Favourite non-fiction?

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0041RRH72/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Knife Man -Great very readable book about John Hunter and the origins of modern surgery

www.amazon.co.uk/Stuff-Matters-Marvellous-Materials-Man-made-ebook/dp/B00AM7E4L2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=146

Stuff matters about modern materials and their properties and discovery.

Seconding Hygellic's suggestion of Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It was fascinating and much more readable than I first expected as it was a selection by my mum's book group and they generally choose very worthy stuff.

And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts is an astounding, chilling read.

I thought of some more that I have enjoyed:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.

I am Malala

Nomad and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I Shall Not Hate - Izzeldin Abuelaish

Feral - George Monbiot

Bumping as I'm mainly reading non-fiction just now, so will be getting some of the books recommended here.
I have recently read these and I'd recommend them all:
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower
All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot

Thanks for this thread OP, some great tips I've filed away for later! I agree with vlad, Oliver Sacks is great. My favourite is Uncle Tungsten, about his childhood passion for chemistry. I also really like Max Perutz I wish I'd made you angry earlier (about science and life) and Georgina Ferry's biography of Dorothy Hodgkin.

Krakatoa: the day the world exploded

Bad Pharma

The Blank Slate

War Paint

I could go on and on but I'll leave it there

Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban. I have no interest in sailing but found everything about this book fascinating.

Thought of some more - The Valley (about 100 years in the life of a working-class family) and The Farm, both by Richard Benson.

The Railway Man, heartbreaking, gripping, unforgettable.

Some of my favourites:

The Worst Journey in the World

Into the Silence

Fanny and Stella

I mainly read non-fiction, so have very many favourites!

I do think Experience by Martin Amis (his memoir) is an exceptional book and I keep going back to it.

There is also a little gem of a book recommended to me by a Mumsnetter some years ago - The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. It is just so brilliantly written, again I can read it again and again.

There is a biography of Peter Cook by Harry Thompson which I am very fond of. I loved Peter Cook and knew the author slightly, he died at a terribly young age.

I also read a lot of travel books - Jan Morris, Bill Bryson, Patrick Leigh Fermor.

Mine is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Highly recommend Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick.

It's an inside view of life in North Korea, collating interviews with refugees/escapees. It's been raved about on MN before, and rightly so. Absolutely gripping.

Three cups of tea by Greg Mortensen. About a mountain climber who by chance became involved in building schools for girls and kids in remote villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Very inspirational, l laughed out loud and l cried. Really recommend.

I usually go for Biographies :)

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine.

^“You’re proposing twenty hours on a boat-”
“A small boat,” added Mark.
“On violently heaving seas-”
“Probably.”
“With a three-day-old dead goat.”
“Yes.”
“I hardly know what to say.”^

The SHepherd's Life by James Rebanks. Just came out in PB, and my favourite book this year (so far) by miles.

I love anything by Bill Bryson. His travel books are good fun and make me want to see more of the world. His short history of nearly everything is far from short, but excellent.

As far as scientific is concerned, I loved 'Life at the extremes' by Frances somebody. About how different organisms cope with extreme conditions. Very interesting.

Slightly gruesome, but well written is 'Stiff'. The secret life of a cadaver. An exploration of what happens to our bodies after death, especially if donated to science etc.

As a teacher I really enjoyed reading all the Torey Hadyn books (but I think there's a fair amount of fiction in them!)

If you enjoyed Do No Harm, OP, you might also enjoy Oliver Sacks' books - The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is the best known, but Hallucinations is also excellent.
Historical - The Bolter is very good, as is '1913: In Search of the World Before The Great War'.
My go-to book when I'm not feeling well and need cheering up is Bill Bryson's At Home - it's full of interesting facts and is like reading a giant hug.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
1913, The Year Before the Storm by Florian Illies
The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund
The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle
Coming Back to Me by Marcus Trescothick'
High Hopes by Ronnie Corbett

I love crime novels. DCI Banks by Peter Robinson. So much better than the tv adaptations. Scott Cullen by Ed James. I've bought loads for my Kindle, some free, some a couple of quid. Much prefer British crime to American books.

'The Moth' is brilliant - 50 short true stories taken from a worldwide (iirc) spoken word event series.

The Skeleton Cupboard by Tanya Byron was great - stories from her psychologist training.

I loved the Mitford sisters' letters.

I read a lot of history and find anything from Antonia Fraser really interesting.

Confessions of a Sociopath sounds fascinating.

OP it's worth looking at say the last five years of the shortlist for the Samuel Johnson prize. They always have a wide range of topics included.
http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/honour/winner

Wise Guy by Nicholas Pileggi is the true story that Scorsese's film Goodfellas was based on, about a young guy rising up through the Mafia and it all going nuts. It's fascinating.

Sarah Helm's book is another to add to my reading list. On a similar theme, I also enjoyed (not sure if that is the right word) Born Survivors by Wendy Holden.

Also Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon (definitely one to get on Kindle as it is huge) and David Eagleman's books on the brain.