What was the last non fiction book you bought/ read/enjoyed?

[LemonAndAPear]

I'm always looking for non fiction recommendations and I'd appreciate any suggestions. Even if you haven't read it yet I'd be interested to know what you've bought recently.

TIA

Bessborough by Deirdre Finnerty. It recounts the stories of 3 women who had their babies in an Irish mother and baby institution and had to give their babies up for adoption, a very thought-provoking and heartbreaking read.

Thank you all so much. I'm so grateful for all of your responses and I can't wait to read as many of these as possible.

Again, I haven't read these but I picked up a few charity shop bargains today and I thought I'd share them.

Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino. (I'm especially excited about this one)
Fighting Fit: The Wartime Battle for Britain's Health by Laura Dawes
Where Do Camels Belong?: The story and science of invasive species by Ken Thompson
Girl on the Line: Life and death in the Metropolitan Police by Alice Vinten

Anything by Kate Summerscale. Love her books.

Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard. About how she discovered that trees use fungi to communicate/warn each other and send each other nutrients. Astonishing. And she weaves in her own personal/family story too (she comes from a line of loggers/timber workers, and works within the Canadian logging industry, whose 'plant fast, harvest, make money' approach is very much at odds with her idea that we should make the timber industry more organic and slow; she has a lot to fight against!). Many other scientists also scoffed at her findings and she spent some time in the academic wilderness.

The Seaweed Collector's Handbook, Miek Zwamborn. Link here www.waterstones.com/book/the-seaweed-collectors-handbook/miek-zwamborn/michele-hutchison/9781788165471 as it's easier than me trying to explain/sum up!
An absolutely gorgeous book, definitely one to read in hard copy, not on a reader.

Just My Type, Simon Garfield. About some of the world's most used fonts/typefaces. Lightly and entertainingly written but fascinating too.

A man called Ove by Fredrik Bachman. I've read it several times myself and have read it aloud to each of my kids.

Also About a Boy by Nick Hornby and Man and Boy by Tony Parsons. All make me laugh and cry.

I'm an idiot and didn't notice you said non fiction......

The river kings by Kat Jarman , a history of Vikings. Fascinating new historical knowledge from DNA , silver from the Orient and registering metal detector finds in the U.K. loads I didn't know about Vikings.
Femina by Janina Ramirez a history of some influential medieval women whom history had forgotten.
Wild Swans Jung Chan , a biography of three generations of Chinese women from foot bound concubine, to Maos long March , to cultural revolution .

Harold Bloom: Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles. I love Harold Bloom’s stuff. He was the greatest literary critic of the late 20th-century, and I agree with pretty much everything he said. He’s also a fantastic writer, with an infectious love of literature.

I’ve also re-read two non-fiction favourites recently: Robert Graves’ Goodbye to all That and Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Following! I love the sound of all these!!

Taste by Stanley Tucci. His exploration of his Italian roots and the food. If you enjoyed the Searching For Italy TV shows (highly recommended) it's tied in with that, but it's more personal.

Another one who can recommend this. Eye-opening for the way it shows how easy it was to fall through the ranks of society and end up degraded and hopeless - and also the role of the media and wider Victorian society in guiding the narrative about the Ripper victims that's been accepted as truth ever since.

Currently reading God - An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulu, about how the view of the Christian God has been created over millenia.

The Jane Austen Diet about food, exercise, etc. in Regency times.

Material Girls: why reality matters for women and girls, by Kathleen Stock. Essential reading, especially if you have daughters.

The river kings by Kat Jarman , a history of Vikings. Fascinating new historical knowledge from DNA , silver from the Orient and registering metal detector finds in the U.K. loads I didn't know about Vikings

What I especially like about that is the way she starts at the end of the historical record, not the beginning, then works back.

Another couple of good ones - Viking Britain and Viking London, both by Thomas Williams.

The Roaring Girls by Holly Kyte.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

What it? by Randall Monroe (also What if? 2)

I have quite a few of the books mentioned on my TBR pile and have put some more into my amazon basket!

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. About fungi & how they influence virtually all life.
Red Sauce Brown Sauce an oddesey by bike around the breakfasts of the British Isles.
Palace Papers by Tina Brown
Endgame by Vernon Coleman
Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes
Megathreats by Nouriel Roubini…not a uplifting read!

Taste by Stanley Tucci

Entangled Life is brilliant

The last one I bought was The King’s War by Peter Conradi and Mark Logue (follow-up to The King’s Speech) a year or so ago. The last one I read was my old copy of The High Girders by John Prebble, which I bought at an Edinburgh book fair twenty years ago. It’s about the Tay Bridge Disaster and I always enjoy it.

Bought a Biography of Queen Anne by Amanda Foreman. Thought I'd enjoy it but I'm not!

Ordered a book on Daniel Morgan (the PI murdered in a south London car park) but it seems to have got lost in the post.

Bought - and read - Revenge by Tom Bower and enjoyed it immensely!

Recently read - Witchfinders, by Malcolm Gaskill. How a society in religious, social and economic ferment triggered the most brutal witch hunt in English history.

Recently bought - Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman.

The five - the untold back stories of the 5 women killed by Jack the Ripper - its non fiction fiction if that makes sense.

Great book. Insightful, pager turner and thought provoking.

Looks like I'm not the first to recommend it!

With the End in Mind.
Powerful.