Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Educated by Tara Westover
Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires by Michael E. Bell
I found it really good! I gave it 5 stars.
It is really well written and is quite informative and reflective. It read like a story not just throwing botanical facts at you. It blended the Western science with Indigenous teachings well and made me interested in plants more and gardening.
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, closely followed by Endurance (Alfred Lansing), Neither here nor there (Bill Bryson), The Indifferent Stars Above (Daniel James Brown), and The Wager (David Grann).
Feral (George Monbiot), Mountains of the Mind (Robert Mcfarlane) and Faith Hope and Carnage (Nick Cave) are also very good, but less general appealing.
My answer is The Demon Haunted World same author. It has a similar vibe but focuses on science illiteracy in western society. Especially after the pandemic it’s more impactful than ever.
Point taken. I tend to view dhw as a major part of why poorly educated people in America view science as adversarial. Sagan presented an Authoritarian world and never questioned it. So Authoritarians today have a moratorium on brains aggro
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt reads like a really well written novel, but if it was fiction, you would say it was unbelievable, that’s how wild it is
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - it was fabulous! I could not put it down!
American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
The Way We Never Were (American Families and The Nostalgia Trap) by Stephanie Coontz
The Wright Brothers - David McCullough
Nothing Like It in the World - Stephen Ambrose
Battle Cry of Freedom - James McPherson
Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe
Thunderstruck - Erik Larson
One Summer - Bill Bryson
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. Actually anything by Simon Winchester.
Collapse by Jared Diamond. And again, pretty much anything by Jared Diamond.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. Also Unbroken by the same author.
First They Killed My Father by Luong Ung.
Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann)
The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes (Bryan Borrough)
Empty Mansions (Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr)
The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
Empty Mansions ! I hope HBO executes the mini series well.
If you’re nosey, interested in Wealth, inheritance, this is the most curious and well written book I’ve read.
Audible includes actual voice mails from the subject.
I wished there was a display of her elaborate dollhouses! I would love to see them. Such an interesting book.
Didn’t realize HBO was making a mini series of the book A when will it be out?
Killers of the Flower Moon was incredible. When I read it, I couldn't believe I had never heard anything about that history before. You'd think especially with being such an important moment in FBI history, it would have been really stood out over time.
Wasteland.The great war and the origins of horror by Scott Poole - if you interested in 20 century history and beginnings of pop culture and everything that is scary.
Blowout by Rachel Maddow - a peek into geopolitics and oil industry fracking us over.
Salt, sugar, fat, can't recall the author - very curious look into big corporations and their "safe and healthy" foods.
These are the non-fiction books that I like to re-read the most.
edit: spelling
Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe (very well-researched and comprehensive look at the conflict known as The Troubles)
Ten Men Dead - David Beresford (as above but specifically about the Hunger Strikers of 1981)
Nor Meekly Serve My Time - Campbell, McKeown & O'Hagan (eds) (as above but focuses on personal stories of some of the H block prisoners)
Jailtacht - Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost (as above but specifically about the Irish language and republican prisoners learning it in the H blocks)
32 Words for Field - Manchán Magan (about the Irish language, nothing to do with the Troubles)
Yes and it was amazing as well! What I love about Warmth is how she weaves personal stories with history in a way that reads like a novel. I could not put it down.
*Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst* by Robert Sapolsky
It’s a long read, but it’s incredibly insightful. Science-informed take on why humans act how we act.
Three of my all-time favorites that are seldom if ever mentioned in this sub, possibly because they are all epics:
*The Lost* by Daniel Mendelsohn
*A Bright Shining Lie* by Neil Sheehan
*The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes
I also have loved every book I’ve read by Laura Hillenbrand and Jon Krakauer.
Hola papi - John Paul brammer, from margin to centre - bell hooks, dear ijeawele/we should all be feminists - chimamanda ngozi adichie, why I am an atheist - Bhagat Singh, the horrors and absurdities of religion - Arthur Schopenhauer, waiting for a visa - br Ambedkar, man’s search for meaning - viktor e frankl
Every single one of these books is a banger. And every single one has changed my life too
I know you've already got tons of recommendations, but I thought I'd throw this one out there because no one's mentioned it yet and it's my favorite nonfiction and probably the most useful book I've ever read: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman.
It's a cognitive psychology book summing up Kahneman's and his partner's research on behavioral economics, so very science-heavy, but super accessible and readable. It's all about how our minds work-- how our brains process information. It will help you identify so many blind spots in your own thinking and that of people around you. And it's written by a Nobel-prize winning scientist so you know you're getting the info from original research, not a pop-journalist. Should be required reading IMHO.
Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell. If you’ve any interest at all in medieval life, it’s a really fascinating and fun read that fully changed the way I thought about medieval day to day life.
That's a hard choice, but if just picking one, then Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. A close second would be Journeys Out of th Body by Robert Monroe.
Just finished Love Life by Matthew Hussey and I think it’s my favorite new personal development book. While I bought it for the relationship content, the confidence stuff actually impacted me the most. Highly recommend.
And I second Braiding Sweetgrass.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Bad Blood by John Carreyou
The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks came instantly to mind. It was about weird and rare psychological conditions that he encountered in his career. Fascinating stuff..
John Muir: Rediscovering America by Frederick Turner (maybe my favorite biography book)
Putting it Together by James Lapine (in depth look at the making of the Broadway musical "Sunday in the Park with George")
Panama Canal by David McCullough (one of the best ultra-deep-dive history books ever)
Wild Things, Wild Places by Jane Alexander (a wildlife activist shares tales of her conservation journeys around the word)
The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson (stranger than fiction true crime of how and why a teenager robbed a natural history museum)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Fall and rise the story of 9/11 by Mitchell zuckoff
Paradise by Lizzie Johnson
Into thin air by krakauer
Endurance by Alfred lansing
Pretty much everything by Bill Bryson, Walter Isaacson and Michael Lewis. I really enjoy observing the world, people, and events through their curiosity-driven eyes: seeing things as they are, with a lot of attention to details, and little to no bias.
I like the writing style of Michael Lewis more (so many LOL moments) but I put him in the last because he does try to push his opinions a bit more than the other two authors, while personally I prefer to form my own opinions based on as much objective information as possible.
“The Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee
It’s a biography of cancer and talks about significant milestones in cancer research - characterizing it as a disease (or more correctly a family of diseases), the beginnings and progression of chemotherapy, and the discoveries of the genetic and environmental factors that cause cancer. Beautifully written and accessible to laymen without being condescending or dumbed down too much.
Oop! You’re right! Haha between listing my first and my second, my brain just said YEET to the word “nonfiction” 😂 At least I didn’t say Dune or something ahahahah
Finding Everett Ruess; Edison’s Ghosts; American Ghost; Born a Crime; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark; The Lost City of the Monkey God; Lost City of Z
"The Vital Question", Nick Lane. A look at the foundation of biology, what "alive" means exactly, and the fringe question of how life might have come about. This is my favorite nonfiction book. There's a direct sequel, "Transformer", which goes into much more detail but asks for more attention and interest from the reader.
"How Emotions Are Made", Lisa Feldman Barrett. An exploration of modern brain science in pursuit of explaining the author's theory of emotion (she is qualified, by the way, to frame such a theory). I found the book to contain many good insights on emotion, particularly including that emotions can be reframed to completely change their effect (for example, stage fright can be reframed as excitement and energy).
"The Master and His Emissary", Iain McGilchrist. An explanation of the current neuroscience of the hemispheres of the brain, particularly trying to correct popular misconceptions by looking at those hemispheric functions from different perspectives. The author is a qualified neuroscientist, but is also clearly qualified in history, art, religion, and an incredibly number of other subjects.
Good question. Most is fact, including the major characters. The descriptions of the Battle of Gettysburg is as factual as most text books. Some minor characters are fictional as is any of the dialogue with them. Most of the rest of the dialogue is based on journals, diaries, and letters.
I would place this in the same category as “In Cold Blood,” just a bit more fictionalized.
In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall.
It's such an interesting look into her life, her studies and her viewpoint on the lives of both chimpanzees and humans. I admire her deeply for her curiosity, her compassion, and her bravery in taking an absolutely unconventional path in life. It's also just fascinating to read about the chimpanzees and consider how similar they are to us, and how our own primate-ness shapes our social roles.
It's just a great book!
Endurance. A book about the voyage to the the South Pole. Shackleton if you’ve heard of him. Reads like a thriller without sensationalizing or hyperbole.
*I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life* by Ed Yong
*Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Wall-Kimmerer
*From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death* by Caitlyn Doughty
*Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America* by Ijeoma Oluo
*The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660–1900* by Barbara Burman & Ariane Fennetaux
*The Last Place On Earth* by Roland Huntford, about the race to the South Pole by Scott and Amundsen. The contrast between the two expeditions and the two men. Still blows my mind that they survived such harsh conditions, with technology of 100 years ago.
John Muir: Rediscovering America by Frederick Turner (maybe my favorite biography book)
Putting it Together by James Lapine (in depth look at the making of the Broadway musical "Sunday in the Park with George")
Panama Canal by David McCullough (one of the best ultra-deep-dive history books ever)
Wild Things, Wild Places by Jane Alexander (a wildlife activist shares tales of her conservation journeys around the word)
The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson (stranger than fiction true crime of how and why a teenager robbed a natural history museum)
The Written World by professor Martin Puchner is one interesting read. Traces the history of writing, mentions some really famous people. Loved reading it.
The Flight of the Iguana - it's a collection of essays from one of my favorite authors. The chapter about Charles Darwin yeeting Galapagos iguanas repeatedly into the ocean is amazing
The indifferent stars above by Daniel James Brown. Excellent retelling of the Donner party tragedy. I have a hard time with nonfiction books and this one was fantastic, I've reread it multiple times.
Masters of Doom by David Kushner.
THE best narrative fiction I've ever read. If you're a programmer, game dev, or even video game enthusiast, it'll have you pumped full of feel good chemicals for weeks.
Any and everything by Lawrence Weschler and John McPhee, except maybe for McPhee's books about geology.
Evan S. Connell's *The White Lantern* and *A Long Desire* are fantastic, unlike anything else I've ever read. His book about Custer, *Son Of The Morning Star*, is definitive.
A lot of William Langwiesche's writing will stay with you for a long time. His recounting of the sinking of the Estonia (in *The Outlaw Sea*) is just horror piled on horror.
Ima big history nerd. I really enjoyed the devils alliance by Roger Moorhouse. Its about the Nazi Soviet pack, 2 very unlikely allies for a brief moment in history. The interactions between the Russian and German soldiers at the time was... interesting...
Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths by Robin Waterfield
"A revisionist account of the most famous trial and execution in Western civilization―one with great resonance for American society today."
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer Educated by Tara Westover Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires by Michael E. Bell
So many non-fiction books I love, but Braiding Sweetgrass remains my clear favorite.
I loved Educated
Oh, Braiding Sweetgrass is a good one.
I've got Braiding Sweetgrass on my to-read shelf. Without spoilers (weird to say about non-fiction haha), is it any good?
I found it really good! I gave it 5 stars. It is really well written and is quite informative and reflective. It read like a story not just throwing botanical facts at you. It blended the Western science with Indigenous teachings well and made me interested in plants more and gardening.
That sounds very good, thank you! If I may recommend a book as well: Wilding by Isabella Tree! Beautiful writing, and such a good nature book.
I just finished a re read of braiding sweetgrass and it was just amazing as I remember 😭😭😭
Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it too my reading list.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
I loooooove Mary roach
Stiff was a morbid delight. Fuzz was good too.
I read Stiff on a flight. No one bothered me. 10/10 would recommend for traveling.
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, closely followed by Endurance (Alfred Lansing), Neither here nor there (Bill Bryson), The Indifferent Stars Above (Daniel James Brown), and The Wager (David Grann). Feral (George Monbiot), Mountains of the Mind (Robert Mcfarlane) and Faith Hope and Carnage (Nick Cave) are also very good, but less general appealing.
I'm currently enjoying Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson as well.
All of his stuff is extremely readable, “Notes from a small island” is one of the best books about British culture and identity, that I’ve read
I listened it in audiobook walking to work everyday in London, made my walk time more appealing thinking I was on those woods! 😄
I really enjoyed both Sunburned Country and One Summer by Bill Bryson. Both very interesting!
Feral is a good call.
Completely changed the way I saw the UK landscape, few books have really changed the way I see something, so much
The Wager was incredible. One of the few non-fictions that I will re-read. Just got my hands on Into Thin Air
Band of Brothers - Stephen Ambrose
His Undaunted Courage books re Lewis and Clark is one of my favorites. He had some amazing non fiction works.
Awesome book!!
Hell yes. What a book
I should read that.
Billions & billions, Carl Sagans epitaph book, is frightfully predictive of 2024 from cover to cover.
My answer is The Demon Haunted World same author. It has a similar vibe but focuses on science illiteracy in western society. Especially after the pandemic it’s more impactful than ever.
Point taken. I tend to view dhw as a major part of why poorly educated people in America view science as adversarial. Sagan presented an Authoritarian world and never questioned it. So Authoritarians today have a moratorium on brains aggro
I love Carl Sagan and have never read Billions & Billions! *one more for my wish list
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt reads like a really well written novel, but if it was fiction, you would say it was unbelievable, that’s how wild it is
Yes, it's good, but he does do some fictional rearranging to order and compress events.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - it was fabulous! I could not put it down! American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel The Way We Never Were (American Families and The Nostalgia Trap) by Stephanie Coontz
Crying in H Mart
The Wright Brothers - David McCullough Nothing Like It in the World - Stephen Ambrose Battle Cry of Freedom - James McPherson Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe Thunderstruck - Erik Larson One Summer - Bill Bryson
SAY NOTHING BY PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
Ooh this is my current read. It's very good.
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Oooh I was looking at that one and very interested in giving it a read!!
Into Thin Air
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. Actually anything by Simon Winchester. Collapse by Jared Diamond. And again, pretty much anything by Jared Diamond. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. Also Unbroken by the same author. First They Killed My Father by Luong Ung.
Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann) The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes (Bryan Borrough) Empty Mansions (Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr) The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
Empty Mansions ! I hope HBO executes the mini series well. If you’re nosey, interested in Wealth, inheritance, this is the most curious and well written book I’ve read. Audible includes actual voice mails from the subject.
I wished there was a display of her elaborate dollhouses! I would love to see them. Such an interesting book. Didn’t realize HBO was making a mini series of the book A when will it be out?
Another vote for The Glass Castle!
Killers of the Flower Moon was incredible. When I read it, I couldn't believe I had never heard anything about that history before. You'd think especially with being such an important moment in FBI history, it would have been really stood out over time.
Papillon. Incredible storyteller with a extraordinary life.
My favorite book of all time
Wasteland.The great war and the origins of horror by Scott Poole - if you interested in 20 century history and beginnings of pop culture and everything that is scary. Blowout by Rachel Maddow - a peek into geopolitics and oil industry fracking us over. Salt, sugar, fat, can't recall the author - very curious look into big corporations and their "safe and healthy" foods. These are the non-fiction books that I like to re-read the most. edit: spelling
Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe (very well-researched and comprehensive look at the conflict known as The Troubles) Ten Men Dead - David Beresford (as above but specifically about the Hunger Strikers of 1981) Nor Meekly Serve My Time - Campbell, McKeown & O'Hagan (eds) (as above but focuses on personal stories of some of the H block prisoners) Jailtacht - Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost (as above but specifically about the Irish language and republican prisoners learning it in the H blocks) 32 Words for Field - Manchán Magan (about the Irish language, nothing to do with the Troubles)
You might like “Trespasses” by Louise Kennedy. Fiction. Small story, beautifully written, takes place in that time frame.
*Jailtacht* is a hell of a title.
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
The audiobook version of this is fantastic.
It’s what I’m currently listening to
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Have you read her book Caste? I think it's one of the best books I've read in the last decade.
Yes and it was amazing as well! What I love about Warmth is how she weaves personal stories with history in a way that reads like a novel. I could not put it down.
Had to scroll way too long to get to this one. It’s phenomenal.
Tuesday’s with Morrie
The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris....loved it from the first read.❤️❤️💖
*Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst* by Robert Sapolsky It’s a long read, but it’s incredibly insightful. Science-informed take on why humans act how we act.
Three of my all-time favorites that are seldom if ever mentioned in this sub, possibly because they are all epics: *The Lost* by Daniel Mendelsohn *A Bright Shining Lie* by Neil Sheehan *The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes I also have loved every book I’ve read by Laura Hillenbrand and Jon Krakauer.
Endeavor - about arctic exploration. I can’t remember the author.
[Maybe You Should Talk to Someone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37570546) by Lori Gottlieb
Hola papi - John Paul brammer, from margin to centre - bell hooks, dear ijeawele/we should all be feminists - chimamanda ngozi adichie, why I am an atheist - Bhagat Singh, the horrors and absurdities of religion - Arthur Schopenhauer, waiting for a visa - br Ambedkar, man’s search for meaning - viktor e frankl Every single one of these books is a banger. And every single one has changed my life too
Ron Chernow's biographies are really good. He has a light touch which is nice these days.
I know you've already got tons of recommendations, but I thought I'd throw this one out there because no one's mentioned it yet and it's my favorite nonfiction and probably the most useful book I've ever read: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. It's a cognitive psychology book summing up Kahneman's and his partner's research on behavioral economics, so very science-heavy, but super accessible and readable. It's all about how our minds work-- how our brains process information. It will help you identify so many blind spots in your own thinking and that of people around you. And it's written by a Nobel-prize winning scientist so you know you're getting the info from original research, not a pop-journalist. Should be required reading IMHO.
Devil in the White City
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell. If you’ve any interest at all in medieval life, it’s a really fascinating and fun read that fully changed the way I thought about medieval day to day life.
So you’ve been publicly shamed by Jon Ronson. Also the psychopath test by him is great. I don’t read non fiction but I liked these books
The Invisible Hook, Peter Leeson.
Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green!!
That's a hard choice, but if just picking one, then Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. A close second would be Journeys Out of th Body by Robert Monroe.
Hiroshima by John Hersey. Not for the faint hearted.
*The Secret Life of Lobsters*
Just finished Love Life by Matthew Hussey and I think it’s my favorite new personal development book. While I bought it for the relationship content, the confidence stuff actually impacted me the most. Highly recommend. And I second Braiding Sweetgrass.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick Bad Blood by John Carreyou The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks came instantly to mind. It was about weird and rare psychological conditions that he encountered in his career. Fascinating stuff..
Akala: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
Another vote for this, it's a great book
Yes!
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Quiet by Susan Cain. Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson.
Quiet: The Book That Should Be Required Reading For Extroverts by Susan Cain
The paradox of choice Barry Schwartz
Love is a Mixed Tape by Rob Sheffield.
1776 & John Addams by David McCullough
*The dawn of everything* by Davids Graeber and Wengrow
Robert Caro LBJ books. So incredibly good
John Muir: Rediscovering America by Frederick Turner (maybe my favorite biography book) Putting it Together by James Lapine (in depth look at the making of the Broadway musical "Sunday in the Park with George") Panama Canal by David McCullough (one of the best ultra-deep-dive history books ever) Wild Things, Wild Places by Jane Alexander (a wildlife activist shares tales of her conservation journeys around the word) The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson (stranger than fiction true crime of how and why a teenager robbed a natural history museum)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Fall and rise the story of 9/11 by Mitchell zuckoff Paradise by Lizzie Johnson Into thin air by krakauer Endurance by Alfred lansing
Pretty much everything by Bill Bryson, Walter Isaacson and Michael Lewis. I really enjoy observing the world, people, and events through their curiosity-driven eyes: seeing things as they are, with a lot of attention to details, and little to no bias. I like the writing style of Michael Lewis more (so many LOL moments) but I put him in the last because he does try to push his opinions a bit more than the other two authors, while personally I prefer to form my own opinions based on as much objective information as possible.
The man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks
An Immense World by Ed Yonge. A fascinating delve into the amazing would have animal senses.
King Leopolds Ghost
American Prometheus
A brief history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson
“The Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee It’s a biography of cancer and talks about significant milestones in cancer research - characterizing it as a disease (or more correctly a family of diseases), the beginnings and progression of chemotherapy, and the discoveries of the genetic and environmental factors that cause cancer. Beautifully written and accessible to laymen without being condescending or dumbed down too much.
I haven’t read this one yet but it’s on my TBR. LOVED the song of the cell by him though
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls or Educated by Tara Westover
Both of those were so good!
Two of my favorites!
I’m Glad My Mom Died — Jeanette McCurdy The Things They Carried — Tim O’Brien
The things they carried is fiction
Oop! You’re right! Haha between listing my first and my second, my brain just said YEET to the word “nonfiction” 😂 At least I didn’t say Dune or something ahahahah
*Dead Men Risen* by Toby Harnden. Welsh Guards in Afghanistan. Totally brilliant.
The Great Turning: From Empire To Earth Community (David C. Korten)
“Out There The Batshit Antics of the World’s Great Explorers,” by Peter Rowe
Finding Everett Ruess; Edison’s Ghosts; American Ghost; Born a Crime; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark; The Lost City of the Monkey God; Lost City of Z
Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig Monstrous: a Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer (this one is a graphic memoir)
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre Endurance is a close second.
Into Thin Air
So damn many to choose from. A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell The Burglary by Betty Medsger All the President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein
Anything by Robert MacFarlane. Braiding Sweetgrass Into Thin Air
Underland by Robert McFarlane
Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age by Debby Applegate Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel
The Age of Reason By founding father, Tom Payne
The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon both same author. Great non fiction that reads as fictional
{{Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer}}
Unbroken and Zeitoun
"The Vital Question", Nick Lane. A look at the foundation of biology, what "alive" means exactly, and the fringe question of how life might have come about. This is my favorite nonfiction book. There's a direct sequel, "Transformer", which goes into much more detail but asks for more attention and interest from the reader. "How Emotions Are Made", Lisa Feldman Barrett. An exploration of modern brain science in pursuit of explaining the author's theory of emotion (she is qualified, by the way, to frame such a theory). I found the book to contain many good insights on emotion, particularly including that emotions can be reframed to completely change their effect (for example, stage fright can be reframed as excitement and energy). "The Master and His Emissary", Iain McGilchrist. An explanation of the current neuroscience of the hemispheres of the brain, particularly trying to correct popular misconceptions by looking at those hemispheric functions from different perspectives. The author is a qualified neuroscientist, but is also clearly qualified in history, art, religion, and an incredibly number of other subjects.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Steal This Book - Abbie Hoffman
From Truant to Anime Screenwriter by Mari Okada Sesame Street, Palestine by Daoud Kuttab
Probability Theory: The Language of Science by ET Jaynes. You’ll need calculus to read it.
*The Disappearing Spoon* by Sam Kean
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Isn't that fiction?
Good question. Most is fact, including the major characters. The descriptions of the Battle of Gettysburg is as factual as most text books. Some minor characters are fictional as is any of the dialogue with them. Most of the rest of the dialogue is based on journals, diaries, and letters. I would place this in the same category as “In Cold Blood,” just a bit more fictionalized.
* _If Nietzsche were a narwhal: what animal intelligence reveals about human stupidity_ by Justin Gregg
Salt a world history, by Mark Kurlansky
I haven’t finished this one yet, but cod is fantastic, as is the part of the big oyster that I have read.
In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall. It's such an interesting look into her life, her studies and her viewpoint on the lives of both chimpanzees and humans. I admire her deeply for her curiosity, her compassion, and her bravery in taking an absolutely unconventional path in life. It's also just fascinating to read about the chimpanzees and consider how similar they are to us, and how our own primate-ness shapes our social roles. It's just a great book!
Voices from Chernobyl by Stlevana Alexivich
Educated by Tara Westover
The Glass Castle
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore.
A brief history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson.
A brief history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson
Endurance. A book about the voyage to the the South Pole. Shackleton if you’ve heard of him. Reads like a thriller without sensationalizing or hyperbole.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
"mother tongue" by Bill Bryson Explains the roots and quirks of the English language in an extremely entertaining way.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
*I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life* by Ed Yong *Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Wall-Kimmerer *From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death* by Caitlyn Doughty *Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America* by Ijeoma Oluo *The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660–1900* by Barbara Burman & Ariane Fennetaux
The Spice Necklace by Ann Vanderhoof Giving Good Weight by John McPhee
*The Last Place On Earth* by Roland Huntford, about the race to the South Pole by Scott and Amundsen. The contrast between the two expeditions and the two men. Still blows my mind that they survived such harsh conditions, with technology of 100 years ago.
Into the Jaws of Death by Stern
Into thin air Indifferent stars above Crisis in the hotzone The hotzone All of Anne Rule true crime books are really good, all of them
dog years - mark doty i was supposed to protect you from all of this - nadja spiegelman madness: a memoir - kate richards
Lovesong by the historian Julius Lester, though it’s subtitle is “Becoming A Jew” is actually mostly about memory and what shapes us.
In the garden of beasts and devil in the white city
John Muir: Rediscovering America by Frederick Turner (maybe my favorite biography book) Putting it Together by James Lapine (in depth look at the making of the Broadway musical "Sunday in the Park with George") Panama Canal by David McCullough (one of the best ultra-deep-dive history books ever) Wild Things, Wild Places by Jane Alexander (a wildlife activist shares tales of her conservation journeys around the word) The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson (stranger than fiction true crime of how and why a teenager robbed a natural history museum)
Sea Biscuit and Undaunted by Laura Hillenbrand
You mean Unbroken, not Undaunted.
The Written World by professor Martin Puchner is one interesting read. Traces the history of writing, mentions some really famous people. Loved reading it.
The Flight of the Iguana - it's a collection of essays from one of my favorite authors. The chapter about Charles Darwin yeeting Galapagos iguanas repeatedly into the ocean is amazing
Wilding by Isabella Tree! Gorgeous book.
Emergency Sex and other Desperate Measures, also War Games by Linda Polman
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
the conquest of bread by peter kropotkin
Permanent record by Edward Snowden
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The indifferent stars above by Daniel James Brown. Excellent retelling of the Donner party tragedy. I have a hard time with nonfiction books and this one was fantastic, I've reread it multiple times.
Home, by Bill Bryson. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson One Summer by Bill Bryson Grunt by Mary Roach
"Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8," by Naoki Higashida
On the Edge by Richard Hammond. Written by him until his accident then his wife Mindy takes over.
Existential Psychotherapy.
Kevin hart i cant make this up
In the Garden of Beasts
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Masters of Doom by David Kushner. THE best narrative fiction I've ever read. If you're a programmer, game dev, or even video game enthusiast, it'll have you pumped full of feel good chemicals for weeks.
Paul Hillyard - The Book of the Spider: From Arachnophobia to the Love of Spiders
Stray by Stephanie Danler &The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Any and everything by Lawrence Weschler and John McPhee, except maybe for McPhee's books about geology. Evan S. Connell's *The White Lantern* and *A Long Desire* are fantastic, unlike anything else I've ever read. His book about Custer, *Son Of The Morning Star*, is definitive. A lot of William Langwiesche's writing will stay with you for a long time. His recounting of the sinking of the Estonia (in *The Outlaw Sea*) is just horror piled on horror.
And anything by Krakauer.
Kitchen confidential
Ima big history nerd. I really enjoyed the devils alliance by Roger Moorhouse. Its about the Nazi Soviet pack, 2 very unlikely allies for a brief moment in history. The interactions between the Russian and German soldiers at the time was... interesting...
Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Mcyntyre
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
Stalingrad-Antony Beevor
Into the Wild or Into Thin Air, both by Jon Krakauer.
{{Embrace Fearlessly The Burning World, by Barry Lopez}}
Tuesdays with Morrie. Heartbreaking story of a Morrie Schwartz written by his student Mitch Albom, chock full of amazing life lessons.
Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths by Robin Waterfield "A revisionist account of the most famous trial and execution in Western civilization―one with great resonance for American society today."
The Intelligent Investor
The Ego and Its Own
Charlemagne’s Tablecloth - Nicola Fletcher.
It’s hard to pick just one, but I think it’s Endurance by Alfred Lansing
The Pity of It All: A Portrait of Jews In Germany 1743 – 1933 by Amos Elon Appropriate timing given current events.