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.

Could I also suggest Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose? This is a great read that goes deep into the power balances/negotiations/betrayals around and - sometimes - love that played out in the relationships of five well known couples - Harriet Taylor/JS Mill, Effie Gray/John Ruskin, Jane Welsh/Thomas Carlyle, George Eliot/Lewes and Catherine Hogarth/Charles Dickens.

I read all the Bill Bryson books many years ago and totally loved them.

They're now my go to audio books for falling asleep to at night.

@SuperLemonCrush as a little side step they have Thomas Carlyle & Lucy Walsh’s house on the latest series of Behind the Scenes at the National Trust on iPlayer. I’m sure I’ve heard them discussed on a podcast recently as well. It appeared she gave up a lot for him really as well as it being rather a complex relationship.

Thanks, will look out for that! Thea Holmes’s “The Carlyles at Home” is also a great read….

My Name Was Joanne by Paul Underwood. Beautifully written and emotional.
It's available on Kindle Unlimited.
I don't often cry at the end of books, but this one got me blubbering.

Add my name to 'The Five' fanclub. Superb social history which gives those poor women the place they deserve in history. I would also recommend the author's podcasts on BBC Sounds where she deals with the ridiculous Ripperology backlash.

If you enjoy social history I loved 'The House on the Thames and the People Who Lived there' which traces the house back through it's many owners. Fascinating and so well researched. Anyone who enjoys the TV series a House Through Time will enjoy this read.

As the thread is still running, I'm returning to add:

Careless People. Written by an ex Facebook employee who was there from quite early on but an outsider. Brilliant and laugh out loud funny too in places.