Non fiction ideas

[hazelnutlatte]

After years of mainly reading crime novels I've read a few great non fiction books recently and would like some ideas of what to read next. Genre not important as long as it's a great read and will help me learn something new. I've just finished 'Do no harm' by Henry Marsh, which is about brain surgery and I couldn't put it down. Not a topic I would normally think to read about!
So please recommend me some unputdownable non fiction.

I loved Do Not Harm so much I've read it twice. From the recommendations above I'll definitely give the Frank Gardner ones a go.

Good non fiction I've read recentlyish - H is for Hawk, A Shepherd's Life and Black Box Thinking. I'm part way through A Year of Reading Dangerously which although it's non fiction is about reading fiction so could be cheating. A book I love is All Points North by Simon Armitage but will mostly appeal to Northeners.Also like Catlin Moran's Moranthology which is a collection of her writing, a lot of her Sunday Times articles.

And thanks gonegrey for the recommendation for the Elizabeth Jane Howard biography. I love her, and have read her autobiography which is fascinating. Will definitely get this one.

Do No Harm obviously

Adding a short list of some non-fiction I've read recently:-

Dadland: A Journey Into Uncharted Territory by Keggie Carew. This is her account of her father's experiences in the SOE in WW2, and growing up with him as her dad, and into old age struggling with dementia.

Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs by Monty Don. Just lovely. Really enjoyed this.

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Short, to the point, and very good.

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon. An account of her struggles with mental health problems from childhood through to present day. Sometimes painful, some humour, uplifting. Very good.

Emma Sky's The Unravelling is a gripping account of her time in Iraq after the last war but before it got as bad again as it is now ... she was an anti-war volunteer advisor seconded from the British Council, and eventually found herself a civilian advisor to a US general. It's illuminating.

Chris Hadfield's 'An astronaut's guide to life on Earth' is a great read - one of the only books I've read more than once. It's interesting and very motivating, and is a great account of how hard he had to work to get into space.

Pompeii by Mary Beard.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck.

I've enjoyed a lot of the books mentioned here, particularly Joe Simpson and Frank Gardner. Thanks for the heads up on Ed Stafford; I will download that.

Norma Cobb's Arctic Homestead is a fascinating insight into a very harsh lifestyle. I'd also suggest Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague, a chilling overview of disease and epidemiology.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Also Homo Deus by same author

Kevin Kelly
The inevitable
And what technology wants

Been meaning to read Mindset by Carol Dweck for a while, has come up in some leadership coaching I've been having at work. Heard Henry Marsh (of Do No Harm) interviewed on the radio this week, he has a new book out which is now definitely on my list.

Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon - it's about the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley. Fascinating women with fascinating lives and the price they had to pay as women with something to say.