What's the best non fiction book you've read this year?

[Squishedpickle]

Hi, I'm looking for some recommendations for good non fiction books please. What book have you read recently that have been interesting and engaging? No particular topic, just looking to broaden my horizons a bit.

Thanks!

Another vote for Invisible Women here - everyone should read it!

The World I Fell Out Of - Melanie Reid.

I'm looking forward to reading Invisible Women - the only reason I haven't yet is it's part of my Science Book Prize display at work and I felt bad about taking it out myself so soon!

It's not a recent one, but Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It's a first person account of an ill-fated expedition climbing Mount Everest. I have no interest in mountaineering or any kind of sporting/endurance endeavours, but I was gripped.

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, amazing insight into the disappearance of Jean McConville and the events which surrounded it during The Troubles. So fascinating

I have a feeling if I read Invisible Women I would screech fury at it for cherry picking scientific literature. Some of the reviews on Amazon say as much.

Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd was also great - it's the grizzly but often tender memoir of a forensic pathologist.

Say nothing - a true story of murder and memory in northern Ireland.

I struggle to explain how good this is. But if you're aware you don't know that much about the Troubles this is an excellent place to start. There are thriller novels that are less gripping to read and you'll learn a lot that some people active in politics today probably don't want you to know either.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick about life in North Korea
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein, a biography of a remarkable cleaner
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn about walking the south west coast path

Also recommend Invisible Women - think it's my favourite read this year.

Crosspost with @pigaletta !

Invisible Women - my book of the decade.

Saw CCP talking yesterday at an event in Cambridge. She is extraordinary. The book is impeccably referenced and, yes, cherry picks, but covers such a broad spectrum of topics and on a global scale that there is lots left out. I read it slowly because I had to stop and scream so often at the sheer unfairness being demonstrated.

With the End in Mind by Katherine Mannix.

All That Remains by Sue Black who’s a forensic anthropologist. Stories of murders/deaths of individuals and how she helped the police with prosecutions and also major disasters like Kosovo mass graves, Thailand tsunami.

Travels in the Third Reich.

Made all the stuff I learnt at GCSE/A level engaging and in context.

Another vote for invisible women. Eye-opening just how much women are ignored. (And makes you think about things you've never even considered).
Should be read by everyone.

Wilding by Isabella Tree is v good even if you know nothing about farming, it's about returning land to nature, but very interesting.
The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray. All the present day issues covered in one book!

I forgot about The Shipwreck Hunter by David Mearns.

Game of Queens by Sarah Gristwood, about the women who dominated 16th century European politics
24 hours in Ancient Rome by Philip Matyszak, the daily life in Rome shown through an hour in the life of 24 ordinary people living and working in Rome in AD 137.

I liked Just Mercy too.

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Invisible Women
This is Going to Hurt
Educated
A Journey (Blair's autobiography - not a well.written book but his description of the death of Diana and also the drawing up of the GFA are fascinating).

Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell. Am about to start the sequel, Confessions of a Bookseller. Diaries of the world's most cantankerous bookseller from Wigtown.

Just need to finish A Chip Shop in Poznan by Ben Aitken. Author moves to Poland on a whim just before the Brexit referendum. Couple of chapters to go but I loved it.

Highly recommend all three, even though I've not actually read one of them yet.

The Adam Kay one
The Jeremy Vine one (I'm not good on titles!). He annoys me on the radio but the book was really funny.

The class ceiling by sam Friedman and someone else!

Wild by Cheryl Strayed, an account of her trek across the US Pacific Coast Trail. Moving, empowering, brutally honest and funny. Made into a film starring Reese Witherspoon.

Another vote for Just Mercy. Probably the best non-fiction I’ve read in years. A well written, gripping book about the disgraceful inequality in the Alabama criminal justice system. I think there’s a film based on it to be released soon.