One of my favorites …. Manhunt
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Too Big To Fail really explains the financial crisis
Under the Banner of Heaven is one of my all-time favorites!
I recently listened to Road to Jonestown and really enjoyed it – the narrator was very engaging.
Anything by AJ Jacobs for something funny and informative!
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
This one is amazing and life changing but hard emotionally!
Unbroken
Just started Pandemic 1918. Fascinating so far.
I got bogged down with that one. Let me know how it goes.
Dead Wake-Erik Larson
Killers of the Flower Moon
Radium Girls
Stumbling on happiness. Amazing.
Oh also, The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in gander Newfoundland.
@Kristin I have this one!
Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey. Frozen in Time by Mitchel Zuckoff. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. ESPECIALLY The Indifferent Stars Above. I couldn’t read it fast enough!
Killers of the Flower Moon
Bad Blood…reads like a thriller
When Breath Becomes Air
The king of torts, the valley of amazement, memoirs of a geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha was very good.
@Erina isn’t it a novel?
Historical fiction, yes. An American Geisha by Liza Dalby was non-fiction. She actually acted as a consultant to Arthur Golden when he was writing Memoirs of a Geisha.
I finally finished Hamilton by Ron Chernow. It was good, but long!
Into Thin Air, From Beirut to Jerusalem, Seabiscuit
The Sun Does Shine. I listened to the audiobook a few weeks ago and am still thinking about it. I loved it.
Grunt! Or any of Mary Roach’s books, really!
I second Into Thin Air….I’ve read it several times. SO GOOD.
I thought 10% Happier by Dan Harris was a great intro and perspective into meditation. He’s the author and narrator and it was a fantastic audio book
The Devil in the White City…have also read this several times
@Cindy or any book by Erik Larsen.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Guns, Germs and Steel. Audio abridged.
And anything by Jon Krakauer.
In the Garden of Beasts
Welcome aboard!
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World…..explains why the Treaty of Versailles caused WW2
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. One of my all time favorites. Explains why 9/11 happened. Really, really good.
Killers of the Flower Moon and I also enjoyed Radium Girls.
I second Killers of the Flower Moon.
@Chris I’ve heard that it will be a movie soon!
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel. Who knew Galileo had a daughter who was a nun? Fascinating biography that uses correspondence between the two.
The Cown in hte Parkling Lot a Zen approach to overcoming Anger. Leanord Scheff and Susan Edmiston
The Energy Bus!
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson (sp?)
Bill Nyes most recent memoir! So much amazing science knowledge!!! ?
I’m enjoying Doris Kearns Goodwin latest “Leadership”. Audible version has 4 narrators telling how Lincoln, T Roosevelt, FDR and LBJ approached leadership. I also enjoyed her memoir “BetterLuck Next Year “
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
Animal, vegetable miracle by Barbara kingsolver
I am reading Ricochet – a story of a former gun lobbyist. It’s really good so far.
The Last Empire: De Beers, Diamonds, and the World
Might be a bit much, but I listened to A Brief History of Time on a long road trip and it was great. I’m not sure I could have focused to read it.
The Theory of Everything
Unlocking Italian.
Educated
Another fascinating (IMI at least) read – The Cello Suites. Also one of my favourites pieces of music … https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6135426-the-cello-suites
OH!
“At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream”. If you have ever had any gay friends who’s more feminine than you are–this is hilarious. I have three words for you–“night-vision goggles.” Hmmm. Maybe that’s only two words.
I usually stop wherever I am when the book hits my nose because I inevitably ???…??
Just Mercy!
Call the Midwife!
Into Thin Air was really good.
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Engineering @Eden
Seven Daughters of Eve. I listened to the audio. I find i get more from educational books in audio format.
Trans-sister radio was good to
Get well soon by Wright. Hilarious book about plagues (yes, it’s funny and informative and about plagues).
This is the best book I’ve ever read. It blew my mind. I had no idea what running could do for you. Have gone on to read much more about the brain and neurogenisis etc .. it is amazing
@Minzi I’m a sucker for anything on how our brains work.
I also enjoyed The Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury.
Following
Cod: The Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Kurlansky, The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Wallace, Service Included: Four Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Damroche, Confederates in the Attic, and anything by Anthony Bourdain.
Same Kind if Different As Me
And
The Boy Who Is as Raised As A Dog – Perry
Born a crime by Trevor Noah
Icebound by Dr. Jeri Nielsen
@Sharon she was a physician at our local hospital before they sent her to the South Pole.
@Julie was she as amazing as she seemed from her book?
@Sharon uhmmmm. Mixed reviews. However, she found what she was meant to do.
Working Stiff By Melinek. (Medical examiner in New York)
@Liz oooh! I love medical books!
Ok this post will do me in since I’m a NF fan.
Depends what you like.. I loved, Swept Away by Robyn Carter.
Stiff – or any of her books.
@Kara I really enjoyed Stiff!
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Sylvie. And then I got to know her and I was forever changed.
Oh! And The Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward.
The secret by Rhonda Byrne
Daring Greatly- Brené Brown. Hands down.
I’ve heard great things as about The Gifts of Imperfection as well.
All her work has been really helpful to me.
It’s on my TBR!
The heart mender
Sapiens
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
@Erica loves this book.
Crazy from the Heat by David Lee Roth. This was given to me as a gift and, honestly, I had low expectations. Ended up totally enthralled ?
Seabiscuit – fascinating story about horse racing and the jockeys who risk life and limb every time they ride.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
Explains the root causes of the nature of suffering and what you can do about it. Fundamentally changed my life.
Another game changer was On Dialogue by David Bohm which teaches you how to communicate without arguing. I haven’t had a serious disagreement over a hot-button issue since 2010. It’s that life-altering.
Both of these books are short but dense and heavy. Don’t think either is one I’d take on vacation.
The Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts both by Erik Larson.
Have you read Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott? It’s about the Everleigh sisters.
No, I haven’t. Will have to look into! Thanks!
Girl In The Woods by Aspen Matis. Definitely something I would never do so I was fascinated by the whole story.
Toms River about ground water contamination. Intriguing and enlightening.
The Maul and the Pear Tree, a true crime novel jointly written by mystery writer P.D. James and historian T.A. Critchley.
Here’s another good one:
Notes from the Underwire: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401322867/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_5Wi6BbFHGW9EA
Read the reviews. Sounds fun. Will look into it. Thanks! Could use some laughs. ?
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, Walter Isaacson and How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention and Discovery, Kevin Ashton.
I finally got around to writing out all of these recommendations. I have a lot of reading to do! Thank you everyone!