32 Really Interesting Non-Fiction Books
Many readers tend to stick to one category. Whether it be romance, fantasy, self-help, or thrillers, it’s natural to read books similar to ones you’ve liked before. For those who typically avoid non-fiction, the complaints are often similar: there’s simply no narrative structure.
While many non-fiction books are intended to be used as reference books, there are quite a few that follow a strong narrative arc, just like fiction books. Others are so engagingly written with such interesting subject matter that they don’t necessarily need to rely on a plot. If you’re looking for engaging reads, here are 32 interesting non-fiction books.
FYI: this post contains affiliate links, but I would never link to something I don’t recommend. You can read more of my policy here.
Interesting Non-Fiction History & Culture Books
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon
Part memoir, part sociological exploration, Shine Daily podcast fave Aubrey Gordon’s first book shines as a thoughtful gem in the body positivity and fat activism space. Gordon takes the reader on a thoughtful, personal journey through the way we talk about fat people, and how we can reshape society into a more equitable and kind place. Sprinkling perfectly placed personal anecdotes through carefully chosen evidence, it’s a hard-hitting read from start to finish.
Lab Rats by Dan Lyons
After his memoir of his time at tech giant HubSpot, Disrupted, blew up, writer Dan Lyons dove deeper into the ways that the tech industry has impacted our working life in the US. Lyons provides a lot of food for thought in this book. More than just a dry, technical manual on work, Lyons’s engaging writing style and wry humor takes this book from economic treatise to something almost salacious. Regardless of whether you work in tech, this book will make you rethink work.
Cultish by Amanda Montell
Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control is the current gold standard of determining whether or not a group is a cult. Writer and linguist took this framework and studied it through her own expert lens: language. I learned so much about language and communication through this book (thought-terminating cliches 🤯). The book doesn’t focus on details of specific cults, so it’s only barely true-crime-adjacent. Nevertheless, you’ll certainly learn a lot.
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
Sometimes you read a story where people behave so abhorrently, you have to set the book down and angrily pace around. The Radium Girls is one such book. When thespian Kate Moore staged the play Radium Girls by D.W. Gregory, she realized that none of the resources she could find explored the point of view of the women affected in any direct way. So, she set out to correct that. Told almost entirely through primary sources (diaries, letters, court testimony) the story of the women who glowed will stick with you for a long time.
Pound Foolish by Helaine Olen
Probably one of the most dense books on this list, Helaine Olen explored the ways our general misunderstanding of money gets warped into a variety of scammy industries. Some of the chapters are tough reads (I still don’t really understand insurance scams on the elderly). She takes down specific financial figures, practices, and disinformation, while also teaching actual financial literacy and skepticism along the way.
Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz
Told in four separate parts, this book combines archeology and sociology into an interesting exploration of the development of urbanization. I won’t lie, I had some critiques of this book, but ultimately it was really interesting. Even the chapter on Pompeii and Herculaneum included lots of information that I (as a rando who likes history) did not know! My favorite section was the part on Angkor Wat, and the ways we misunderstand and misinterpret ancient evidence.
Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe
Radden Keefe wrote one of my favorite non-fiction books of all-time, Say Nothing. However, that account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland is far more, well, troubling, than interesting. Rogues, a collection of articles Radden Keefe has written throughout the years about various criminals, crooks, and con men, is a great read for even non-readers. Each chapter is a different article, so you can easily pick it up, put it down, and read it in whatever order you choose.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
The Internet has introduced a distinctly 21st-century fear: cancellation. As someone who hasn’t been cancelled (knock on wood), I, like many others, find public humiliation and shame fascinating. Ronson tends to focus more on the randos among us - rather than looking at celebrity cancellations, he explores the real-life impacts on the regular people whose ill-advised jokes find them in hot water. Ronson doesn’t totally solve the debate around cancellation, but he provides a lot of fascinating food for thought.
Interesting Non-Fiction True Crime Books
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
One of the main benefits to non-fiction books, in my opinion, is that authors have more space to explore the fascinating details that often get cut out of documentaries and podcasts. Even if you’ve seen other media about Elizabeth Holmes’s failed endeavor, Theranos, I strongly encourage you to read this book. As the reporter who broke the story in the Washington Post, Carreyrou’s account comes from a unique perspective. Though it was written before her trial (second edition, anyone?), this book still comprehensively covers every detail of the events leading up to Holmes’s arrest.
Furious Hours by Casey Cep
Though Harper Lee’s only work published in her lifetime was squarely fiction, a shocking southern crime story almost led to another book. After helping her good friend Truman Capote research his seminal work, In Cold Blood, Lee decided to try to write her own true crime book. Furious Hours tells two different stories: one, the case of the powerful reverend Willie Maxwell and his malicious spell on an Alabama town. The other, Lee’s struggle with fame, imposter syndrome, and creative block, remains as fascinating and sad as ever.
Justice by Dominick Dunne
As a producer, television presenter, and writer for Vanity Fair, Dominick Dunne became known for his trademark sharp wit and insider Hollywood voice. After the murder of his daughter by a stalker in 1982, Dunne rose to prominence as one of the foremost voices in crime of the late 20th century. Though Dunne’s searing excoriations occasionally missed the mark, his accounts of various famous trials in the late 20th century has a quality you don’t often find in accounts of trials: entertaining writing.
The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn
Jeff Guinn really sat himself down and said, “I’m going to write a top-to-bottom account of one of the most fascinating events of the 20th century.” While the legacy of Jonestown still has a massive impact today, most people boil it down to, “some evangelical weirdo convinced people to move to the jungle and kill themselves.” Guinn painstakingly chronicles the rise of Jim Jones’s church, The People’s Temple, in all its complicated, horrifying, mesmerizing glory.
The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson
Who knew a Victorian-era natural history museum mostly made up of birds could be the target of one of the most devastating museum heists in history?! The book is just as much about the author’s obsession with uncovering every last detail about the heist as it is about the heist itself. Anyone who’s ever gone down a 3 a.m. Wikipedia/Reddit/All That’s Interesting rabbit hole can relate.
The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
Before Theranos, before WeWork, before Uber, one of the largest companies in the United States completely collapsed in on itself. Enron was one of the fastest-growing companies in the US in the late 90s. Seemingly impervious to the dot com bubble bursting, this company made headlines everywhere, until Bethany McLean, a reporter for Fortune, asked, “okay but…what does Enron do?” That question unraveled a multi-billion dollar company and created new anti-fraud legislation. It’s a story you have to read to believe.
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
What happens when an investigative journalist moves into the scene of one of the most sensational murders in recent Italian memory? Why, he writes a book about it, of course. The true story of how Preston and Spezi found a serial killer known as “the Monster of Florence,” while being suspected of the crime themselves, is as gripping as a good thriller, only it’s completely true.
Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule
Ann Rule is to true crime what Stephen King is to horror: prolific, celebrated, dominant. While her close encounter with Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me, is undoubtedly Rule’s most famous work, I have a particular affection for Bitter Harvest. Dr. Debora Green was, by all accounts, a brilliant doctor and devoted mother. But as her marriage grew more and more troubled, her efforts to hold onto her family became more and more desperate. Green petitioned Rule to write her story, and what follows is a close account of an absolutely devastating story of infidelity, anger, and psychosis.
Interesting Non-Fiction Science Books
To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Though one of the most preeminent botanists in Canada, Beresford-Kroeger’s journey with the trees began with ancient Celtic wisdom in County Cork, Ireland. Partially a beautifully-written love letter to forests, and partially a treatise on how trees can ameliorate climate crisis, this rare book captivates as much as it teaches.
Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner
Through 5 patients, Catherine Gildiner explores the outer limits of human trauma, and the lesson that anyone is capable of healing. The stories of the patients will shock and upset you. In fact, my main criticism of the book is that some warnings about just how devastating the content is are in order. But this compulsively readable book always treats its subjects with compassion.
All We Can Save by Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson
I can’t say I’ve come across another book quite like All We Can Save. Much of the narrative on climate change is (rightfully) powerfully negative. This collection of poetry, art, and essays, doesn’t discount that narrative. However, it offers an alternate view on environmentalism: what can we save? How can our work together combine to be greater than the sum of its parts? If you need a little hope, pick up this book.
Quackery by Lydia Kang, M.D. and Nate Pederson
While this book doesn’t have the same narrative structure of some others on this list, every chapter introduces a new bizarre romp through the history of medicine. Some of the stories are shockingly recent, others preposterously old-fashioned. If you’ve got a gallows sense of humor, pick up this book.
Stiff by Mary Roach
Science historian Mary Roach often writes about big topics in an informative and interesting way. Stiff, her account of the role of cadavers in science through the years is shockingly un-macabre. At times goofy, and other times sober, this book gave me a new view of mortality and my flesh suit.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Would you believe the author’s name is only the third or fourth best thing about this book?! The Last of Us brought cordyceps to the fore in a big way, and Sheldrake is determined to protect its reputation. Neither plant, nor animal, fungi are one of the most diverse and frankly wacky living organisms on earth. It’s impossible not to be taken in by Sheldrakes clear passion for this weird phylum.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Utilizing gorgeous storytelling to its full power, Wall Kimmerer’s treatise on plants will spellbind you. As a member of the Potowatomi Nation, Wall Kimmerer spent a lifetime learning about the relationship between people and the earth that greatly influenced her career as a botanist. Once you’ve read this beautiful account of nature, you’ll want to check out her follow-up, Gathering Moss.
Interesting Non-Fiction Memoir & Biography
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.
William Clark III was a robber baron on par with Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. You may be excused for not knowing who he is, for he didn’t leave his vast fortune to build libraries or universities. Instead, Clark left most of his money to his reclusive youngest daughter. This book is Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on steroids - with a contentious court battle as the cherry on top.
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott
The book tops the list of every guide to gentle, humorous reads. Herriot (not his real name) worked as a country veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dells in the early 20th century. Each chapter tells an amusing anecdote, with overarching themes woven in masterfully, and quietly breathtaking odes to the Dells. Herriot wrote later installments to this book, including a children’s version, and they can be read in any order.
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
As one of America’s best-known horror authors, Shirley Jackson penned classic books and short stories. Despite its name, her chronicle of her life in rural Vermont rests closer to “wacky” than “terrifying” on the literary spectrum. Jackson’s wit is dry, but the narrative that emerges of her rambling family in her old, noisy house is surprisingly tender and heartfelt.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Though her time on the children’s network Nickelodeon was a flash in the pan reserved for millennial/gen Z cuspers of a limited age group, McCurdy’s searing memoir has caught the attention of wider audiences. McCurdy seamlessly blends the tender wounds inflicted by a narcissistic mother with the juicy pitfalls of child stardom and a pithy sense of humor. With no ghostwriter, you’ll be impressed by one of the biggest celebrity memoirs of our age.
The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara
If you’ve never heard of Millicent Patrick, you are forgiven. Sure, she was perhaps the first female animator at Disney, and she designed one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, but Hollywood sexism eventually got the better of her. Mallory O’Meara’s quest to track Patrick down becomes a personal mission to reverse the erasure of one of early Hollywood’s most creative minds.
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come by Jessica Pan
When introverted Jessica Pan moved to a famously unfriendly city (London), she had a stark realization: she didn’t have any friends. This memoir chronicles her year trying new things in the hopes of building a community, including visiting occupational therapists that specialize in making friends. Painfully awkward at times, Pan’s quest for community is even more relevant in a post-COVID world than it was when she wrote it in 2019.
Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart
For those who loved A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Chris Stewart has lived multiple lives, founding member of rock band Genesis, professional sheep-shearer, and writer. When he and his wife bought a remote farm in Spain, Stewart’s exploits in Andalucían living quickly proved entertaining. His account of that move will make you want to sell all your possessions and move to rural Spain so that you, too, can drive over lemons.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
By all metrics, Walls’s memoir should be one tale of distress after another. Raised by neglectful, mercurial parents, Walls and her siblings schlepped across the country on the barest whims of her father and mother. Plagued by poverty and emotional abuse, yet steeped in imagination and exploration, The Glass Castle thrums with uncanny honesty. It will make you reflect on your own family, upbringing, and relationship to creativity.
Educated by Tara Westover
As one of the youngest daughters born in a Mormon family in rural Idaho, Tara Westover grew up starkly differently from her older siblings. By the time she was born, her father’s mental illness closed the family off from the rest of the world. Until, Westover worked her way out, and went on to get her PhD from Cambridge. Be warned: Educated is far from a cheerful “you can do it!” memoir. Some parts of the book are so graphic I had to take a break, and there’s no happy ending, only a heartbreaking decision unmade. But ultimately, I feel I am better for having read it.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
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