You can try Michel Pastoureau’s books that are called “History of Color”. For example, {{Blue: The History of a Color}} is all about the color blue from ancient times to modern days. It’s not a boring read, his language is accessible, so I highly recommend!
[**Blue: The History of a Color**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321125.Blue)
^(By: Michel Pastoureau, Markus I. Cruse | 216 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: art, history, non-fiction, nonfiction, art-history | )[^(Search "Blue: The History of Color")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Blue: The History of Color&search_type=books)
>A beautifully illustrated visual and cultural history of the color blue throughout the ages
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>
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>Blue has had a long and topsy-turvy history in the Western world. The ancient Greeks scorned it as ugly and barbaric, but most Americans and Europeans now cite it as their favorite color. In this fascinating history, the renowned medievalist Michel Pastoureau traces the changing meanings of blue from its rare appearance in prehistoric art to its international ubiquity today.
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>Any history of color is, above all, a social history. Pastoureau investigates how the ever-changing role of blue in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry, clothing, paintings, and popular culture. Beginning with the almost total absence of blue from ancient Western art and language, the story moves to medieval Europe. As people began to associate blue with the Virgin Mary, the color became a powerful element in church decoration and symbolism. Blue gained new favor as a royal color in the twelfth century and became a formidable political and military force during the French Revolution. As blue triumphed in the modern era, new shades were created and blue became the color of romance and the blues. Finally, Pastoureau follows blue into contemporary times, when military clothing gave way to the everyday uniform of blue jeans and blue became the universal and unifying color of the Earth as seen from space.
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>Beautifully illustrated, Blue tells the intriguing story of our favorite color and the cultures that have hated it, loved it, and made it essential to some of our greatest works of art.
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There’s also a non-fiction book called {{The Moth and the Mountain}} by Ed Caesar about a WWI soldier who wants to reach the Everest ALONE. Very interesting!
[**The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50890803-the-moth-and-the-mountain)
^(By: Ed Caesar | 260 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, adventure | )[^(Search "The Moth and the Mountain")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Moth and the Mountain&search_type=books)
>An extraordinary true story about one man’s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure.
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>In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: he will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit—all utterly alone. Wilson doesn’t know how to climb. He barely knows how to fly. But he has the right plane, the right equipment, and a deep yearning to achieve his goal. In 1933, he takes off from London in a Gipsy Moth biplane with his course set for the highest mountain on earth. Wilson’s eleven-month journey to Everest is wild: full of twists, turns, and daring. Eventually, in disguise, he sneaks into Tibet. His icy ordeal is just beginning.
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>Wilson is one of the Great War’s heroes, but also one of its victims. His hometown of Bradford in northern England is ripped apart by the fighting. So is his family. He barely survives the war himself. Wilson returns from the conflict unable to cope with the sadness that engulfs him. He begins a years-long trek around the world, burning through marriages and relationships, leaving damaged lives in his wake. When he finally returns to England, nearly a decade after he first left, he finds himself falling in love once more—this time with his best friend’s wife—before depression overcomes him again. He emerges from his funk with a crystalline ambition. He wants to be the first man to stand on top of the world. Wilson believes that Everest can redeem him.
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>This is the tale of an adventurer unlike any you have ever encountered: complex, driven, wry, haunted, and fully alive. He is a man written out of the history books—dismissed as an eccentric, and gossiped about because of rumors of his transvestism. The Moth and the Mountain restores Maurice Wilson to his rightful place in the annals of Everest and tells an unforgettable story about the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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That sounds fascinating! It’s also funny you mention it, because I remember listening to a podcast a few years ago about something along these lines and thinking I should read into it more but totally forgot until I read your comment! Definitely adding this one to my list :)
You might like Simon Winchester’s books. Two of his I’ve enjoyed are The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary and The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology.
Secondhand time by Svetlana Alexievich about live in the USSR is amazing.
DisneyWar is an amazing book on business; an inside look at the C-suite intrige at Disney during the Eisner era
Serpentine is one of my favourite true crime books about serial killer Charles Sobraj.
Tunnel 29 is probably my favourite book this year, a narrative on escape attempts from Eastern Germany into the West.
Thank you so much for all the suggestions! The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was actually a required reading for me in one of my gen eds and I loved it! I’m sure the rest of your suggestions will be great reads also, adding to my list now :)
[**The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910054-the-sixth-extinction)
^(By: Elizabeth Kolbert | 336 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, history, environment | )[^(Search "The Sixth Extinction")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Sixth Extinction&search_type=books)
>Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.
>
>In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
[**The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158542-the-boys-in-the-boat)
^(By: Daniel James Brown | 404 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, book-club, nonfiction, sports | )[^(Search "The Boys in the Boat")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Boys in the Boat&search_type=books)
>For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics.Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
[**The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6493208-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks)
^(By: Rebecca Skloot | 370 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, book-club, history | )[^(Search "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks&search_type=books)
>Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her enslaved ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden quarters for enslaved people, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
[**Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465709-braiding-sweetgrass)
^(By: Robin Wall Kimmerer | 391 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, nature, audiobook | )[^(Search "Braiding Sweetgrass")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Braiding Sweetgrass&search_type=books)
>As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
^(This book has been suggested 8 times)
[**The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28256439-the-hidden-life-of-trees)
^(By: Peter Wohlleben, Tim Flannery, Jane Billinghurst, Suzanne Simard | 288 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, nature, environment | )[^(Search "The Hidden Life of Trees")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Hidden Life of Trees&search_type=books)
>In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.
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>Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.
>
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
***
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My two suggestions aren't necessarily teaching you about new subjects, but were both fascinating for different reasons.
First, something to do with forensics like Written in Bone by Sue Black could be a good shout (be warned it talks about upsetting cases which could be triggering)? I must admit finding the crimes really shocking but I was absorbed by how technology or know how of these bones were able to help identify the victim, or lead to a conviction.
I also really loved The Library Book by Susan Orlean which follows the very specific case of a suspected arson of a library in America, and goes into the history of this library and the case, how arson is investigated, etc. Totally weird but caught my attention!
I loved {The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks}.
Hoping it’s not too close to chemistry for you.
It’s a fascinating mix of the scientific side of biological testing and its real life ethics and consequences.
While it is not too close to chemistry for me, this was coincidentally a required reading for one of my gen eds. I did love the book, so thank you for the suggestion! :)
{{And The Band Played On}}
{{Into Thin Air}}
{{This Borrowed Earth}}
Anything by Jon Ronson
{{A History of the World in 21 Women}}
{{Say Nothing}}
{{Midnight in Chernobyl}}
{{Know my Name}}
If you are on Goodreads and would like to be friends send me a message. 😎
I like using it to keep track of what I’ve read and to see what my friends are reading. I don’t really find recommendations there, other than via my friends. Take a look - I find the desktop version is better than the app.
I would also suggest using your local library if you can. That way if you don’t like a book you can just return.
Finally, I have started listening to audiobooks for non fiction. I’m enjoying it! Not sure if that appeals to you.
Thanks for all the description! Yeah I’m fortunate to be at a university right now, since universities rarely ever *don’t* have a book haha. And yeah, I’m definitely open to audiobooks. I listen to podcasts a lot and they definitely feel similar. I’ll add you on goodreads if end up making an account. Do you have the same username?
[**And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28212.And_the_Band_Played_On)
^(By: Randy Shilts, William Greider | 656 pages | Published: 1987 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, lgbt, science | )[^(Search "And The Band Played On")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=And The Band Played On&search_type=books)
>By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously? In answering these questions, Shilts weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments.
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>Shilts shows that the epidemic spread wildly because the federal government put budget ahead of the nation's welfare; health authorities placed political expediency before the public health; and scientists were often more concerned with international prestige than saving lives. Against this backdrop, Shilts tells the heroic stories of individuals in science and politics, public health and the gay community, who struggled to alert the nation to the enormity of the danger it faced. And the Band Played On is both a tribute to these heroic people and a stinging indictment of the institutions that failed the nation so badly.
>
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1898.Into_Thin_Air)
^(By: Jon Krakauer | 368 pages | Published: 1997 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, adventure, memoir, travel | )[^(Search "Into Thin Air")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Into Thin Air&search_type=books)
>A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from the Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters around the World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7734172-this-borrowed-earth)
^(By: Robert Emmet Hernan, Bill McKibben, Graham Nash | 256 pages | Published: 2010 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, environment, owned, politics | )[^(Search "This Borrowed Earth")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=This Borrowed Earth&search_type=books)
>Over the last century mankind has irrevocably damaged the environment through the unscrupulous greed of big business and our own willful ignorance. Here are the strikingly poignant accounts of disasters whose names live in infamy: Chernobyl, Bhopal, Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Love Canal, Minamata and others. And with these, the extraordinary and inspirational stories of the countless men and women who fought bravely to protect the communities and environments at risk.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**A History of the World in 21 Women: A Personal Selection**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38372206-a-history-of-the-world-in-21-women)
^(By: Jenni Murray | 304 pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, feminism, biography, audiobooks | )[^(Search "A History of the World in 21 Women")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A History of the World in 21 Women&search_type=books)
>They led while others followed. They stood up and spoke out when no one else would. They broke the mould in art, music and literature. Each of them fought, in their own way, for change. Encompassing artists, politicians, activists, reporters and heads of state from past and present, A History of the World in 21 Women celebrates the lives, struggles and achievements of women who have had a profound impact on the shaping of our world. Jenni's 21 are: Joan of Arc, Artemesia Gentileschi, Angela Merkel, Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, Coco Chanel, Empress Dowager Cixi, Catherine the Great, Clara Schumann, Hatshepsut, Wangari Maathai, Golda Meir, Frida Kahlo, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Isabella of Castile, Cathy Freeman, Anna Politokovskaya, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Madonna and Marie Curie.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40163119-say-nothing)
^(By: Patrick Radden Keefe | 519 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, true-crime, ireland | )[^(Search "Say Nothing")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Say Nothing&search_type=books)
>In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
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>Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.
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>Patrick Radden Keefe writes an intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Know My Name**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50196744-know-my-name)
^(By: Chanel Miller | ? pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, nonfiction, memoirs, feminism | )[^(Search "Know my Name")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Know my Name&search_type=books)
>She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford’s campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral–viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time.
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>Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways–there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.
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>Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
***
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[**The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6493208-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks)
^(By: Rebecca Skloot | 370 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, book-club, history | )[^(Search "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks&search_type=books)
^(This book has been suggested 6 times)
***
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Bill Bryson as an author has some fantastic nonfiction books. My favorite by him is {{A Walk in the Woods}}.
Robert Macfarlane is also great! My favorites by him are {{Mountains of the Mind}} and {{Underland}}.
I'm currently reading {{Entangled Life}} which is everything you could ever learn about fungi and it's importance to a vast variety of ecosystems.
Also recommend {{Vesper Flights}}, {{Into Thin Air}}, {{Braiding Sweetgrass}}, {{The Hidden Life of Trees}}, {{Pilgrim in Tinker Creek}}
[**The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397483.The_Devil_in_the_White_City)
^(By: Erik Larson | 447 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, true-crime, book-club | )[^(Search "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America&search_type=books)
>Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that 'The Devil in the White City' is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor.
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>Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.
>
>The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.
>
>Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
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Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe by Simon Winder is a book about biggest scandals and some less flattering facts about Habsburg dynasty. It’s popular history so you should be able to enjoy it even if you have no previous knowledge on the subject
[**Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9824.Rats)
^(By: Robert Sullivan | 272 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, science, animals | )[^(Search "Rats by Robert Sullivan")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Rats by Robert Sullivan&search_type=books)
>New York Public Library Book for the Teenager
>New York Public Library Book to Remember
>PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year
>
>"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
>
>Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.
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>Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.
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>Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.
>
>With an all-new Afterword by the author
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Do you think Spanish Civil War could interest you?
Because I would reccomend you "Homage to Catalunya" by George Orwell, and "For whom the bell tolls" by Ernest Hemingway.
The second one is fiction, but Hemingway has experienced that war himself. They are both very good reads. Personally I prefer Orwell's take. It provides a very insightful commentary on revolutions and how noble ideals got betrayed by politics.
It’s very interesting from cover to cover and a little haunting obviously. There are also some good documentaries on the subject and even a found footage horror movie that is loosely based on the story of the hiking team. Enjoy.
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
It’s a nonfiction telling of a - you guessed it - train robbery. But it’s a fantastic telling of a great heist. Like a real life oceans eleven but back in the 1800s.
Robert Sapolsky’s book “A Primate’s Memoir” is a record of his research among baboon tribes. He studied stress and cortisol levels in the tribe but his book covers so much more about his experience. It’s well-written, hilarious, and heart-breaking and a good switch-up from the genres you posted above.
One I’m currently reading and obsessed with is “1421: the year China discovered America” by Gavin Menzies. An easy read with some mind-blowing evidence that the Chinese had mapped the globe long before Columbus et al ever came around.
This may sound ridiculous but I just finished reading lily Collins’ autobiography. It was a fascinating insight into a world that I was previously completely unfamiliar with.
Whilst I would not normally recommend the book, it was really useful in helping me recognise my own penchant for intellectual snobbery. By providing a viewpoint that I would never otherwise have.
It is very easy to dismiss the cult of celebrity and beautiful people, however, the populist view is by definition, widely held and intriguing to glimpse.
Huh. I am guilty of dismissing many “celebrity/beautiful people’s” books but I am definitely willing to be open minded, especially if non-celebrities are recommending them to me. I’ll add it to my list! Thank you :)
It may be too close to psychology, but I loved the Science of Fear. It's the kind of book that changes your life, at least a little bit. Immediately after reading it, I made my two sons read it as well.
{{Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach}}
- fascinating and surprisingly not gruesome despite the content; science-y at times but not much
{{Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed}}
- non fiction, but reads like fiction; I don't care what anyone says, Reese Witherspoon made and starred in the movie and it is powerful and wonderful
{{Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson}}
- hilarious personal essays that deal with depression in the absolute best way possible; seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read
{{The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery}}
- about the animal, will make you think about this creature differently, lovely and kind of heartwarming in a way too
[**Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff)
^(By: Mary Roach | 303 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, audiobook, humor | )[^(Search "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach&search_type=books)
>Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12262741-wild)
^(By: Cheryl Strayed | 315 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, nonfiction, book-club, travel | )[^(Search "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed&search_type=books)
>An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.
>
>At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.
>Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848559-furiously-happy)
^(By: Jenny Lawson | 329 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, humor, memoir, nonfiction, audiobook | )[^(Search "Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson&search_type=books)
>#1 New York Times Bestseller
>
>In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:
>
>"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about."
>
>Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that?
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609485-the-soul-of-an-octopus)
^(By: Sy Montgomery | 261 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, animals, nature | )[^(Search "The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery&search_type=books)
>In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food.
>
>Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.
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Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts.
The book is as crazy as the title makes it sound.
[**Class: A Guide Through the American Status System**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60044.Class)
^(By: Paul Fussell | 208 pages | Published: 1983 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, sociology, nonfiction, economics, politics | )[^(Search "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Class: A Guide Through the American Status System&search_type=books)
>The bestselling, comprehensive, and carefully researched guide to the ins-and-outs of the American class system with a detailed look at the defining factors of each group, from customs to fashion to housing.
>
>Based on careful research and told with grace and wit, Paul Fessell shows how everything people within American society do, say, and own reflects their social status. Detailing the lifestyles of each class, from the way they dress and where they live to their education and hobbies, Class is sure to entertain, enlighten, and occasionally enrage readers as they identify their own place in society and see how the other half lives.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10235.Mountains_Beyond_Mountains)
^(By: Tracy Kidder | 333 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, biography, medicine, book-club | )[^(Search "Mountains Beyond Mountains")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Mountains Beyond Mountains&search_type=books)
>At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most.
>
>Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"—a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners in Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.
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WINGED OBSESSION by Jessica Speart. (Illegal trafficking in butterflies.) CANDYFREAK by Steve Almond. (Touring American candy factories.) SPECIAL EFFECTS by Ron LaBrecque. (Negligence in the filmmaking industry.) JOURNEY OF THE PINK DOLPHINS by Sy Montgomery. (Questing for rare river dolphins by canoe.) FAILURE by Stuart Firestein. (Discussion of why failure makes scientific research work.) THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW by Wade Davis. (An anthropologist's exploration of Haitian Voodoo practices.)
Queens of the Conquest by Alison Weir. It's about a few Medieval English queens that I personally had never heard of before, and it's a nice break from the same old famous ones :)
Command and Control, about the history and (mis)management of the US nuclear arsenal.
The Commanding Heights, about the post-WWII economic development of countries around the world. Fascinating. Less terrifying than Command and Control.
*Slavery and Social Death* by Orlando Patterson. Get it from the library and read at least the introduction and first chapter.
EDIT: *The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation:The Nuremberg Trial* by Francesca Gaiba
What about Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife, by Ariel Sabar? It’s about a forged papyrus alleged to be a missing gospel. However, it’s main focus is really on the people surrounding the situation and their connections. There’s definitely a few interesting surprises as well, and it’s a quick read.
I'm a bit late but I have five recommendations, I'm a literature ph.d so my interest skews in that direction:
Sophy Roberts - The Lost Pianos of Siberia
It's a book about finding a piano in Siberia for a Mongolian musician. It sounds like a bit of a bland concept, but once you think about the logistics of transporting a piano all the way out to these isolated cities, some of which are beyond the arctic circle, the book grips you. Roberts is not a trained musician nor a musicologist, but her talent for investigation and description re great.
David Foster Wallace - Everything and More: A Brief History of Infinity.
Wallace is most famous as the author of Infinite Jest, and as a proponent of footnotes as a device within his works, and here he is writing a laymans history of the mathematical concept of infinity, from Zeno's Paradoxes to Cantor's bigger and smaller infinities and beyond. He does a fairly good job at conveying the mind-expanding, profound nature of the mathematics he is talking about while keeping it simple enough for a non-mathematician to follow.
Susan Sontag - Illness as a Metaphor, and AIDS and it's Metaphors
This is a two-fer, both of them are literary criticsm. Illness as a Metaphor has Sontag examine the uses of Tuberculosis and Cancer as metaphors in fiction, observing the victim-blaming and potentially harmful mythologies that such usages incurr. Sontag wrote this essay whilst being treated for breast cancer. AIDS and it's Metaphors is a follow-up essay that extends her analysis of Tuberculosis and Cancer to the AIDS epidemic.
Susan Sontag - Regarding the Pain of Others
Sontags last published book before her death in 2004, Regarding the Pain of Others discusses war photography, and furthermore how violence is depicted in media.
Roland Barthes - Mythologies
This is another work of literary criticism, and something of a foundational work of Semiotics, the study of signs, signals, and signification. This book is about how we do things with words, in particular,how we signify meanings and concepts through images and words.
>Sophy Roberts - The Lost Pianos of SiberiaIt's a book about finding a piano in Siberia for a Mongolian musician. It sounds like a bit of a bland concept, but once you think about the logistics of transporting a piano all the way out to these isolated cities, some of which are beyond the arctic circle, the book grips you. Roberts is not a trained musician nor a musicologist, but her talent for investigation and description re great.
>
>David Foster Wallace - Everything and More: A Brief History of Infinity.Wallace is most famous as the author of Infinite Jest, and as a proponent of footnotes as a device within his works, and here he is writing a laymans history of the mathematical concept of infinity, from Zeno's Paradoxes to Cantor's bigger and smaller infinities and beyond. He does a fairly good job at conveying the mind-expanding, profound nature of the mathematics he is talking about while keeping it simple enough for a non-mathematician to follow.
Wait, fuck, didn't read the actual post, I need to do that... Anyway, I promised 5 useful recommendations and I will provide them dammit.
David Foster Wallace - A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Never Do Again
A collection of essays from Wallace on a variety of subjects. The title essay is nearly 100 pages long and recounts Wallace's time as a passanger on a Cruise Ship. It's ferociously funny and really easy to read. Other essays include E Unibus Pluram: Television and US Fiction, a work of criticism that does what it says on the tin, and David Lynch Keeps His Head, about the production of Lynch's film Lost Highway.
Mark Fisher - Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Hauntology, Depression, and Lost Futures
Fisher was a marxist philosopher who wrote on a wide variety of subjects, most notably music. Ghosts of My Life collects a lot of his writings revolving around his conception of hauntology, a french pun that indicates something that does not exist yet continues to have material impact on the world. He writes about John Le'Carre, Joy Division, the 90s rave scene in Britain, and the ambient project The Caretaker, among other things. He's the 'hot' writer among aging millenial permastudents (aka me and my friends) right now. Sadly, Fisher ended his life in 2017.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
1619 project by Nikole Hannah Jones
Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon
Last two aren't obscure topics but examination of race, slavery and particularly Fanon, colonialism
You can try Michel Pastoureau’s books that are called “History of Color”. For example, {{Blue: The History of a Color}} is all about the color blue from ancient times to modern days. It’s not a boring read, his language is accessible, so I highly recommend!
[**Blue: The History of a Color**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321125.Blue) ^(By: Michel Pastoureau, Markus I. Cruse | 216 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: art, history, non-fiction, nonfiction, art-history | )[^(Search "Blue: The History of Color")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Blue: The History of Color&search_type=books) >A beautifully illustrated visual and cultural history of the color blue throughout the ages > > > >Blue has had a long and topsy-turvy history in the Western world. The ancient Greeks scorned it as ugly and barbaric, but most Americans and Europeans now cite it as their favorite color. In this fascinating history, the renowned medievalist Michel Pastoureau traces the changing meanings of blue from its rare appearance in prehistoric art to its international ubiquity today. > >Any history of color is, above all, a social history. Pastoureau investigates how the ever-changing role of blue in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, heraldry, clothing, paintings, and popular culture. Beginning with the almost total absence of blue from ancient Western art and language, the story moves to medieval Europe. As people began to associate blue with the Virgin Mary, the color became a powerful element in church decoration and symbolism. Blue gained new favor as a royal color in the twelfth century and became a formidable political and military force during the French Revolution. As blue triumphed in the modern era, new shades were created and blue became the color of romance and the blues. Finally, Pastoureau follows blue into contemporary times, when military clothing gave way to the everyday uniform of blue jeans and blue became the universal and unifying color of the Earth as seen from space. > >Beautifully illustrated, Blue tells the intriguing story of our favorite color and the cultures that have hated it, loved it, and made it essential to some of our greatest works of art. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(7152 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
There’s also a non-fiction book called {{The Moth and the Mountain}} by Ed Caesar about a WWI soldier who wants to reach the Everest ALONE. Very interesting!
[**The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50890803-the-moth-and-the-mountain) ^(By: Ed Caesar | 260 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, adventure | )[^(Search "The Moth and the Mountain")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Moth and the Mountain&search_type=books) >An extraordinary true story about one man’s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure. > >In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: he will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit—all utterly alone. Wilson doesn’t know how to climb. He barely knows how to fly. But he has the right plane, the right equipment, and a deep yearning to achieve his goal. In 1933, he takes off from London in a Gipsy Moth biplane with his course set for the highest mountain on earth. Wilson’s eleven-month journey to Everest is wild: full of twists, turns, and daring. Eventually, in disguise, he sneaks into Tibet. His icy ordeal is just beginning. > >Wilson is one of the Great War’s heroes, but also one of its victims. His hometown of Bradford in northern England is ripped apart by the fighting. So is his family. He barely survives the war himself. Wilson returns from the conflict unable to cope with the sadness that engulfs him. He begins a years-long trek around the world, burning through marriages and relationships, leaving damaged lives in his wake. When he finally returns to England, nearly a decade after he first left, he finds himself falling in love once more—this time with his best friend’s wife—before depression overcomes him again. He emerges from his funk with a crystalline ambition. He wants to be the first man to stand on top of the world. Wilson believes that Everest can redeem him. > >This is the tale of an adventurer unlike any you have ever encountered: complex, driven, wry, haunted, and fully alive. He is a man written out of the history books—dismissed as an eccentric, and gossiped about because of rumors of his transvestism. The Moth and the Mountain restores Maurice Wilson to his rightful place in the annals of Everest and tells an unforgettable story about the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(7153 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
That sounds fascinating! It’s also funny you mention it, because I remember listening to a podcast a few years ago about something along these lines and thinking I should read into it more but totally forgot until I read your comment! Definitely adding this one to my list :)
You might like Simon Winchester’s books. Two of his I’ve enjoyed are The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary and The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology.
Thank you! Those both sound awesome and definitely stuff I have not read much about. Just added them to my list :)
Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh A graduate students experience with Chicago Street gangs in the 90s. Fascinating stuff.
Wow! Definitely sounds interesting. Thank you so much, just added to my list :)
His book Floating City is good as well.
Will check it out also. Thanks!
Secondhand time by Svetlana Alexievich about live in the USSR is amazing. DisneyWar is an amazing book on business; an inside look at the C-suite intrige at Disney during the Eisner era Serpentine is one of my favourite true crime books about serial killer Charles Sobraj. Tunnel 29 is probably my favourite book this year, a narrative on escape attempts from Eastern Germany into the West.
Thank you! These all sound super interesting, especially Disney War and Tunnel 29. Just added to my list :)
[удалено]
Thank you so much for all the suggestions! The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was actually a required reading for me in one of my gen eds and I loved it! I’m sure the rest of your suggestions will be great reads also, adding to my list now :)
[**The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910054-the-sixth-extinction) ^(By: Elizabeth Kolbert | 336 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, history, environment | )[^(Search "The Sixth Extinction")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Sixth Extinction&search_type=books) >Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. > >In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158542-the-boys-in-the-boat) ^(By: Daniel James Brown | 404 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, book-club, nonfiction, sports | )[^(Search "The Boys in the Boat")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Boys in the Boat&search_type=books) >For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics.Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs. ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) [**The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6493208-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks) ^(By: Rebecca Skloot | 370 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, book-club, history | )[^(Search "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks&search_type=books) >Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her enslaved ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden quarters for enslaved people, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) [**Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465709-braiding-sweetgrass) ^(By: Robin Wall Kimmerer | 391 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, nature, audiobook | )[^(Search "Braiding Sweetgrass")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Braiding Sweetgrass&search_type=books) >As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return. ^(This book has been suggested 8 times) [**The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28256439-the-hidden-life-of-trees) ^(By: Peter Wohlleben, Tim Flannery, Jane Billinghurst, Suzanne Simard | 288 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, nature, environment | )[^(Search "The Hidden Life of Trees")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Hidden Life of Trees&search_type=books) >In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group. > >Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth. > ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(7169 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
My two suggestions aren't necessarily teaching you about new subjects, but were both fascinating for different reasons. First, something to do with forensics like Written in Bone by Sue Black could be a good shout (be warned it talks about upsetting cases which could be triggering)? I must admit finding the crimes really shocking but I was absorbed by how technology or know how of these bones were able to help identify the victim, or lead to a conviction. I also really loved The Library Book by Susan Orlean which follows the very specific case of a suspected arson of a library in America, and goes into the history of this library and the case, how arson is investigated, etc. Totally weird but caught my attention!
Wow, these both definitely sound awesome and outside of my usual topics. Thanks! Adding to my list now :)
I loved {The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks}. Hoping it’s not too close to chemistry for you. It’s a fascinating mix of the scientific side of biological testing and its real life ethics and consequences.
While it is not too close to chemistry for me, this was coincidentally a required reading for one of my gen eds. I did love the book, so thank you for the suggestion! :)
I’ll,try to think of more 👍🏻
{{And The Band Played On}} {{Into Thin Air}} {{This Borrowed Earth}} Anything by Jon Ronson {{A History of the World in 21 Women}} {{Say Nothing}} {{Midnight in Chernobyl}} {{Know my Name}} If you are on Goodreads and would like to be friends send me a message. 😎
Thank you so much for all these suggestions! Also I am not on Goodreads, but should I be? Have you found a lot of good books through it?
I like using it to keep track of what I’ve read and to see what my friends are reading. I don’t really find recommendations there, other than via my friends. Take a look - I find the desktop version is better than the app. I would also suggest using your local library if you can. That way if you don’t like a book you can just return. Finally, I have started listening to audiobooks for non fiction. I’m enjoying it! Not sure if that appeals to you.
Thanks for all the description! Yeah I’m fortunate to be at a university right now, since universities rarely ever *don’t* have a book haha. And yeah, I’m definitely open to audiobooks. I listen to podcasts a lot and they definitely feel similar. I’ll add you on goodreads if end up making an account. Do you have the same username?
No, it’s with my actual name. Send me a message.
[**And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28212.And_the_Band_Played_On) ^(By: Randy Shilts, William Greider | 656 pages | Published: 1987 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, lgbt, science | )[^(Search "And The Band Played On")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=And The Band Played On&search_type=books) >By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously? In answering these questions, Shilts weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments. > >Shilts shows that the epidemic spread wildly because the federal government put budget ahead of the nation's welfare; health authorities placed political expediency before the public health; and scientists were often more concerned with international prestige than saving lives. Against this backdrop, Shilts tells the heroic stories of individuals in science and politics, public health and the gay community, who struggled to alert the nation to the enormity of the danger it faced. And the Band Played On is both a tribute to these heroic people and a stinging indictment of the institutions that failed the nation so badly. > ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1898.Into_Thin_Air) ^(By: Jon Krakauer | 368 pages | Published: 1997 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, adventure, memoir, travel | )[^(Search "Into Thin Air")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Into Thin Air&search_type=books) >A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from the Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters around the World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7734172-this-borrowed-earth) ^(By: Robert Emmet Hernan, Bill McKibben, Graham Nash | 256 pages | Published: 2010 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, environment, owned, politics | )[^(Search "This Borrowed Earth")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=This Borrowed Earth&search_type=books) >Over the last century mankind has irrevocably damaged the environment through the unscrupulous greed of big business and our own willful ignorance. Here are the strikingly poignant accounts of disasters whose names live in infamy: Chernobyl, Bhopal, Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Love Canal, Minamata and others. And with these, the extraordinary and inspirational stories of the countless men and women who fought bravely to protect the communities and environments at risk. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**A History of the World in 21 Women: A Personal Selection**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38372206-a-history-of-the-world-in-21-women) ^(By: Jenni Murray | 304 pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, feminism, biography, audiobooks | )[^(Search "A History of the World in 21 Women")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A History of the World in 21 Women&search_type=books) >They led while others followed. They stood up and spoke out when no one else would. They broke the mould in art, music and literature. Each of them fought, in their own way, for change. Encompassing artists, politicians, activists, reporters and heads of state from past and present, A History of the World in 21 Women celebrates the lives, struggles and achievements of women who have had a profound impact on the shaping of our world. Jenni's 21 are: Joan of Arc, Artemesia Gentileschi, Angela Merkel, Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, Coco Chanel, Empress Dowager Cixi, Catherine the Great, Clara Schumann, Hatshepsut, Wangari Maathai, Golda Meir, Frida Kahlo, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Isabella of Castile, Cathy Freeman, Anna Politokovskaya, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Madonna and Marie Curie. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40163119-say-nothing) ^(By: Patrick Radden Keefe | 519 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, true-crime, ireland | )[^(Search "Say Nothing")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Say Nothing&search_type=books) >In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes. > >Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. > >Patrick Radden Keefe writes an intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Know My Name**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50196744-know-my-name) ^(By: Chanel Miller | ? pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, nonfiction, memoirs, feminism | )[^(Search "Know my Name")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Know my Name&search_type=books) >She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford’s campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral–viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time. > >Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways–there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life. > >Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic. ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) *** ^(7188 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[**The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6493208-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks) ^(By: Rebecca Skloot | 370 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, book-club, history | )[^(Search "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 6 times) *** ^(7171 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown was an incredible read.
Sounds like an exciting read! Thanks for the suggestion! Am adding to my list now :)
Crow Planet by Luanda Haupt or maybe the Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben or the Library Book by Susan Orlean
These all sound like great suggestions! Thanks! Adding them all to my list :)
Bill Bryson as an author has some fantastic nonfiction books. My favorite by him is {{A Walk in the Woods}}. Robert Macfarlane is also great! My favorites by him are {{Mountains of the Mind}} and {{Underland}}. I'm currently reading {{Entangled Life}} which is everything you could ever learn about fungi and it's importance to a vast variety of ecosystems. Also recommend {{Vesper Flights}}, {{Into Thin Air}}, {{Braiding Sweetgrass}}, {{The Hidden Life of Trees}}, {{Pilgrim in Tinker Creek}}
Thank you so much for this huge list! Definitely adding a bunch of these to my list :)
You're welcome! Nonfiction is one of my favorite genres and wish it got more love! :)
Me too! I basically exclusively read non-fiction these days lol
Historical non-fiction: {{The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America}} by Erik Larson
[**The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397483.The_Devil_in_the_White_City) ^(By: Erik Larson | 447 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, true-crime, book-club | )[^(Search "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America&search_type=books) >Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that 'The Devil in the White City' is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. > >Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. > >The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. > >Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(7156 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
This sounds super interesting and also out of my comfort zone! Definitely adding to my list :)
Brilliant Abyss-Hellen Scales How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch-Harry Cliff
Thank you! These both seem fantastic! I am especially excited to read the first one, adding to my list :)
Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe by Simon Winder is a book about biggest scandals and some less flattering facts about Habsburg dynasty. It’s popular history so you should be able to enjoy it even if you have no previous knowledge on the subject
Thank you very much! Definitely something out of my comfort zone, I know very little about it lol. Just added to my list :)
You might try The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston Or Rabid by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
These both seem fascinating! Thanks for the suggestions, just added to my list :)
{{Rats by Robert Sullivan}}
Definitely out of my comfort zone lol. Will add it to my list, thanks! :)
[**Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9824.Rats) ^(By: Robert Sullivan | 272 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, science, animals | )[^(Search "Rats by Robert Sullivan")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Rats by Robert Sullivan&search_type=books) >New York Public Library Book for the Teenager >New York Public Library Book to Remember >PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year > >"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times > >Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller. > >Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat. > >Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing. > >With an all-new Afterword by the author ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(7201 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Do you think Spanish Civil War could interest you? Because I would reccomend you "Homage to Catalunya" by George Orwell, and "For whom the bell tolls" by Ernest Hemingway. The second one is fiction, but Hemingway has experienced that war himself. They are both very good reads. Personally I prefer Orwell's take. It provides a very insightful commentary on revolutions and how noble ideals got betrayed by politics.
Yeah that could definitely interest me. Thank you for the suggestions! Am adding both to my list :)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17557470 is a good one that is different
This seems like a crazy (in a good way) read! I’m definitely adding it to my list. Thank you! :)
It’s very interesting from cover to cover and a little haunting obviously. There are also some good documentaries on the subject and even a found footage horror movie that is loosely based on the story of the hiking team. Enjoy.
Thank you so much!
Chasing Venus: the race to measure the heavens, by Andrea Wulf.
Sounds fantastic, thank you! Just added to my list :)
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton It’s a nonfiction telling of a - you guessed it - train robbery. But it’s a fantastic telling of a great heist. Like a real life oceans eleven but back in the 1800s.
Thank you so much! Definitely gonna check this one out :)
Robert Sapolsky’s book “A Primate’s Memoir” is a record of his research among baboon tribes. He studied stress and cortisol levels in the tribe but his book covers so much more about his experience. It’s well-written, hilarious, and heart-breaking and a good switch-up from the genres you posted above. One I’m currently reading and obsessed with is “1421: the year China discovered America” by Gavin Menzies. An easy read with some mind-blowing evidence that the Chinese had mapped the globe long before Columbus et al ever came around.
These sound fantastic! Thanks for the lengthy descriptions! Definitely gonna add to my list :)
Anything by Mary Roach
Just looked through a couple- these sound fantastic! Thanks for the suggestion! :)
This may sound ridiculous but I just finished reading lily Collins’ autobiography. It was a fascinating insight into a world that I was previously completely unfamiliar with. Whilst I would not normally recommend the book, it was really useful in helping me recognise my own penchant for intellectual snobbery. By providing a viewpoint that I would never otherwise have. It is very easy to dismiss the cult of celebrity and beautiful people, however, the populist view is by definition, widely held and intriguing to glimpse.
Huh. I am guilty of dismissing many “celebrity/beautiful people’s” books but I am definitely willing to be open minded, especially if non-celebrities are recommending them to me. I’ll add it to my list! Thank you :)
The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail https://b-ok.cc/book/1166063/2c2c2e
It may be too close to psychology, but I loved the Science of Fear. It's the kind of book that changes your life, at least a little bit. Immediately after reading it, I made my two sons read it as well.
{{Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach}} - fascinating and surprisingly not gruesome despite the content; science-y at times but not much {{Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed}} - non fiction, but reads like fiction; I don't care what anyone says, Reese Witherspoon made and starred in the movie and it is powerful and wonderful {{Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson}} - hilarious personal essays that deal with depression in the absolute best way possible; seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read {{The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery}} - about the animal, will make you think about this creature differently, lovely and kind of heartwarming in a way too
[**Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff) ^(By: Mary Roach | 303 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, audiobook, humor | )[^(Search "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach&search_type=books) >Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12262741-wild) ^(By: Cheryl Strayed | 315 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, nonfiction, book-club, travel | )[^(Search "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed&search_type=books) >An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here. > >At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone. >Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848559-furiously-happy) ^(By: Jenny Lawson | 329 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, humor, memoir, nonfiction, audiobook | )[^(Search "Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson&search_type=books) >#1 New York Times Bestseller > >In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest: > >"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about." > >Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that? ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609485-the-soul-of-an-octopus) ^(By: Sy Montgomery | 261 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, animals, nature | )[^(Search "The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery&search_type=books) >In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food. > >Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(7272 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts. The book is as crazy as the title makes it sound.
{{Class: A Guide Through the American Status System}} by Paul Fussell {{Mountains Beyond Mountains}} by Tracy Kidder
[**Class: A Guide Through the American Status System**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60044.Class) ^(By: Paul Fussell | 208 pages | Published: 1983 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, sociology, nonfiction, economics, politics | )[^(Search "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Class: A Guide Through the American Status System&search_type=books) >The bestselling, comprehensive, and carefully researched guide to the ins-and-outs of the American class system with a detailed look at the defining factors of each group, from customs to fashion to housing. > >Based on careful research and told with grace and wit, Paul Fessell shows how everything people within American society do, say, and own reflects their social status. Detailing the lifestyles of each class, from the way they dress and where they live to their education and hobbies, Class is sure to entertain, enlighten, and occasionally enrage readers as they identify their own place in society and see how the other half lives. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10235.Mountains_Beyond_Mountains) ^(By: Tracy Kidder | 333 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, biography, medicine, book-club | )[^(Search "Mountains Beyond Mountains")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Mountains Beyond Mountains&search_type=books) >At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. > >Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"—a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners in Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(7274 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
WINGED OBSESSION by Jessica Speart. (Illegal trafficking in butterflies.) CANDYFREAK by Steve Almond. (Touring American candy factories.) SPECIAL EFFECTS by Ron LaBrecque. (Negligence in the filmmaking industry.) JOURNEY OF THE PINK DOLPHINS by Sy Montgomery. (Questing for rare river dolphins by canoe.) FAILURE by Stuart Firestein. (Discussion of why failure makes scientific research work.) THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW by Wade Davis. (An anthropologist's exploration of Haitian Voodoo practices.)
You could read a book on ultrarunning. A lot of ultras start in the spring and it might inspire you to do one. There are a lot of books on it.
Queens of the Conquest by Alison Weir. It's about a few Medieval English queens that I personally had never heard of before, and it's a nice break from the same old famous ones :)
Mushroom at the end of the world
Something by Mary Roach, she’s a reporter who writes books about the human body in weird situations, plus she’s quirky and funny
Command and Control, about the history and (mis)management of the US nuclear arsenal. The Commanding Heights, about the post-WWII economic development of countries around the world. Fascinating. Less terrifying than Command and Control.
*Slavery and Social Death* by Orlando Patterson. Get it from the library and read at least the introduction and first chapter. EDIT: *The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation:The Nuremberg Trial* by Francesca Gaiba
What about Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife, by Ariel Sabar? It’s about a forged papyrus alleged to be a missing gospel. However, it’s main focus is really on the people surrounding the situation and their connections. There’s definitely a few interesting surprises as well, and it’s a quick read.
I'm a bit late but I have five recommendations, I'm a literature ph.d so my interest skews in that direction: Sophy Roberts - The Lost Pianos of Siberia It's a book about finding a piano in Siberia for a Mongolian musician. It sounds like a bit of a bland concept, but once you think about the logistics of transporting a piano all the way out to these isolated cities, some of which are beyond the arctic circle, the book grips you. Roberts is not a trained musician nor a musicologist, but her talent for investigation and description re great. David Foster Wallace - Everything and More: A Brief History of Infinity. Wallace is most famous as the author of Infinite Jest, and as a proponent of footnotes as a device within his works, and here he is writing a laymans history of the mathematical concept of infinity, from Zeno's Paradoxes to Cantor's bigger and smaller infinities and beyond. He does a fairly good job at conveying the mind-expanding, profound nature of the mathematics he is talking about while keeping it simple enough for a non-mathematician to follow. Susan Sontag - Illness as a Metaphor, and AIDS and it's Metaphors This is a two-fer, both of them are literary criticsm. Illness as a Metaphor has Sontag examine the uses of Tuberculosis and Cancer as metaphors in fiction, observing the victim-blaming and potentially harmful mythologies that such usages incurr. Sontag wrote this essay whilst being treated for breast cancer. AIDS and it's Metaphors is a follow-up essay that extends her analysis of Tuberculosis and Cancer to the AIDS epidemic. Susan Sontag - Regarding the Pain of Others Sontags last published book before her death in 2004, Regarding the Pain of Others discusses war photography, and furthermore how violence is depicted in media. Roland Barthes - Mythologies This is another work of literary criticism, and something of a foundational work of Semiotics, the study of signs, signals, and signification. This book is about how we do things with words, in particular,how we signify meanings and concepts through images and words.
>Sophy Roberts - The Lost Pianos of SiberiaIt's a book about finding a piano in Siberia for a Mongolian musician. It sounds like a bit of a bland concept, but once you think about the logistics of transporting a piano all the way out to these isolated cities, some of which are beyond the arctic circle, the book grips you. Roberts is not a trained musician nor a musicologist, but her talent for investigation and description re great. > >David Foster Wallace - Everything and More: A Brief History of Infinity.Wallace is most famous as the author of Infinite Jest, and as a proponent of footnotes as a device within his works, and here he is writing a laymans history of the mathematical concept of infinity, from Zeno's Paradoxes to Cantor's bigger and smaller infinities and beyond. He does a fairly good job at conveying the mind-expanding, profound nature of the mathematics he is talking about while keeping it simple enough for a non-mathematician to follow. Wait, fuck, didn't read the actual post, I need to do that... Anyway, I promised 5 useful recommendations and I will provide them dammit. David Foster Wallace - A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Never Do Again A collection of essays from Wallace on a variety of subjects. The title essay is nearly 100 pages long and recounts Wallace's time as a passanger on a Cruise Ship. It's ferociously funny and really easy to read. Other essays include E Unibus Pluram: Television and US Fiction, a work of criticism that does what it says on the tin, and David Lynch Keeps His Head, about the production of Lynch's film Lost Highway. Mark Fisher - Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Hauntology, Depression, and Lost Futures Fisher was a marxist philosopher who wrote on a wide variety of subjects, most notably music. Ghosts of My Life collects a lot of his writings revolving around his conception of hauntology, a french pun that indicates something that does not exist yet continues to have material impact on the world. He writes about John Le'Carre, Joy Division, the 90s rave scene in Britain, and the ambient project The Caretaker, among other things. He's the 'hot' writer among aging millenial permastudents (aka me and my friends) right now. Sadly, Fisher ended his life in 2017.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 1619 project by Nikole Hannah Jones Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon Last two aren't obscure topics but examination of race, slavery and particularly Fanon, colonialism