To ask you to name-drop your favourite non-fiction books?

[Blinketyblink]

Just that really - please and thanks!

oops - didn't mean to enable voting

Life on the Edge by Jim Al-khalil and Johnjoe McFadden is my all time favourite.

I love travel writing. Some is better than others.
But one of the best is Attention All Shipping by Charlie Conolley. (sp?) and another good one is Travels with my Donkey by Tim Moore.

And for popular science, We Need To Talk about Kelvin by Marcus Chown

*Al-Khalili

arg - forgot my absolute favourite: How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt.

www.amazon.com/How-Climb-Mont-Blanc-Skirt/dp/1851688412?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

The log from the sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck. Biographical.

The Unfinished Palazzo by Judith Mackrell, about the three famous women who in turn inhabited the building that became the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Spellbinding, fascinating and such glamour.

Stasiland by Anna Funder, about life in the GDR.

The Victorian House by Judith Flanders - she goes through every room in a Victorian house in turn, full of amazing insights into life in that era.

Notes from deep time by Helen Gordon
It's the story of geological time. I loved it.

If you like travel writing, The World's Worst Journey by Aspley Cherry Garrard is fascinating.

A bit of a stretch - autobiography about time in prison

The Discovery of the Titanic by Robert Ballard

Not Tonight Mr Right by Kate Taylor. Funniest self-help book I’ve ever read.

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet

The Sports Gene by David Epstein

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I had no interest in running at the time but it completely hooked me.

Fragile by Nikki Grahame- I’ve read so many biographies but this one really affected me. The stuff about her treatment for anorexia as a child both horrified me and sparked an interest in the treatment of eating disorders.

Some great suggestions so far - I have added several to my amazon wish list - thank you!

Any more for any more?

@foobio

A bit of a stretch - autobiography about time in prison

Would second this recommendation!

House of Glass by Hadley Freeman. Just a brilliant book.

Freakonomics - popular economics
Invisible Women - data science
Notes from a Small Island - travel
Operation Ironman - autobiography/ self help

Horse Boy

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Caradwine.

Home by Julie Myerson- bit of a stretch as non fiction plus some fictional parts but I really enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the Charles Dickens biography by Claire Tomalin

The Less You Know, The Sounder You Sleep by Juliet Butler. Biography of Russian conjoined twins born under Stalin's Terror regime. Based on interviews with the sisters. Very moving and there's something revealed at the end that I found so beautiful it's stayed with me for years.

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold. The stories of the five victims of Jack the Ripper. Brings them to life and is a fascinating insight into how tough life was for women at that time. Loved that the author barely mentions their murder/murderer, it's the women she wants to bring alive to us.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. A very witty, clever look at all the shit we are expected to believe these days by people who manage to spout it out with a straight look on their face. If you ever find yourself saying "bollocks" and rolling your eyes at skincare ads or people who insist on drinking 7 pints of blueberry juice "anti-oxidents innit" then this is a good read.

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys - Viv Albertine
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
How to Make the World Add Up - Tim Harford
The Life Project - Helen Pearson
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
A Spy Among Friends - Ben Macintyre
Educated - Tara Westover
With the End in Mind - Kathryn Mannix
I Am, I Am, I Am - Maggie O'Farrell
This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health - Nathan Filer
Mindfxck - Christopher Wiley
Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Caitlin Doughty
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me - Kate Clanchy
The Dark Side of the Mind - Kerry Daynes

I also love Attention All Shipping!

Into Thin Air and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer are also pretty magnificent. His writing is so good. I think he could make even the most mundane of subjects interesting.

I also adore A Year in Provence. An oldie, but a goodie.