What’s the best non fiction book you’ve read ?

[Dayrider]

In the last year and/or ever?
Looking for inspiration

Educated by Tara Westover is my best ever non-fiction book

Other good ones:

• I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
• anything by Bill Bryson
• Quiet by Susan Cain
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Also currently reading Sapiens which is very good so far.

Ooh, great recommendations!

H is for Hawk by Helen someone - about grief.

Now All Roads Lead to France - biography of a poet, by Matthew Holles (I think), who is himself a poet.

Walk in Woods by Bill Bryson

Blackout by Candace Owens.

I really enjoyed Matthew Walker's book Why We Sleep

Another vote for Katherine Graham's autobiography.

This is Not About Me, a memoir by Scottish writer Janice Galloway

Stasiland - stories from behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder. I've just finished it and it was brilliant. Beautifully written.

The Damage Done by Warren Fellows. Harrowing and very sad, but so well written.
I also loved Michael J Fox's autobiography. He is an excellent writer.

A second recommendation for Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. Like PP said. About fungi. It will blow your mind.

The Spy and the Traitor. I’m not into spy stuff is usually but this book was so gripping right from the start, I couldn’t believe it was real.

Whoever said Stasiland - yes! Hardly come across anyone else who has read it. Gripping and shocking and it's one of the few non fiction books I re-read.

James Rebanks - the shepherds life. Just wonderful, so engaging and descriptive.

Home by Bill Bryson, it's so interesting and easy to read.
Spike Milligan's war diaries.
Jason Byrnes autobiography, I've read it 3 times and still laugh.
David Thorne books.

Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown.

Wild Swans, by Jung Chang.

Anne Frank’s diary

Chocolate Wars - Deborah Cadbury. Fascinating account of the history of chocolate, the social history of Quakerism and how it is closely associated with the traditional British chocolate dynasties, industrial espionage…

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

The Gift of Fear
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (both about recognising abuse/danger)
Missoula - by John Krakaeur about the rape culture in American university towns and the justice system. Harrowing but enlightening

Oops At Home by Bill Bryson

Another one, Spy Amongst Friends by Ben Macintyre. It’s a different look at Kim Philby and his relationships with his friends and how the friendships were completely asymmetric. From their side, they were sincere and deep friendships of long-standing, from his they were just mechanisms to enable his spying for Russia. It’s an easy read and an interesting character study.

East West Street by Philippe Sands
About the development, mainly during the Nuremberg Trials, of concepts such as crimes against humanity and genocide, interwoven with the life stories of the two extraordinary men who developed them. Absolutely gripping and unput downable as Sands uncovers his own family history and of the two Nuremberg lawyers.

I also enjoy anything by Mary Beard, informative and presented in a warm readable style.

Mad, bad and dangerous to know by Ranulph Feinnes. What an incredible man

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Thirding “Becoming” by Michelle Obama
And:
Better by Atul Gawunde
Do No Harm by Henry Marsh
Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd
Lost Connections by Johann Hari

Michael Palin's book about the ship Erebus, its crew and travels, "Erebus"

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts.