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Both informative and entertaining, these books not only teach but help us to question our beliefs about the world.
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A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
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4.01 avg rating — 894,447 ratings
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| 2 |
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
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4.22 avg rating — 420,208 ratings
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| 3 |
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Socialism Is Dead! Long Live Socialism!: The Marx Code—Socialism with a Human Face:
by
Todor Bombov (Goodreads Author)
4.29 avg rating — 11,334 ratings
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| 4 |
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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
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4.06 avg rating — 238,941 ratings
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| 5 |
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Outliers: The Story of Success
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4.19 avg rating — 860,962 ratings
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| 6 |
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Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
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4.04 avg rating — 454,501 ratings
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| 7 |
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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4.34 avg rating — 1,246,398 ratings
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| 8 |
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by
Rebecca Skloot (Goodreads Author)
4.13 avg rating — 800,383 ratings
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| 9 |
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In Cold Blood
by
4.09 avg rating — 724,791 ratings
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| 10 |
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The Communist Manifesto
by
3.68 avg rating — 196,030 ratings
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| 11 |
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Educated
by
Tara Westover (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 1,838,203 ratings
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| 12 |
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
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3.96 avg rating — 620,350 ratings
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| 13 |
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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by
Susan Cain (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 472,861 ratings
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| 14 |
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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
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4.07 avg rating — 443,432 ratings
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| 15 |
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
by
Erik Larson (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 754,180 ratings
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| 16 |
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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
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3.75 avg rating — 206,475 ratings
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| 17 |
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The Glass Castle
by
Jeannette Walls (Goodreads Author)
4.33 avg rating — 1,352,669 ratings
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| 18 |
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Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
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3.95 avg rating — 268,865 ratings
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| 19 |
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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by
Jon Krakauer (Goodreads Author)
4.26 avg rating — 564,082 ratings
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| 20 |
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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
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3.65 avg rating — 195,286 ratings
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| 21 |
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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3.92 avg rating — 294,061 ratings
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| 22 |
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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
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4.01 avg rating — 852,204 ratings
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| 23 |
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Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
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4.34 avg rating — 165,970 ratings
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| 24 |
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The Diary of a Young Girl
by
4.20 avg rating — 4,158,184 ratings
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| 25 |
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The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by
Michael Pollan (Goodreads Author)
4.19 avg rating — 210,049 ratings
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| 26 |
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The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World
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4.47 avg rating — 1,664 ratings
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| 27 |
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Quantum Energetics and Spirituality Volume 1: Aligning with Universal Consciousness
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4.39 avg rating — 1,548 ratings
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| 28 |
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Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers
by
Lois P. Frankel (Goodreads Author)
3.67 avg rating — 19,782 ratings
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| 29 |
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Night
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4.38 avg rating — 1,355,091 ratings
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| 30 |
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To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism
by
4.16 avg rating — 593 ratings
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| 31 |
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The Law
by
4.34 avg rating — 14,087 ratings
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| 32 |
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Columbine
by
Dave Cullen (Goodreads Author)
4.29 avg rating — 102,001 ratings
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| 33 |
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The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
by
4.48 avg rating — 354,431 ratings
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| 34 |
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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
by
4.26 avg rating — 101,761 ratings
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| 35 |
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Walden or, Life in the Woods
by
3.77 avg rating — 203,572 ratings
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| 36 |
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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by
Cheryl Strayed (Goodreads Author)
4.07 avg rating — 863,082 ratings
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| 37 |
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Seabiscuit: An American Legend
by
4.23 avg rating — 168,150 ratings
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| 38 |
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)
by
4.30 avg rating — 578,258 ratings
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| 39 |
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The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.
by
4.35 avg rating — 13,780 ratings
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| 40 |
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
by
4.05 avg rating — 244,846 ratings
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| 41 |
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Utopia
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3.55 avg rating — 82,598 ratings
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| 42 |
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Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy
by
4.16 avg rating — 17,644 ratings
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| 43 |
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Gulag: A History
by
4.28 avg rating — 13,531 ratings
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| 44 |
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Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
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4.19 avg rating — 373,707 ratings
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| 45 |
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Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
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3.85 avg rating — 60,118 ratings
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| 46 |
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Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by
4.30 avg rating — 232,756 ratings
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| 47 |
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The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
by
3.95 avg rating — 157,093 ratings
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| 48 |
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The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
by
Joe Conason (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 1,121 ratings
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| 49 |
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by
4.15 avg rating — 176,563 ratings
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| 50 |
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Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by
3.97 avg rating — 74,655 ratings
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| 51 |
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Moneyball
by
4.27 avg rating — 143,830 ratings
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| 52 |
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The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing
by
4.20 avg rating — 1,260 ratings
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| 53 |
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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
4.34 avg rating — 316,358 ratings
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| 54 |
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
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4.05 avg rating — 112,987 ratings
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| 55 |
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
by
4.20 avg rating — 88,831 ratings
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| 56 |
|
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
by
David Grann (Goodreads Author)
3.90 avg rating — 109,809 ratings
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| 57 |
|
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
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4.24 avg rating — 24,257 ratings
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| 58 |
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The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus
by
4.16 avg rating — 121,068 ratings
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| 59 |
|
In a Sunburned Country
by
4.07 avg rating — 121,359 ratings
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| 60 |
|
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
by
4.26 avg rating — 10,366 ratings
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| 61 |
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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
by
4.39 avg rating — 993,420 ratings
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| 62 |
|
When Breath Becomes Air
by
4.41 avg rating — 797,723 ratings
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| 63 |
|
AI Doctor: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - A Guide for Users, Buyers, Builders, and Investors
by
4.28 avg rating — 7,099 ratings
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| 64 |
|
Just Love Her
by
Raz Mihal (Goodreads Author)
4.30 avg rating — 5,662 ratings
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| 65 |
|
Man's Search for Meaning
by
4.37 avg rating — 865,942 ratings
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| 66 |
|
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
by
3.99 avg rating — 98,297 ratings
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| 67 |
|
The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil
by
Michael Malice (Goodreads Author)
4.42 avg rating — 2,072 ratings
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| 68 |
|
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
by
4.26 avg rating — 8,785 ratings
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| 69 |
|
Why Socialism Works
by
4.25 avg rating — 463 ratings
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| 70 |
|
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
by
Richard P. Feynman (Contibutor)
4.26 avg rating — 216,830 ratings
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| 71 |
|
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
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3.78 avg rating — 13,996 ratings
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| 72 |
|
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 134,192 ratings
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| 73 |
|
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by
3.84 avg rating — 121,554 ratings
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| 74 |
|
What Is to Be Done?
by
4.09 avg rating — 5,140 ratings
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| 75 |
|
The Captive Mind
by
4.27 avg rating — 4,894 ratings
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| 76 |
|
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
by
Erik Larson (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 218,881 ratings
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| 77 |
|
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
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3.95 avg rating — 60,156 ratings
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| 78 |
|
Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
by
4.40 avg rating — 9,166 ratings
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| 79 |
|
The Age of AI and Our Human Future
by
3.44 avg rating — 5,283 ratings
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| 79 |
|
Self-Reliance and Other Essays
by
4.12 avg rating — 20,466 ratings
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| 81 |
|
American Marxism
by
4.16 avg rating — 4,454 ratings
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| 82 |
|
The Selfish Gene
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
4.16 avg rating — 191,925 ratings
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| 83 |
|
John Adams
by
4.08 avg rating — 376,772 ratings
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| 84 |
|
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by
4.30 avg rating — 122,990 ratings
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| 85 |
|
The Story of My Life
by
4.07 avg rating — 150,846 ratings
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| 86 |
|
Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions
by
4.03 avg rating — 944 ratings
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| 87 |
|
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
by
Greg McKeown (Goodreads Author)
4.06 avg rating — 129,868 ratings
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| 88 |
|
Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America
by
4.26 avg rating — 877 ratings
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| 89 |
|
Modern Romance
by
3.80 avg rating — 189,786 ratings
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| 90 |
|
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics (Politics of Place, #1)
by
4.19 avg rating — 115,424 ratings
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| 91 |
|
Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World
by
3.81 avg rating — 3,208 ratings
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| 92 |
|
The State and Revolution
by
4.26 avg rating — 18,348 ratings
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| 93 |
|
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by
Steven Johnson (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 56,030 ratings
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| 94 |
|
The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values
by
Brian Christian (Goodreads Author)
4.34 avg rating — 4,825 ratings
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| 95 |
|
The Naked Communist
by
4.30 avg rating — 1,585 ratings
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| 96 |
|
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
by
4.18 avg rating — 50,820 ratings
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| 97 |
|
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by
Barbara Demick (Goodreads Author)
4.46 avg rating — 98,950 ratings
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| 98 |
|
Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days
by
4.31 avg rating — 1,384 ratings
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| 99 |
|
Assassination Vacation
by
3.93 avg rating — 47,213 ratings
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| 100 |
|
AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future
by
Kai-Fu Lee (Goodreads Author)
3.84 avg rating — 5,498 ratings
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Mia
1808 books
12 friends
12 friends
Greyweather
2660 books
65 friends
65 friends
Rindee
292 books
139 friends
139 friends
Cynthia
606 books
22 friends
22 friends
Liane
930 books
13 friends
13 friends
Roberta
2491 books
20 friends
20 friends
Dorothy
3569 books
54 friends
54 friends
Marilyn
399 books
14 friends
14 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-11 of 11 (11 new)
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by
Roberta
(new)
Jan 23, 2010 05:52PM
This is a great list. I love non-fiction so will be able to use it as a guide. I don't know how to add a book but would like to reccomend Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris by Michael Allin.
reply
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flag
Great list! Some non-fiction is just so utterly boring . . thank you for creating such a wonderful list.
You add books at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."However, if you are the author I believe that is no longer possible; too many authors were abusing the privilege.
I read a ton of non fiction, I have added my limit of 100 books.
@StaceySaid it before and I'll say it again: As you share the same first name with the author, I can't escape the notion that you might be one and the same person?
# 757 The Woman in White and # 797 A Darkness Absolute are both fiction, as are #1014 Still Life, #1027 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and #1089 Murder on the Orient Express.#1181 The Great Gatsby (THE great American NOVEL!!!)
21 duplicates found and removedI’ll start in the next days removing fiction, appreciable any listings (less books to check it if I know for sure it’s fiction :-D)
Agnieszka wrote: "21 duplicates found and removedI’ll start in the next days removing fiction, appreciable any listings (less books to check it if I know for sure it’s fiction :-D)"
Murder on the Orient Express is fiction.
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