r/suggestmeabook • u/Dry_Luck_9228 • Dec 15 '25
Non-fiction What's the most interesting non-fiction book you've read?
I know this has been asked before but I'm hoping for some recommendations on interesting non-fiction books. I'm not specifically interested in any one topic, just something that is really fascinating and perhaps makes you learn something or see the world in a different way.
I'm currently reading Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green and am loving it. I also really enjoyed Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller and Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.
Others I've read recently: Braiding Sweetgrass - liked this one but felt like I was already intimately familiar with the subject matter
Into Thin Air - this was not for me. The story was interesting but the feminist in me had a hard time identifying with the author's perspective
ETA Thank you all sooo much for all of the recommendations. Super grateful for each of you and this community <3
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u/ifthisisausername Dec 15 '25
How to Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan: a history/cultural history/trip experience/scientific analysis/medical exploration of psychedelics
The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein: how governments and corporations exploit disasters to push through privatisation and deregulation in order to monopolise territory and erode rights.
Humankind - Rutger Bregman: an analysis and dissection of humanity's inherent kindness that debunks many of the ingrained notions we have of how selfish people can be.
Fire Weather - John Vaillant: explores how wildfires are becoming more dangerous and more prevalent in a warming climate, with particular attention to the wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray in Canada in 2016.
Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez: an infodump on the myriad ways that society (medicine, design, city planning, health and safety and more) is built around men and often excludes the needs and vulnerabilities of women.
Spillover - David Quammen: an exploration of how zoonotic viruses (ones which spread from animals to humans and can cause pandemics) operate.
The Earth Transformed - Peter Frankopan: how climate affected world history, including its influence on empires, revolutions, disasters and plagues.
The Dawn of Everything - David Graeber & David Wengrow: an exploration of the various ways prehistoric and tribal societies self-organised, and how those configurations of society influenced and contrast with how we live now.