What one non-fiction book would you love people to read?

[Yourinmyspot]

Mine is The Body by Bill Bryson. I found it fascinating and some of the facts in it are amazing, my favourite being the following.

’Every time you breathe, you exhale 25 sextillion molecules of oxygen- so many that with a day’s breathing you will in all likelihood inhale at least one molecule from the breaths of every person that has ever lived. And every person who lives from now until the sun burns out will from time to time breathe in a bit of you. At the atomic level we are in a sense eternal’.

I find that fact fascinating and oddly comforting.

Illness as metaphor by Susan Sontag. It explores the language around various health conditions/diseases and people affected by them, and the impact certain language has on the individual and wider society. Any of Sontag’s essays are great reading though.

I second Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, I read it when I was 15, it broke me

So many!

The Gift by Edith Egar (I prefer it to Viktor Frankl - Man's Search for meaning') As Edith (later also a psychotherapist) says: Each moment in Auschwitz was hell on earth. It was also my best classroom. Subjected to loss, torture, starvation and the constant threat of death, I discovered tools for survival and freedom that I continue to use every day.

I may be back (is that cheating?)

Following. Most of my non-fiction are craft related.

Henrietta Lack's cancer cells were removed from her body in the 1950s (when segregation still existed in the US) but her genome sequence wasn't published until 2013 (two years after The Immortal Life was first published).

It's not on the curriculum because in the UK we have had tight controls about the use of human cell since a) the invention of test tube babies in the 80s and b) The Alder Hey scandal in the 90s.

Ok but my point is the exploitation of her family and the lack of consent of a poor, vulnerable woman of colour's genetic material being used for profit which of course never reached her family.

HeLa cells have had a massive influence in the understanding of cell growth and biology whether it's done here in the UK or not, the point is, she didn't consent, her family haven't been adequately or proportionately compensated and that this is a pattern across science, medicine, politics and the patriarchy.

She should be a household name on a par with Rosa Parks. Her legacy should be known and her contribution should be memorialised, otherwise things will never change.

The Roses of No Man's Land by Lyn Macdonald. Absolutely fascinating stories from women who nursed in WW1 under horrific conditions.

I would highly recommend it.

Prisoners of Geography is really good, and the lsrge format youth version with the maps is also excellent!

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
It gives the biographies of the victims of Jack the Ripper and really humanises them. It shows them as real people with real lives

edited to add I see it’s been mentioned a few times already!

Great thread.

On the strength of this I've just this minute reserved "Invisible Women" at my local library.

A personal favourite, often mentioned on this thread, is Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which my late DH gave me for Christmas years ago. I treated myself to version 2 a few weeks ago and gave my first copy to my DD.

A not very nice but very important read is "Into That Darkness" by Gitta Sereny, an account of her interviews with Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka.

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. An absolutely brilliant book about the troubles in Northern Ireland.

I found Invisible Women too data heavy and dry so gave up halfway through. Perhaps should try again.

Loved The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks when I read it many years ago.

Also loved Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd, the UK's leading forensic pathologist (now retired). Fascinating insights into some very high-profile cases.

The Psychopath Test

Well I'm mostly just posting so I can find this wonderful thread again, but if you haven't read it I'd really recommend adding The Dressmakers of Auschwitz to your list. A very different perspective on the Holocaust.

No more normal: mental health in an age of over diagnosis.

Oh and The Authority Gap

King Leopold’s Ghost. Brutal reckoning of the Belgian plunder of the Congo and yes, the heart of darkness. Took me a few gos, it’s not an easy read.

Another vote for Invisible Women, about all the data gaps and how it affects products and policy. The chapter on seat belts, and the fact that the car industry is completely aware is shocking. Caroline Criando-Perez also has a good newsletter.

The Case Against Sugar, by Gary Taubes. All about the history of sugar and processed carbs in general, and how it affects the body. A very good read.

The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith

this book is excellent and was one of the catalysts in opening the eyes of the world to the treatment of women and children in Ireland

It's been mentioned multiple times already, but here's another vote for 'If this is a man' by Primo Levi.

Lost Connections by Johann Hari.

The Body Keeps the Score

both in the mental health space - first one is less intense but I thought very good. The second is very intense (complex trauma focused) and every time I read I get something from it that I didn’t see before.

Will be looking up some of these recommendations - thank you for the thread OP.

I would add:

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari - a history of people and of how humans came to dominate the planet and why things are as they are now. Absolutely fascinating.

All That She Carried - Tiya Miles - about the history of slavery in the US based on a bag that one slave mother gave to her little daughter when she was sold and they were separated forever, but the bag remained through the generations.

4000 Weeks - Oliver Burkeman - ideas for how to make the most of our time

Quiet - Susan Cain - the first time being an introvert was not presented as not necessarily a character flaw - helped me a lot.

At the moment, I want to buy a copy of What If Reform Wins for every member of my partner’s family who are currently out campaigning for reform.

Russ Harrisks Happiness Trap is a really interesting read basically about how to be happy.

I was coming on to post 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman but have just been beaten to it. The title refers to the length of an average human life. Its thesis is basically that we can’t do everything we feel we ought to and in order to live a fulfilling life we need to make choices and that’s a positive thing. I found it really helpful.

Also Unfollow, by Megan Phelps Roper who was brought up in the Westboro Baptist Church (the ‘God Hates Fags’ protesters). It’s a fascinating autobiography and also a message of hope that it’s possible to reach people who might seem lost to extremism.

Another vote for Factfulness by Hans Rosling, it really helped me get a better perspective when I was suffering from post partum anxiety.

And also another vote for The Body Keeps the Score. My husband survived a traumatic childhood and has found it to be a real cornerstone in his understanding of how it has affected his adulthood.