What is the most gripping non fiction book you have ever read?

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Looking for non fiction reads preferably in personal development. I really struggle to get into books. Any recommendations?

The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale. Fabulous funny and feisty tale of Marion Carstairs born in 1900

‘Liberated by war work in WWI, Marion reinvented herself as Joe, and quickly went on to establish herself as a leading light of the fashionable lesbian demi-monde. She dressed in men's clothes, smoked cigars and cheroots, tattooed her arms, and became Britain's most celebrated female speed-boat racer - the 'fastest woman on water'.

Yet Joe tired of the limelight in 1934, and retired to the Bahamian Island of Whale Cay. There she fashioned her own self-sufficient kingdom, where she hosted riotous parties which boasted Hollywood actresses and British royalty among their guests. Although her lovers included screen sirens such as Marlene Dietrich, the real love of Joe's life was a small boy-doll named Lord Tod Wadley, to whom she remained devoted throughout her remarkable life. She died, aged 93, in 1993.’

Babycham Night by Philip Norman. Life in the Isle of Wight in the 1950’s. More interesting than I’m making it sound!

Just bought King Leopold's Ghost.

I blane you.

I so agree with Paul Burston, he’s so brave and honest.

Years ago I found a book called The Galapagos Affair in the library. It’s about an ill-assorted bunch of people who ended up on a Galapagos island in the 1930s , some fleeing a WW1 traumatised Europe, others wanting to make money. The collision between the different incomers and the dramas that ensure make fascinating reading.

How To Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt

Attention all Shipping

Women of Steel

Predictably Irrational

Sorry, don't fit your brief, but i loved all of these
Links go to Goodreads summaries

Columbine
the whole story (tidmarsh)
the object is the way

Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse

Into thin air by Jon Krakauer. Amazing story about the mt. Everest disaster in 1995

I recommend this one too, and also this: https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/in-search-of-berlin-book-john-kampfner-9781838954840?sku=GOR013904757&gad_source=5&gad_campaignid=17428061177&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvZad3KL_kgMV5JJQBh2EaA-bEAQYASABEgIKxfD_BwE

The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven

Autobiography. Funny and fascinating..

How To Be A Victorian by Ruth Goodman

if you are interested in Victorian history and everyday life of how people lived from those working in the workhouses to the upper classes this book is absolutely fascinating. Starts with those up the earliest in the day and works through the day from all different aspects. Its easy to follow and read and you realise how influential the Victorian era still is now

Love Wild Swans and Dervla Murphy books

I recommend "Far from the Tree" by Andrew Solomon. It's about people with different types of disability, their lives within families, etc. It's much more interesting than it sounds, and very well written.
And "Homicide, A year on the killing streets" by David Simon. Following homicide detectives in Baltimore for a year. It was apparently the inspiration for "The Wire". Again, very interesting and very well written.

Another favourite is "No Picnic on Mount Kenya" - a really special book about Italian prisoners of war during WW2 planning and executing a break-out to climb Mount Kenya.