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

[Blinketyblink]

Just that really - please and thanks!

I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me. By Christopher Eccleston.

Highway to hell by Matt Roper. Its about child abuse in Brazilian favelas and the people trying to stop it.

I know I've had my two pennorth but I keep thinking of more and more...

Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano (Neapolitan gangsters)

Citizens by Simon Schama (French Revolution, the most interesting subject of all time for me)

The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness (the end of the Ceausescu regime in Romania)

And an endorsement for The Five, though it made me furious and heartbroken for those women.

Anything by Betty MacDonald especially The Plague and I or Onions in The Stew. They are fairly obscure, I’ve never met anyone else who’s read them but they are fabulous and hilarious.

Agreed! I particularly like The Plague and I (about life in a TB sanatorium) and Anyone Can Do Anything (about Betty's various temporary jobs during the Depression; the title refers to her sister Mary's attitude as self-appointed employment agency for her family - which resulted in some strange jobs for Betty, e.g. secretary to Murray the gangster)

If you like astronomy, The Stars: A New Way to See Them by H.A Rey makes stargazing really easy.

At Home by Bill Bryson. One of my favourite non-fiction books.

How to Walk in High Heels by Camilla Morton. A little bit dated in regards to technology, but most of the advice in there is timeless.

The Female Eunuch and The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer. Some of it is still surprisingly topical - especially the latter.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. This would be my desert island book.

Note: if you don't like an author's views and don't want to give them your money, you can buy a book of theirs second hand on EBay to avoid giving them royalties.

This may have been mentioned, haven't read all the replies, and you may well be over all things Covid, but The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis is riveting.

He also wrote The Big Short (about the sub-prime mortgage debacle). He is very good at drilling down these sorts of macro issues into reader friendly information. Really fascinating stuff.

Marsh Arabs by Wilfred Thesiger, an explorer in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

@mouche202

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

I would include most of Bill Bryson's books as well as Notes From A Small Island, Made in America is particularly good, provides lots of ammunition against those who decry 'gotten' etc as Americanisms. A Really Short History of Nearly Everything is also excellent, been referred to as the simple person's Stephen Hawkings.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, by Michelle McNamara. An obsessive hunt to find the Golden State Killer.

The Lost Cafe Schindler by Meriel Schindler

Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Answers the question 'why did Western Europe develop faster than other parts of the world?' To detail the geographic advantages and how they worked.

Into the wild/ into thin air, both by jon krakaur. Anything by bill Bryson. The immortal life of Henrietta lacks by Rebecca skloot.

Anything by Sebastian Junger. The Perfect Storm and A Death in Belmont are excellent

I would include most of Bill Bryson's books as well as Notes From A Small Island,

up to his most recent book which is kind of a follow-up to Notes on a Small Island in which he just shows that he's a grumpy ol' git.

Me again! I loved Kindred - Neanderthal life, love and art by Becky wragg Sykes.

Also Tim Flannery’s ‘Europe, the first 100 million years’, is a terrific book, which puts our time on this planet into perspective and also chronicles some really weird sounding animals.

Gorillas In The Mist by Dian Fossey. I met her at the one talk she gave in London after the book was published. She was an amazing person and I treasure my signed copy.

And

The elements of eloquence by Mark Forsyth. A very entertaining and informative book on language and how to write with impact and beauty.

What My Mother & I Don’t Talk About

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow

And

The elements of eloquence by Mark Forsyth. A very entertaining and informative book on language and how to write with impact and beauty.

Oh yes this is excellent, and The Etymologist by the same author!

Very much enjoying this thread - good idea OP

Thanks deathbypostitnote will look it up

Yes youdialwetile omnivore dilemma, another good one !

So many good recommendations and others I had forgotten about which are really great

Fiction in the Archives by Natalie Zemon Davies
Defensor Pacis by Marsilius of Padua
Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufman

Lost Connections by Johann Hari