Anything by Mary Roach or A.J. Jacobs. I also recently read the Bryan Cranston Biography, A Life in Parts, which I enjoyed and Educated by Tara Westover was wonderful.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs by Hunter S. Thompson and Death and the Magician: The Mystery of Houdini by Raymund Fitzsimons
The non-fiction book The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption [Barbara Bisantz Raymond] is a hard to put down read. The real life people portrayed are the basis for some of the characters in Before We Were Yours.
ok: The Power of Habit & Smarter, Faster, Better (both by Charles Duhigg), Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the invention of The Great Gatsby (Sarah Churchwell), and From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor).
Agree with above comment about Into the Wild by J,. Krakauer. He also wrote the one I recommended, Into Thin Air. You might also like The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rice, morbid, about serial killer Ted Bundy. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood also good and changed the non-fiction genre in the US, fascinating but also morbid.
I love anything by Doris Kerns Goodwin. She mostly writes biographies of Presidents. My favorites are The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys and No Ordinary Time (FDR and Eleanor) They are not your typical biographies and they are long and very engaging. Books by Studs Terkle (The Good War and Hard Times) and Erik Larsen are also very good.
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry
Look into anything by Bill Bryson. Gifted writer with perfect amount of humor. He mostly writes travel non-fiction, but his “A Short History of Nearly Everything” stuck with me.
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Another good one is The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg by Tim Birkhead. The author is so in love with his subject matter, it makes the book a joy to read ?
Great list! I would add : Salt by Mark Kurlansky, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson, Under The Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich…The Search For God at Harvard by Ari L Goldman…Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio…Polio: An American Story by David M Oshinsky…Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finley…This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J Levitan…Becoming Justice Blackmum: Harry Blackmum’s Supreme Court Journey by Linda Greenhouse…The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist’s Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombi, and Magic by Wade Davis…The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley…The Monuments Men by Robert M Edsel and Bret Witter …
Do you want history, politics, general information? I can recommend The Plot to Steal Democracy by Malcolm Nance, DaVinci by Walter Isaaksen, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Bobby Kennedy, A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews.
The Warmth of Other Suns and Empire of the Summer Moon. The first book is about the African American moving north from 1900 thru to WWII or thereabouts follows the chronological history of five African American families before, during, and after WWII. Very interesting. The second book is the history of the American West and the part that the Comanche Nation played in it. The main focus is Quanah Parker.
Isaac’s Storm – Larson; Nicholas and Alexandra – Robt. Massie; John Adams – McCullough; The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe; House – Kidder; almost anything by Gretel Ehrlich or Bill Bryson (All this, top of list stuff that I’ve re-read at least once)
Anything by Mary Roach or A.J. Jacobs. I also recently read the Bryan Cranston Biography, A Life in Parts, which I enjoyed and Educated by Tara Westover was wonderful.
If u like singers I would try out Elton John’s Biography and Michael Jackson because both of them have such amazing things to write about.
Some LIke it Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest by William Povletich
https://list25.com/25-non-fictional-books-everyone-should-read/
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs by Hunter S. Thompson and Death and the Magician: The Mystery of Houdini by Raymund Fitzsimons
Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
The Liar’s Club – Mary Karr
Shirley Jackson – Ruth Franklin
it is a novel based on fact… the characters are just characters….
The non-fiction book The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption [Barbara Bisantz Raymond] is a hard to put down read. The real life people portrayed are the basis for some of the characters in Before We Were Yours.
Educated by Tara Westover
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Skloot
Born a Crime
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. Just be prepared to have nightmares for a while.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Educated:A Memoir
The Boys on the Boat
Unbroken
The Wright Brothers
The Gift from the Sea
The Last Lecture
I loved the book about Henrietta Lacks
The Prize by Daniel Yergin. a pulitzer awardee, it is about the politics, greed, power etc behind oil industries
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. Gripping and brilliant.
ok: The Power of Habit & Smarter, Faster, Better (both by Charles Duhigg), Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the invention of The Great Gatsby (Sarah Churchwell), and From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor).
The Worst Hard Time
The Tipping Point
The Worst Hard Time was excellent!
My life in France-Julia Child
Blood, bones & butter- -Gabrielle Hamilton
How to win friends and influence people
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Wild by Cheryl Strayed.
Into Thin Air, West With the Night, both good in different ways .
Agree with above comment about Into the Wild by J,. Krakauer. He also wrote the one I recommended, Into Thin Air. You might also like The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rice, morbid, about serial killer Ted Bundy. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood also good and changed the non-fiction genre in the US, fascinating but also morbid.
What kind of Non-fiction do you like? History, Politics, Economics, Science, Christian, etc?
Hi Wendy to be honest I like all kinds of non fiction 🙂
I love anything by Doris Kerns Goodwin. She mostly writes biographies of Presidents. My favorites are The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys and No Ordinary Time (FDR and Eleanor) They are not your typical biographies and they are long and very engaging. Books by Studs Terkle (The Good War and Hard Times) and Erik Larsen are also very good.
JUST MERCY, Bryan Stevenson.
Yes! Read this book and then ask someone else to read it!
Anything by Loren Eiseley. The Firmament of Time is my favorite of his essay collections.
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry
Devil in the White city by Erik Larson and Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
There’s a new one called Radium Girls by Kate Moore about the women who used radium to paint clocks and other items in factories
American Heiress by Jeffery Toobin. A great book about Patty Hearst
The Warmth of other Suns
Look into anything by Bill Bryson. Gifted writer with perfect amount of humor. He mostly writes travel non-fiction, but his “A Short History of Nearly Everything” stuck with me.
There is also some excellent non-fiction graphic novels – Persepolis and Maus come to mind. I’ve heard the March series is pretty great too
“Dodge City” – Clavin; “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” – Rica; and anything Doris Kearns Goodwin or David McCullough.
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice
Neurotribes by Steve Silberman
Sapiens by Harari. Best book I read this year
@Dina agree. Excellent book.
Dry
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Another good one is The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg by Tim Birkhead. The author is so in love with his subject matter, it makes the book a joy to read ?
Tribe: On homecoming and belonging by Junger
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test…Tom Wolfe
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe about the early space program
I just finished The Heart of the Sea. It’s excellent! Nathaniel Philbrick
The Spy Who Loved. The story of Christine Granville.
The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko.
Great list! I would add : Salt by Mark Kurlansky, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson, Under The Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
The Banner of Heaven was fascinating. The Warmth of Other Suns is a favorite of mine.
Excellent suggestions!
Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts amazing!
A Book of Untruths by Miranda Doyle
Educated by Tara Westover
The Devil In The White City Erik Larson
An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
Brigade by Howard Blume; Manhunt: the 12 day chase for Lincoln’s killer by James Swanson.
Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich…The Search For God at Harvard by Ari L Goldman…Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio…Polio: An American Story by David M Oshinsky…Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finley…This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J Levitan…Becoming Justice Blackmum: Harry Blackmum’s Supreme Court Journey by Linda Greenhouse…The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist’s Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombi, and Magic by Wade Davis…The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley…The Monuments Men by Robert M Edsel and Bret Witter …
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Killers of the flower moon
Do you want history, politics, general information? I can recommend The Plot to Steal Democracy by Malcolm Nance, DaVinci by Walter Isaaksen, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Bobby Kennedy, A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews.
The Warmth of Other Suns and Empire of the Summer Moon. The first book is about the African American moving north from 1900 thru to WWII or thereabouts follows the chronological history of five African American families before, during, and after WWII. Very interesting. The second book is the history of the American West and the part that the Comanche Nation played in it. The main focus is Quanah Parker.
I loved The Warmth of Other Suns!
Anything by Malcom Gladwell
The Last Lion trilogy by William Manchester. Great books about Winston Churchill.
I think The Light of the World by Elisabeth Alexander is a beautiful memoir
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Anything by Oliver Sacks
Sarah Vowell has a gift for making history fun and fascinating, with books like Assassination Vacation and Wordy Shipmates.
Unbroken!!!
James Comey’s book was excellent.
Educated, Leonardo da Vinci, The Devil in the White City
The God Delusion
The Great Escape
Killers of the flowers moon
Into Thin Air
Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon.
I recently finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It is non fiction but reads like fiction. I really enjoyed it.
That was a great and heartbreaking book.
I am reading a Year living danishly and loving it!
Back in 2016 I read some outstanding nonfiction. Here’s my list:https://maphead.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/2016-in-review-my-favorite-nonfiction/
Mary Roach’s books are fun popular science
American Fire
A Speck in the Sea and One Summer 1927
Radium Girls
Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by Swanson
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Michael Lewis, Bill Bryson,
Daniel Kahneman
Anything by David McCullough. Truman, the Wright Brothers, the Great Bridge.
“The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson was amazing. Also- Michael Lewis’s books- “Boomerang”, the “Big Short”, etc
I absolutely loved the Devil in the White City. I think Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are making it into a movie
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Season-of-the-Witch/David-Talbot/9781439108246
Unbroken, The Lost Airman, Krakatoa, all of Erik Larson.
My list is endless.. you might get a headache reading it :p
Isaac’s Storm – Larson; Nicholas and Alexandra – Robt. Massie; John Adams – McCullough; The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe; House – Kidder; almost anything by Gretel Ehrlich or Bill Bryson (All this, top of list stuff that I’ve re-read at least once)