Hi! So i’m reading a pretty dark book right now and I need a lighthearted and non-fiction book that is maybe written like a novel? Or written in a very fun and engaging way.
Please no memoirs or autobiographies, and no books targeted at children.
The topic can be about anything fun (more examples: ballet, outer space, winter)
Thank you so much!
Fake encyclopaedias about whimsical plants or fantastical creatures are also welcome (again, ones not specifically aimed at children!)
by Tess_Maybe
7 Comments
I think you’d enjoy The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.
Gulp and Stiff by Mary Roach are both written in fun and engaging ways.
You might enjoy At Home by Bill Bryson. It’s a wonderfully written history of the everyday objects that we use in our homes. So many fascinating stories!
If you’re interested in mushrooms, there are several by Paul Stamets that are excellent. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=paul+stamets
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake is a wonderful book about fungi. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s books are also beautiful meditations on nature. Wicked Plants is all about poisonous plants.
A few years ago I read a book called The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs that I thought was informative and interesting, but there might be better books on dinosaurs out there.
The Feather Thief comes to mind. I also loved The Library Book and the Orchid Thief, both by Susan Orleans.
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne
Mayor
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach
The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution by Donald R. Prothero
My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Maxwell King
The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe
The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey
Nature Noir: A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra by Jordan Fisher-Smith (It could be read as a memoir, but if you don’t like memoirs, it doesn’t read like one. It’s more a bunch of crazy stories).
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Shark Trouble by Peter Benchley (it’s part autobiography, but not fully, it’s about sharks and his experiences with them specifically).
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
Submerged: Adventures of America’s Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team by Daniel Lenihan
Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria and Dark Descent: Diving and the Deadly Allure of the Empress of Ireland by Kevin F. McMurray
Neptune’s Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas by David Rains Wallace
Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks by Richard G. Gernicola
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal