Best nonfiction non-memoir book you have ever read? I’m looking to bolster my reading of political, history, science, and sociology books.
Best nonfiction non-memoir book you have ever read? I’m looking to bolster my reading of political, history, science, and sociology books.
The Hot Zone! Absolutely terrifying.
Totally.
I JUST added this to my to-read list yesterday!
I haven’t read them, but I hear Mary Roach’s books are fantastic. Stiff, Gulp, Spook, etc.
I have Stiff . on my to-read list but was not aware of her other books! Will check them out.
Seconding Stiff
Stiff is her best that I’ve read so far, so definitely a good one to start with.
yes Mary Roach’s books are great!!!
Any of Mary Roach’s books. can’t go wrong!
Possessing Genius by Carolyn Abraham was really interesting. It’s about what happened to Einstein’s brain after he died. I’m not much for nonfiction, but this was entertaining!
I really enjoyed A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It falls into your science and history category.
ooo awesome! I will add that one too.
I generally don’t like NF and I’m obsessed with this book ?
For history I suggest Lies My Teacher Told Me by Loewen or A People’s History of the United States by Zinn. Both will introduce you to facts our traditional school history books omitted. For sociology, Gang Leader for a Day. For science I love infectious disease so I agree about The Hot Zone and there are numerous other books, look at the This Podcast Will Kill You booklist.
Do you like animal/ecology books at all? I have a ton I’ve been reading lately that I can list for you!
Yes! I have read a couple of Jane Goodall’s books
Okay yay! Here are some recently I’ve read/am reading that I’m digging:
Gifts of the Crow – John Marzluff Phd
Once They Were Hats – In Search of the Mighty Beaver
Your Inner Fish – A Journey Into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body
The Rhino With Glue-On Shoes: And Other Surprising True Stories of Zoo Vets and their Patients
Also non-fiction I read this year:
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger
If Our Bodies Could Talk: Operating and Maintaining a Human Body
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Educated
White Rage: the Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
@Kris you’re into animals I also recommend the genius of birds, are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?, and (one of my faves) the book of barely imagined beings
@Danny I’ve read that! Birds aren’t usually my “go-to” animal to read about, but I definitely found it enlightening.
@Kris Lab Girl by Hope Jahrens
I’m currently reading Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud and it is quite good with hints of politics, pop culture, and sports.
Erik Larson writes really interesting non-fiction books about historical events that also usually have an element of crime woven in
White Rage by Carol Anderson
Sapiens by Harari is the EXACT book youre looking for. it discusses politics, history, science, sociology and A LOT more!! besides it might as well be the best book youll ever read
Sapiens was nice but his grasp of environmental issues was quite limited – just fyi.
@Nína could you expound?
I mean he’s just a historian trying to cover so many things in under 500 pages
Sure but he is also trying to point to what he considers the major threats to homo sapiens and is worried about AI (as he should be) but grossly underestimates ecological collapse. Considering the pages he spends on animal rights f.e. versus real threats to ecological systems I deduced he doesn’t really understand ecological issues like planetary boundaries, climate change etc. Not to say it’s not worth reading but just good to keep in mind that one the biggest challenges to sapiens is not adequately explicated in this book.
@Nína however he did point out that we have 3 major problems to tackle: 1. Climate change 2. AI and 3. Nuclear weapons…….. And he doesn’t discuss much on nuclear weapons either. He probably thought that books worth reading on climate change were already written…. But the dangers of AI wasn’t covered much by the media…. And probably for that his elaboration of AI was too extensive? Anyway these are just assumptions ….. however he did recommended his audience to read The sixth extinction by Kolbert and even Forewarded a book on bovine flatulence( cow fart) which btw is the second biggest contributor of climate change. How many people do you think know that? Probably a lot right now after AOC’s famous green new deal ?
@Hussain true but I still think he could have done better discussing those issues. E.g. his discussion on peak oil is also not particularly insightful and even a little misguided. But, like I said not a bad read but just a little bit skewed because of the things he seems to have relatively limited knowledge about.
If you’re looking for something political/historical, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow is a personal favourite and if you’re a musical theatre fan, you understand so many more little details in Hamilton
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I suppose there’s some memoir to it, as Skloot details her experience in her contact with the Lacks family, but it also does a good job of presenting the different aspects of science surrounding the HeLa cell and its impact on medical research, as well as historical context and ethical issues surrounding the sampling of genetic materials in science, and the medical community’s history of preying on the fiscally poor minorities as test subjects.
@Graca on my to-read list
Came here to say this!
I very much enjoyed Capture The Flag (i think it’s by Woden Teachout.) Really interesting lens for a political history.
I liked The Soul Of An Octopus! They’re like little aliens of the sea, so interesting!
Oh I agree with Stiff by Mary Roach! Who would think a book about cadavers could be so entertaining!
The Mercy of the Sky. It is about the Moore, OK tornado in 2013. But it also covers meteorological history. Fascinating. Read it in 2 days. My husband was intrigued and read in in one day!
Devil in the White City and Helter Skelter
Missoula by Jon Krakauer.
I really enjoyed Stiff (mentioned above) and Columbine by Dave Cullen
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Freakonomics
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Ghettoside by Jill Levoy
The Romanov Sisters
Anastasia? :O
She is mentioned yes
The New Jim Crow, Evicted, The Scholar Denied, The History of White People, How the Irish Became White.
OBAMA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT, Pete Souza
kinda a memoir but also a photo book, I honestly just really enjoyed learning the stories behind the photos
WHAT IF?, Randall Munroe
fun book exploring hypothetical questions with science knowledge!!
Teasing Secrets From the Dead by Emily Craig. She’s a forensic anthropologist that’s worked on the OKC bombing and 9/11.
I’ll be gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
This one. Sorry, my looong typed reply disappeared and I am tired. Lol
Radium Girls. It’s a tough read, but I think it’s an important read.
@Judy was coming to recommend this too.
Me too!
The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer. It’s about George Washington during the American Revolution.
I’m a second grade teacher and I didn’t realize he also wrote books for adults lol
@Kelly yes! He also writes fiction and comic books as well! I love his Ordinary People Change the World Series for kids!
Salt by Mark Kurlansky for history
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kozol for science
Missoula by Jon Krakauer
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J Maarten Troost (it’s just a title, not the subject matter ?) it’s a travel book about his experience living on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. It is a memoir, and I know you didn’t want that, but it’s very, very heavily influenced by sociology, history and politics (even the title refers to the fact that Noah was born a mixed-race child when interracial sex was literally illegal), and goes into it quite a bit. Also, I am not an audiobook person at all, but it was strongly recommended that I listen to it rather than read, and I think it definitely added to the experience.
I read the Artie Lang bio…quite interesting
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. Riveting.
I really enjoyed Grant by Ron Chernow.
Let Our Fame Be Great by Oliver Bullough.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is amazing
between the world and me, code of the street, china’s environmental challenges, into the wild
– Erik Larson: Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, Isaac’s Storm
– Robert Massie: Nicholas and Alexandra
– William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
– Simon Winchester: The Professor and the Madman
@Karen on the Larsen books – how graphic are we talking about? I’m incredibly sensitive to the Holocaust and was just curious on the depth of violence in both books. Thanks for the info!
@Leslie I wouldn’t classify them as graphic, although there are obviously some difficult situations. I don’t feel he describes these situations in an overly graphic way. I read Devil in the White City a long time ago, so I don’t remember how graphic it was, but it is about a serial killer, so if you’re sensitive you may want to avoid. In the Garden of Beasts is about Hitler’s Germany, but it takes place mostly in the years prior to the Holocaust as Hitler was taking power and is more the story of the US Ambassador at the time, who was desperately trying to convey the danger to his superiors back home. The Night of the Long Knives is in the book, but it isn’t described graphically. Thunderstruck is about Marconi developing his radio transmitter, and although there is a murderer, again, I don’t think it was graphic in detail. I forgot that I also read/enjoyed Isaac’s Storm, about a deadly hurricane, but I put it in the same category. I think if your sensitivity is mostly related to the Holocaust in particular, none of these would be too graphic.
@Karen thank you so much for your explanation! I appreciate your time and thoughtfulness. I’ve wanted to read these for so long but was hesitant. You helped big time. Appreciate you!
@Leslie no problem! I hope you enjoy them and have no discomfort. I felt like I learned so much from them and the stories were so engaging. I need to read his other books as well. I’ve heard good things.
I’m excited for the journey! ?
Why Geography Matter More than Ever by H.J de Blij
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjje
Why Dinosaurs Matter by Kenneth Lacovara
Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking by Simon Quellen Field
Listening to the Savage: River Notes and Half-Heard Melodies by Barbara Hurd
The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte
My favorite sub-genre of non-fiction is “a day in the life of a _____ century person.” My favorites in that style are: How to Be a Victorian; How to be a Tudor; How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England; The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England; The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England; and Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England (I bought many of these in museum gift shops in the UK, as might be obvious!)
@Amanda how did you just quadruple my TBR pile in one single post? ? these sound awesome! Thanks!!!
@Amanda have you read London: A Travel Guide Through Time by Matthew Green?
@Leslie I haven’t! It’s definitely on my own TBR list now ?
It’s very detailed but so interesting! Gave me a lot of new perspective and I learned tons. Enjoy!!
@Leslie that’s my favorite type of book! I love learning about people’s lives and their worlds!
Same!! ☺️
The moral lived of animals by Dale Peterson
The meaning of everything by Simon Winchester
The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx
@Amanda based on this if you you haven’t read The Dirt I highly suggest you do.
Currently reading Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Definitely recommend it!
Unbroken
I loved The Power of Myth. It’s a book length interview/discussion between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on the subject of comparative religion and mythology and its implications in our modern lives. Which I realize sounds really boring written out, but it’s excellent.
The video version is on Netflix, but the book has a bit more to it.
Are you interested in WWII history?
Stiff. It’s fascinating what happens to our bodies after death.
@Christine anything by her. Isn’t it Mary Roach?
Yes! It was amazing and gross and fascinating. I want to read it again now.
She has a newer book called Grunt about what it’s like to go through basic training in the military and I think another book about sex. She’s quite thorough, and I learned a lot.
Just mercy was so good
@Bianca-lee Yes! It should be on the list! By Bryan Stephenson
Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics. A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman was a fascinating read on how we perceive the world around us through the senses. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. These are the four I can think of that I actually plowed through and devoured like a compelling piece of fiction normally only does that for me! Highly recommend all 4?
Farrah Leah , A Natural History of the senses is so good! And I loved The Botany of Desire Also
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan, Radium Girls by Kate Moore and the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot(?)
Be with a scarlet sky
Seabiscuit and Unbroken, each by Laura Hillenbrand (sp?). Both amazing true stories.
This is more on the psychology side but I am currently reading The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo, the man behind the Stanford Prison Experiment.
@Therese anything by Oliver Sacks.
An utterly impartial history of Britain: or 2000 years of upper class idiots in charge by John O’Farrell is amazing! Funny, factual and interesting. One of my favourite books of all time! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utterly-Impartial-History-Britain-Idiots/dp/0552773964
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13547504-far-from-the-tree
Killers of The Flower Moon or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks!
Also, The Sun Does Shine
Killers of the flower moon is one of the best narrative nonfiction books i’ve read recently.
Evicted. Matthew Desmond.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Radium Girls, too.
I’d add Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer.
I really enjoyed Quiet by Susan Cain.
The Undoing Project! It’s a mix of biography and psychology/economics