What is your favorite non-fiction book? I’d like to read more non-fiction.
What is your favorite non-fiction book? I’d like to read more non-fiction.
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What is your favorite non-fiction book? I’d like to read more non-fiction.
I don’t know if it’s my favorite but I really enjoyed The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks
Love Does by Bob Goff is my favorite book of all time.
The Habit of Being, Flannery O’Connor’s collected letters..Perhaps my fav book ever 🙂
Lies My Teacher Told Me. 10% Happier. Misquoting Jesus. Guns Germs and Steel.
Devil in the White City. The Hot Zone.
Man;s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, author
I knew someone else on here would recommend this book ❤
Quiet by Susan Cain
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, anything by Erik Larson, Moneyball and Blindside by Michael Lewis.
Hidden Figures or Tough as Nails
Crossing the Borders of Time – Leslie Maitland – literally the best book I ever read
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Yes!
The hiding place by Corrie ten boom
Recently read The Warmth of Other Suns – it’s a masterpiece, I learned so much, told in a fascinating story format – my favorite style of non-fiction.
Just Mercy, The Short Tragic Life of Robert Peace, The Psychopath Test, The Stranger in the Woods, The Last American Man.
Just Mercy was great!
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
The Devil and White City, Eric Larson (all of his books are fantastic)
Alex: The Life of a Child by Frank Deford
the story is not an easy one, it’s about a child named Alex who gets diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. it’s her father’s memoir and so is written b him. however, while not easy it is worth it. this book has stuck with me since I read it in early high school.
He is an incredibly good writer. I loved his book: Over Time: My Life As a Sportswriter by Frank Deford
River of Doubt, about Theodore Roosevelt… Very good.
Currently reading Terry Tempest Williams “The Hour of Land” about ten National Parks. Beautiful writing!
I love autobiographies and biographies so my favourites would be (Charles Darwin’s autobiography) and Sir Elton John’s Biography)
Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple, Globalisation and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen.
Candace Millard writes history beautifully and I learned much from her 3 books. As mentioned before, The River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelt’s nearly fatal exploration of an Amazonian tributary in 1913-14 is great. I really liked Destiny of the Republic about the unnecessarily tragic death of President James A. Garfield. Hero of the Empire, about Winston Churchill’s escape as a prisoner of war during the Boer War shed light on his character.
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum.
Salt by Mark Kurlansky; The Devil in the White City or Dead Wake by Erik Larsen; Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver; The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser; The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson; The Johnstown Flood by David McCullogh; The Templars by Dan Jones; The Portland Vase by Robin Brooks; Dr Mütter’s Marvels by Cristin Aptowicz
Men to Match My Mountains; The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Greek Treasure; Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds by Ricardo Montalban.
Or I’ll Dress You In Mourning by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
Their “Is Paris Burning?” is another masterpiece.
@Lynne , I must read it one of these days. I’ve read OIDYIM so many times throughout the years.
I just love the quality of their writing…Freedom At Midnight is wonderful also. But for my money Is Paris Burning is their best.
We have quite a few roses here and as a surprise treat Mr C bought D A’s book which arrived yesterday… now on the top of my loved non fiction reads… xxx
Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu/Robinson, Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond, The Prize by Yergin, Political Order by Fukuyama.
A Year Up.
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta. Guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond.
The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich by William Shirer. George Orwell: A Life by Bernard Crick.
Books by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Romanovs, Young Stalin and many others) and some football autobiographies/biographies like Zlatan
A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston.
Salt by Mark Kurlansky, Just Mercy, Warmth of Other Suns, Radium Girls, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Emperor of All Maladies…
Emperor of All Maladies was fantastic!
Warmth of Other Suns & Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks were both soOOoo good!
A Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Being Mortal should be required reading for everyone.
Comimg into the Country by John Mcphee
Most recently…Unbroken
Stiff by Mary Roach
Elias Canetti mass and power
Nothing to envy, Grizzly years are 2 great ones.
The Glass Castle…Jeanette Walls…
Lab Girl by Hope Lahren
Biographies
Seabiscuit
What is the What by ____ Eggers (Lost boys of Africa) and A Time of BetrayalBy Reza Kahlili- about Iran in the 60s and how the Shaw came to power but it is really about the people. I give this book as a gift to people.
And The life of Henrietta Lacks.
Anything by Eric Larson.
Autobiography of a yogi by Paramahansa yogananda
Revenge of Geography
The Years of LBJ by Robert Caro. (Still waiting on volume 5).
The Power Broker by Robert Caro.
@Anne As a NY native I read PB twice – once in the 70s, in college soon after it was published, and again recently via audio book. It was wonderful, especially being familiar with the locations and routes described. I even got a copy of the thesis Moses wrote . Caro is an amazing and detailed writer, I agree.
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede…Becoming Justice Blackmum: Harry Blackmum’s Supreme Court Journey by Linda Greenhouse…The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean…Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick…The Accidental President of Brazil by Fernando Henrique Cardoso…The Prince of the Marshes by Rory Stewart…Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan…
I just got The Day the World Came to Town, and looking forward to reading it!
Some of my favourite non-fiction books.
(1) Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
(2) 31 Songs by Nick Hornby
(3) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
(4) The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
(5) A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Happy reading!
Little Princes by Conor Grennan
A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson are wonderful.
Unbroken!!!
F
‘The Boys in the Boat’
Birth of a Theorem by Cedric Villani
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston is a fascinating look at the hunt for a serial killer in Florence in the 1970s. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hanmer, all about librarians trying to save ancient manuscripts from the fires of Al Qaeda militants. Born a Crime, Trevor Noah’s memoir about growing up as a mixed-race child in South Africa’s apartheid. The Secret History of Wonder Wonan by Jill Lenore, truth is stranger then fiction. The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff is a really detailed and engrossing look at what happened during that hysteria. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is a very readable book about the University of Washington rowing team that went to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. And if you want to learn all about octopuses read The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. ?
I loved American Fire
If you like history,
anything by Doris Kern Goodwin,
Prairies Fires (Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder autobiograhy)
anything by Erik Larsen
Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation books,
The Worst Hard Time (Dust Bowl) – Timothy Eagan
…to name a few.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
I liked War, and Tribe, two other books by him.
Love bill Bryson!
The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Wal.
The Invention of Nature
Killers of the Flower Moon is my current NF fave.
Yes. This was so well written and researched.
Under the Banner of Heaven by Krakauer
Devil in the White City
I almost said this, but it’s like half fiction, half nonfiction. Haha. So good.
it’s nonfiction
Unbroken. Hands down.
Lost in Shangri-La
I like biographies and autobiographies, but currently I’m reading ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ about the Golden State killer.
It’s fantastic.
‘Born a Crime’ by Trevor Noah
Inconceivable by Carolyn Savage
Well, my tbr is going to get much bigger.
Brain on Fire
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – the Home Front in WWII by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Loved that book. The Fitzgerald’s and Kennedy’s by Goodwin is every bit as good.
Currently reading Savage Continent by Keith Lowe it’s about Europe in the aftermath of WW2. Eye opening stuff, excellent book
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
Incredible book
Flat broke with two goats. Wouldn’t have been something i normally pick up, but it was a Big Library Read and I loved it. Painfully honest. I don’t think I would have the courage to show the world my small, mean side. She did. ??
Home is a Roof Over a Pig
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer and I’ll be gone in the dark: one woman’s obsessive search for the Golden State Killer – Michelle McNamara.
Collapse by Jared Diamond, Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston, Trapped by Marc Aronson
Educated by Tara Westover is amazing.
I love non-fiction. Anything by David McCullough, Bill Bryson, Nathaniel Philbrick. Also Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne.
Empire of the Summer Moon is magnificent and so is, The Warmth of Other Suns, and I cannot remember the author.
Dreamland, Evicted, and most of all, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Elizabeth Gilbert
anything history espeicially Anthony Beavoir
“Twilight at the World of Tomorrow” was a fascinating history of the 1939 World’s Fair.
Try “Just Kids” by Patty Smith.
I am not sure if Angela’s Ashes would qualify or not, but it’s a great book.
@Cozy
Zlata’s Diary
Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam
Island of blood by Anita Pratap
Elvis and Ginger: Elvis Presley’s Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells Her Story
They Stole My Innocence: The shocking true story of a young girl abused in a Jersey care home.
Furiously Happy
Who Killed Osho? by Abhay Vaidya
Bruce Lee Letters of the Dragon
Reading Lolita in Tehran
The Book of Tea
The hare with amber eyes
I have that on my shelf to read. Glad to see someone recommending it.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and The Glass House by Jeanette Walls
Ordeal… written by Linda Lovelace
Team of Rivals
The Humboldt Current by Aaron Sachs.
The Glass Castle
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Being @Mørtal
If plays are included then i would suggest Death of a salesman / Twelvth night (by shakespeare)
If not, then i would not know what to suggest since most of the books i read are in other languages…
If your question includes all genre ; then i’d suggest “Quiet” by Susan Cain in which she talks about introverts and extroverts
Unbroken
Devil in the White City history of the World’s Fair Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer Garden of Good and Evil Johnny Mercer big band era in Savannah
*Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest* – at least today……… or maybe *The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson*.
Howard Zinn – A People’s History of the U.S.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Devil in the White City (see description above) and Isaac’s Storm about the devastating Galveston hurricane, both by Erik Larson.
Gosh too many to say a favourite , but the last one I read that I was gripped by was the butchering art by Lindsey fitzharris. . A history of Joseph Lister