I just wanna learn. Doesn’t matter how insignificant it may seem. Maybe it’s about biker gangs or cartels and how they operate. Maybe it’s about corruption in religious institutions or the government. Could just be a book about animals or bugs. I’ll take a look
at anything you found interesting. This can include historical fictions.
by returnal22
14 Comments
Read **Black Pill** by Elle Reeve.
Was the best book I read last year, by a mile. And it was so eye-opening. I don’t want to spoil it for you but it explains how we got to where we are, and it’s entertaining as heck.
I love Mary Roach for just this kind of writing. She covers all kinds of topics. My favorite book of hers is “Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers”. It’s about what happens to bodies that are donated to science.
Zoobiquity by Natterson Horowitz,
The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher,
Being Wrong Adventures on the Margin of Error,
How Big things get done by Bent Flybverg,
Algorithms to Live by,
Because Internet by Gretchen McCollough,
Cadillac Desert,
Gangsters vs Nazis,
Any book by Oliver Sacks but especially the Man Who Mistook his Wife for a hat.
Any book by Frans de Waal about primates.
The Body Keeps The Score changed my life. Also, more recently, On Tyranny has been informative.
Unfollow by Megan-Phelps Roper. Her life in, and eventual departure, from the Westboro Baptist Church.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Evolution is such a good subject for just learning new, amazing things.
*The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany* by William L. Shirer. It has a 4.22 average rating on GoodReads. It’s my favourite non-fiction title and is the best book on the subject I’ve personally ever read. The author was an American war correspondent who was almost captured by the Gestapo in 1940.
Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey. Nothing can’t give you a better sense of radiation and nuclear power while also being absolutely hilarious. The footnotes may be my all-time favorite non-fic.
The Falcon Thief. I had no idea that some bird eggs were so valuable. How do people obtain them, the risks, how do they transport them and what happens when caught?!
King Rat, by Clavell. What life was like inside a tropical prison.
I’m about to start invisble women by Caroline Criado Perez. I’m glad you posted this. So many good responses so far. And pretty much all of Mary Roach is amazing. Laugh out loud funny and I have learned so much from her
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. As a product of the American education system, I had little to no idea about the history between Japan and Korea. In addition to it being a great novel, I found the historical elements fascinating.
The End of Night: Searching for dark in an age of artificial light by Paul Bogard. It’s about the dark-sky movement and includes great info on how darkness affects us and nature, the history of increased light in urban areas, and uses the darkness scale to structure the book in an interesting and lovely way. Highly recommend.
Also, The House of Rain by Craig Childs. It’s about indigenous americans and not written by one, but it was a gateway of sorts for me to become more knowledgeable, interested in, and inspired by indigenous cultures. He investigates and explores the ideas around the “disappearance” of the “Anazazi” through personal journeys, interviews, and other research. It’s a hefty book but I couldn’t put it down.
And – “Helgoland” by Carlo Rovelli. It’s an accessible, enjoyable read about quantum physics.
Cultural Amnesia by Clive James! Plethora of info and critique, chapters of varying length which was just about right to prevent me getting bored.
Or Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Anything medieval by Ian Mortimer.