Fun to Read and Informative Non-Fiction

[Megan]

I loved The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's like a memoir, a medical mystery and a journalistic investigation all rolled into one. Lots of interesting, heartbreaking, appalling and hopeful stuff about African American history and experience, especially related to the medical industry, and a lot of neat stuff about genetics. I highly recommend the audio book.

[Cheryl]

(edit: to clarify, Rolla does not belong to a consortium)

[PattyMacDotComma]

Oooo it makes me so mad! Stone-age indeed! Bruce Pascoe’s slim book Dark Emu: Black seeds agriculture or accident? should be required reading in schools. Fix history books.
5★ Link to my review

[PattyMacDotComma]

Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie, eat your hearts out! Josephine Baker was a fabulous, internationally famous dancer, spy, and civil rights activist. I enjoyed this lively introduction for kids by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara.
5★ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[MissLemon]

Some books I've read about different parts of the world ( with a little history thrown in!)

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon ( I think someone else mentioned this book too)

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared

The Complete Persepolis - which is a personal memoir but also an look at recent history in Iran. I don't usually like graphic novels but I found this very readable.

[PattyMacDotComma]

These are two great kids' non-fiction books about their favourite subjects: dinosaurs and sharks! And full of the facts they love to stun grown-ups with. I included lots of screen shots so you can see what you're getting and what kids are learning. (Be honest - you are learning, too.)

The real books come with kits to build skeletons - good fun, I bet.
Monster Sharks: Megalodon and Other Giant Prehistoric Predators of the Deep

5★ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and Jurassic Giants: T. rex and Other Prehistoric Predators

4.5★ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[PattyMacDotComma]

If you liked "Where's Wally" and the tiny details in the Richard Scarry children's books, or those great little cartoon tourist maps with all the landmarks, I bet you'd enjoy Egypt Magnified: With a 3x Magnifying Glass. History made fun. Just delightful!
5★ Link to my review with pictures

(I apologise that sometimes pictures don't show in the app.)

[PattyMacDotComma]

I knew some, but not all, of the Super Scientists: 40 inspiring icons featured in this attractively designed book of historical facts for kids (and ignorant people like me).
Link to my review with illustrations

[PattyMacDotComma]

Why does Australia treat refugees on Manus almost as badly as POWs were treated on WW2's infamous Burma Railway? Inexcusable!
No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Iranian Kurd refugee Behrouz Boochani is already winning awards.
5★ Link to my review

[STEPHEN]

Last Call by Daniel Okrent- The story of alcohol in America

[PattyMacDotComma]

Sydney's famous Mardi Gras begins on Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd reintroduce this wonderful memoir by Chris Edwards, a man who started life as a determinedly reluctant little girl.
Balls: It Takes Some to Get Some is both fascinating and funny!
5★ Link to my review

[Erin]

Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City was fantastic. It read like a novel and was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2016, which I thought to be very well-deserved.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Daytona to Dakar! This is one that car racing fans will buy for their kids because they really want it for themselves. : )
Fast Forward by Adam Skinner covers major tracks, drivers, cars, and even incidents around the world.
Link to my review (with lots of pictures)

[PattyMacDotComma]

If only the world would learn the lessons of the late Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and renowned teacher and peace activist. Ariel Burger was his student and friend, now a teacher himself. His Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom is a must-read.
5★ Link to my review

[STEPHEN]

1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar by Eric Burns- very well written overview of some of the events post-WWI, that makes connections between the mass media of the decade to today's glut of media sensationalism.

[Jamie]

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

The Murder of King Tut

Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916

Color: A Natural History of the Palette

[Betsy]

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - It's probably been recommended before but I really fell in the love with the writing of this book. It was like a thriller, even though you knew the ending!


Lab Girl - Hope Jahren tells her own personal story, intercepting every other chapter with a short and exciting explanation about something to do with botany; how there are more leaves on a tree than hair on your head; what it's like to work (and live!) in a lab; the beauty of the things we can't see with the naked eye. It's a fantastic book because it feels so honest.



The Dreams of Women: Exploring and Interpreting Women's Dreams - This is a book I found in a charity shop – and I'm so glad I did. It's all about dreams! It's interesting to read if you're into that kind of thing. It's not telling you what your dreams mean, but rather giving you an outlet to explore how they can help you understand situations in your life and actually improve them, or at least change the way you view them.
The author began a dream group, basically, and from that she gathered many stories of women's dreams. She connects them through different themes and topics.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Yay! You're Gay! Now What?: A Gay Boy's Guide to Life is just what it says and lot more entertaining than I'd guessed.

Riyadh Khalaf is a popular YouTube activist, a colourful guy who's put all the facts and fears in this one, well-illustrated book. Celebrities, photos, cartoons!
5★ Link to my review with many pictures

[STEPHEN]

Bourbon Empire by Reid Mitenbuler- explains the history of the drink in the US, and dispels the "histories" that give bourbon its "down-home, old fashioned" aura. Very informative.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Any Ordinary Day: What Happens After the Worst Day of Your Life? Acclaimed Aussie journalist Leigh Sales has done an extraordinary job of helping people share their horror stories (I can hardly call them anything less!) so that we might understand how to cope and care. It's a page-turner of a different kind.

4★ Link to my review

[E.R.]

anything by Mary Roach......she asks the questions we might think but don't ask.....my librarians recommended her

[PattyMacDotComma]

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie tells how information he and others collected to figure out how to prevent radicalisation of Muslim youth was used by Steve Bannon to give us Trump, Brexit, and militant alt-right hate groups instead! Fascinating and terrifying. Mindf*ck: Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Plot to Break the World
5★ Link to my "Mindf*ck" review

[PattyMacDotComma]

Popular Aussie journalist, radio host and author Richard Glover had an unusual childhood, which he shares in his funny, disturbing memoir Flesh Wounds. How he became such a cheerful, compassionate man is beyond me.
4★ Link to my review

[PattyMacDotComma]

My new favourite book! Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir is funny, poignant, witty, unique. The anonymous author shares her real, broken life and the wise tweets of her 81-year-old Twitter alter-ego.

"People often come to me seeking the true meaning of life, but I find they’re usually satisfied with half a sandwich." DG
5★ Link to my Duchess Goldblatt review with some of her many observations on life

[PattyMacDotComma]

Fantastic 2005 best-seller! The Glass Castle is an outstanding memoir by Jeannette Walls, who was lucky to make it to adulthood, more or less intact, despite her neglectful, nutty parents.
5★ Link to my Glass Castle review

[Donna]

I just stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for some great recommendations. Here are some of my favorites (that haven't been listed yet):

How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger. This book convinced me to drop doughnuts in favor of broccoli, so I have to recommend it to everyone.

American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer. This book will take you on an eye opening look at companies running prisons for profit. You'll think about this long after you read it.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. This is a (mostly) blame free look at the bias women face on an everyday basis. These are not the blatantly evident facts, but the tiny little ways that the world truly is designed with men in mind. The ways that can eventually kill women in car crashes, in hospitals, after natural disasters, and after a winter snowfall. Fascinating stuff to consider!

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them A very informative look at plagues throughout history. Maybe you won't want to read it during the COVID-19 issues, but I loved it.

The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus I don't even like mushrooms, let alone truffles, so why I chose to read this book, I'll never know. (Ok, I know...I just don't want to admit that I DO sometimes choose books for their covers.) If you've ever wondered how that elusive little truffle finds its way from the forest to your plate, you'll love this book, which reads a lot like fiction.

[Kirsten]

One of my favorite non-fiction writers is Mary Roach. She writes really funny science non-fiction like Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

[Barbara]

A long time ago, I read a book called "Big Sugar." It was about growing and harvesting of sugar cane, how it is one of the hardest jobs in the world. But it had a lot of anecdotes that were very funny, very insightful into the sugar industry - not at all dry and all statistics. The author's name was Wilkinson.
I also remember reading a book called "Dark Carnival" about a film maker named Tod Browning. Most people don't know him but he was very famous in the 20s and 30s and a little beyond mostly for creepy movies. The one most people know about is "Freaks."
The author's name was Skal.

[Amanda]

Truly anything by Michael Lewis. I don't remotely care about baseball or football, but I adored Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and The Blind Side.

[Woman Reading]

I had just finished this - Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig

This book is on track to become one of my top nonfictions of the year. And it was also a good "sideways" approach to learning US presidential history through the perspective of those charged with protecting them.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4031759560

[Mimi]

Like someone mentioned before, the Horrible History books by Terry Deary are fun.

Quick biographies, also aimed at middle grade (or a great starting point to find out about historic figures for grown-ups), in the "Who was...?" series, by various authors
Who Was Muhammad Ali?

And for kids: the Magic Schoolbus Series, on a range of topics.

More for grown-ups:
biography as graphic novel. Entertaining, yet detailed information


short biographical essays on various writers

Vicki León writes short bios on (in)famous women throughout history.

interesting bio on the painter Rockwell

another graphic novel biographic episode in George Takei´s life, concerning the internment camps in the USA.


Engaging look at the history of banana trade, with an excursion into the biology of the plant, and the social, economic and political impact. Captivating read.


A chronology of the building of Walt Disney World in Florida, a nuanced and informative read.

[Jennifer]

I read "Banana" -- it's surprising how fragile bananas as a species are considering how prevalent they are in our society! That was a good read.

Adding the Disney book. I'm a Floridian, I'm sure it's a rite of passage I've been ignoring lo these 40 years...

[Woman Reading]

I included my top 10 nonfictions in my annual recap.
For 2021 highlights and recommendations -- www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4429516905