Name a nonfiction book that had you utterly hooked very early on.
I tend to struggle if a book doesn’t draw me in quickly. I know some books are a slow burn and worth the early effort, but I want to hear about the ones that grabbed you early on and held you until the end! 😊
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Sucks you in from the get go and you’ll find yourself incredibly curious as to why on earth a mom would toss a five year old out of a moving car.
BigOunce694208642498 on
The river of doubt
tapastiwari on
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
SkyOfFallingWater on
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
Guilty-Coconut8908 on
In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Jealous-Swan7003 on
Evicted by Mathew Desmond. Also, The Body by Bill Bryson.
macaronipickle on
Deep by James Nestor
fuzzybunnyslippers08 on
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
BearGrowlARRR on
We Die Alone by David Howarth
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
buksrevenge on
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
Dense, yet compelling.
TheSpicyTriangle on
When breath becomes air
LonesomeComputerBill on
Killers of the Flower Moon
semprevivachapada on
The Library Book, by Susan Orlean
mandyjomarley on
The Indifferent Stars Above
onlosmakelijk on
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone
krusty_venture on
Africa Is Not A Country by Dipo Faloyin. A wonderfully contextualized, accessible and monumental piece of work, providing an overview of African history and culture that should be standard in the American (or any) education system.
shantti on
Heavy, an American Memoir
Ordered it and decided to read a few pages to see what it was about, didn’t put it down for 4 hours.
It’s an amazing true story of survival, the toughest decision anyone should ever be forced to make, and aftermath of that decision.
Main-Group-603 on
The diary of Anne Frank
hrcules-28 on
The Glass Castle
Top_Initiative9990 on
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Bergenia1 on
Any Bill Bryson book.
LooseDoctor on
Everything by Ann Rule tbh, also Midnight at Chernobyl is incredible
chick-fil-a_sauce on
Educated by Tara Westover
VibeyMars on
Crying in H Mart
RitchMondeo on
Bad blood
cactuskiwicactus on
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari.
Possibly the best non fiction book I’ve ever read. Couldn’t put it down. Very informative but told in a story book type way, not like an encyclopaedia.
vankamperer on
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
eleventhjam1969 on
With The Old Breed: On Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge
Sledge was a mortarman with the 1st Marine Div and fought through two of the bloodiest battles of the war: Peleliu and Okinawa. It is the finest war memoir ever written imo.
“*To the non-combatants and those on the periphery of action, the war meant only boredom or occasional excitement, but to those who entered the meat grinder itself the war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely as casualties mounted and the fighting dragged on and on. Time had no meaning, life had no meaning. The fierce struggle for survival in the abyss of Peleliu had eroded the veneer of civilization and made savages of us all.”*
-Eugene Sledge
DevonSwede on
Collumbine
starvingbanker on
Invisible Women!
Mr_ETL on
Band of Brothers
YoshiofRedemption on
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. It was an amazing read and probably my favorite nonfiction book I read (that I didn’t reread) last year
Edit: added words for clarity
yeahwhatever9799 on
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
1920MCMLibrarian on
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman” a famous physicist from the 60’s talks about all the weird, interesting clever shit figured out throughout his life. It’s really interesting and engaging. I read it in high school and it inspired a lifelong interest in laymans physics. 🙂
phxxhp on
Kabloona by De Poncins
Midnight in Chernobyl by Higginbotham
Every book by Richard Grant
Kon Tiki by Heyerdahl
whatzoeythinks on
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty.
The author gets work in a crematory and learns about the death industry in America. So she learns and explores how American culture used to cope with their dead and compares how we cope with it now, leading to some provocative ideas about our death culture. It was incredibly interesting and helpful information.
43 Comments
This is going to hurt by Adam Kay
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Braiding Sweetgrass
Up from slavery
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Sucks you in from the get go and you’ll find yourself incredibly curious as to why on earth a mom would toss a five year old out of a moving car.
The river of doubt
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Evicted by Mathew Desmond. Also, The Body by Bill Bryson.
Deep by James Nestor
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
We Die Alone by David Howarth
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
Dense, yet compelling.
When breath becomes air
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Library Book, by Susan Orlean
The Indifferent Stars Above
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone
Africa Is Not A Country by Dipo Faloyin. A wonderfully contextualized, accessible and monumental piece of work, providing an overview of African history and culture that should be standard in the American (or any) education system.
Heavy, an American Memoir
Ordered it and decided to read a few pages to see what it was about, didn’t put it down for 4 hours.
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Book by Mary Roach
easy read, informative and fun!
[Touching the Void](https://www.amazon.com/Touching-Void-Story-Miraculous-Survival/dp/0060730552)
It’s an amazing true story of survival, the toughest decision anyone should ever be forced to make, and aftermath of that decision.
The diary of Anne Frank
The Glass Castle
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Any Bill Bryson book.
Everything by Ann Rule tbh, also Midnight at Chernobyl is incredible
Educated by Tara Westover
Crying in H Mart
Bad blood
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari.
Possibly the best non fiction book I’ve ever read. Couldn’t put it down. Very informative but told in a story book type way, not like an encyclopaedia.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
With The Old Breed: On Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge
Sledge was a mortarman with the 1st Marine Div and fought through two of the bloodiest battles of the war: Peleliu and Okinawa. It is the finest war memoir ever written imo.
“*To the non-combatants and those on the periphery of action, the war meant only boredom or occasional excitement, but to those who entered the meat grinder itself the war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely as casualties mounted and the fighting dragged on and on. Time had no meaning, life had no meaning. The fierce struggle for survival in the abyss of Peleliu had eroded the veneer of civilization and made savages of us all.”*
-Eugene Sledge
Collumbine
Invisible Women!
Band of Brothers
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. It was an amazing read and probably my favorite nonfiction book I read (that I didn’t reread) last year
Edit: added words for clarity
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman” a famous physicist from the 60’s talks about all the weird, interesting clever shit figured out throughout his life. It’s really interesting and engaging. I read it in high school and it inspired a lifelong interest in laymans physics. 🙂
Kabloona by De Poncins
Midnight in Chernobyl by Higginbotham
Every book by Richard Grant
Kon Tiki by Heyerdahl
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty.
The author gets work in a crematory and learns about the death industry in America. So she learns and explores how American culture used to cope with their dead and compares how we cope with it now, leading to some provocative ideas about our death culture. It was incredibly interesting and helpful information.