Top Ten Nonfiction Books
I love to read! To me, there is nothing more satisfying than to find a pleasant spot (outside if the weather is nice) and lose myself in a book. When I was in high school, I spent several summers doing almost nothing but reading. I’d just sit out in my backyard with my dog (a collie) and read for hours. My mother once gently scolded me for reading so much, imploring me to “get my nose out of a book.” I responded by saying “when you find a better place for my nose, let me know.” As an adult, family and work responsibilities reduced my reading to a trickle. But in recent years, I have rediscovered the joy of reading. The problem is knowing which books to read. So little time and so many books! I have one basic rule about reading: The book has to be easy to read. I simply refuse to read a book where I have to go back and re-read sentences or paragraphs or where the author tries to impress the reader with his or her expansive vocabulary. The books in the list below are some of my favorite from recent years. Of course, they reflect my personal taste: they are all nonfiction focusing on history, biography, or science. Enjoy!
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President (Candace Millard). The book is about the assassination of President James Garfield and is absolutely one of the best books I have ever read! A real page – turner; I could hardly put it down. Millard has written two other excellent books, but this is the best.
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science (Sam Kean). Kean is one of the best science writers in the world today and this is his best book. One of the most entertaining books I have ever read – just an absolute pleasure to read. I’ve read two other books by Kean and they both have been superb.
Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth (Stuart Ritchie). Science is the best tool we have for getting at the truth, but science isn’t perfect. This book makes a convincing case for reform in science.
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson). The entire history of science written in an easy and accessible way. This is Bryson at his best.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari). This is history writ large. I learned so much that I think I’ll actually read it again.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (Isabel Wilkerson). This important and readable book helped me understand the issue of race in America.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (Simon Winchester). A fascinating tale well-told.
The Great Influenza (John M. Barry). An account of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic that killed, according to some estimates, as many as 100 million people. Timely reading!
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer (Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird) The definitive biography of one of the most fascinating scientists of the twentieth century.
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change (Naomi Oreskes & Eric M. Conway). Describes how a few scientists, guided by a Cold War mentality and slavish dedication to free markets, have misled the American public for decades. And thus we find ourselves in the current predicament. Not quite as readable as the other books on this list, but one of the most important.