Book recommendations 2024

November 4, 2024 2:55 PM

It's (going to be) that time of year again, where I find gifts for people who already have everything. Recommend me some good nonfiction books from this year or last (but not too good, or they'd already own them).

All are accepted, from the quirky to the straightforward-yet-illuminating.

posted by queen anne's remorse to Writing & Language (13 answers total)

My favorite nonfiction from the past 2 years:

Sociopath: A Memoir for people interested in psychology.

The Wager for a riveting story of shipwrecks and mutiny.

Cue the Sun! for any reality tv fans.

Poverty, by America for…rage.
posted by sugarbomb at 3:03 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

I just finished reading Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris by Christopher Kemp, which I found absolutely fascinating.
posted by OrangeDisk at 3:35 PM on November 4

If they love nature: Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis by Annie Proulx

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity for someone who loves pre-history of civilization and having their preconceptions challenged

I'm going to guess they've read The Demon of Unrest which I also enjoyed but which was a high profile NF read this summer.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:58 PM on November 4

It's from 2020, but The Vapors, about the rise of Hot Springs, Arkansas as a gambling mecca between 1930 and 1960 (a wannabe Las Vegas before Las Vegas) is one of the most fascinating books I've read in years. Right up there with Devil In The White City.
posted by pdb at 4:01 PM on November 4

DeafBlind poet John Lee Clark’s prose manifesto Touch the Future eloquently explores a new means of community via Protactile communication:

As warm and witty as he is radical and inspiring, Clark encourages us—disabled and non-disabled alike—to reject stigma and discover the ways we are connected. Touch the Future is a dynamic appeal to rethink the meanings of disability, access, language, and inclusivity, and to reach for a future we can create together.

posted by Jesse the K at 4:42 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
posted by paper scissors sock at 5:16 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

I'm looking forward to reading Rat City.

"From 1947 to 1977, Calhoun built a series of sprawling habitats in which a rat’s every need was met—except space. The results were cataclysmic. Did a similar fate await our own teeming cities?

Rat City is the first book to tell the story of Calhoun’s experiments, and their extraordinary influence — an enthralling record of urban design and dystopian science."
posted by brookeb at 5:21 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

I also recommend "Poverty, by America".

And "When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America".
posted by NotLost at 5:58 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

November 1942 by Peter Englund is a "worm's eye view" of one month of WWII, showing what was happening around the globe on each day.

Where Are Your Boys Tonight? by Chris Payne is an oral history of the early 2000s emo/pop punk scene.
posted by airplant at 7:37 PM on November 4

Magical Realism by Vanessa Angelica Villareal
posted by thivaia at 8:04 PM on November 4

* Mother Tongue: The surprising history of women's words, Jenni Nuttall
* I Seek a Kind Person: My Father, Seven Children and the Adverts that Helped Them Escape the Holocaust, Julian Borger (99p on kindle at the moment)
* Between Britain: Walking the History of England and Scotland, Alistair Moffat
* A Glasgow Girl: A memoir of growing up and finding your voice, Aasmah Mir (originally published as A Pebble in the Throat)
* Stuffed: A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain, Pen Vogler
* The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People, Stuart Maconie (2.99 on kindle at the moment)
* The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Marion Turner
* One Fine Day: A Journey Through English Time, Ian Marchant
* Storm's Edge: Life, Death And Magic In The Islands Of Orkney, Peter Marshall
* A Flat Place, Noreen Masud
* Travellers to Unimaginable Lands: Dementia, Carers and the Hidden Workings of the Mind, Dasha Kiper
* A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women, Emma Southon
* Into the Night: A Year with the Police, Matt Lloyd
* Work It Out: A Mood-Boosting Exercise Guide for People Who Just Want to Lie Down, Sarah Kurchak
* Smell and the Past: Noses, Archives, Narratives, William Tullett (open access e-book)
* Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, Alice Loxton
* Lost to the Sea: A Journey Round the Edges of Britain and Ireland, Lisa Woollett
* Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life, Anna Funder
* The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of History at Hampton Court, Gareth Russell
* You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist's Life, Benji Waterhouse
posted by paduasoy at 11:28 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

I really appreciated The Quiet Damage: it’s heartbreaking and infuriating, but really well done, imo. It does a good job wrestling with the costs of radicalization and does also include stories of people who have been deradicalized, which I very much appreciated.
posted by lavenderhaze at 6:06 AM on November 5

Ghost Town Living by Brent Underwood is a colorful account of the trials and tribulations of living in and rehabilitating a silver mining ghost town (Cerro Gordo, California). Brent is an introspective and philosophical dude, loves the town/mine deeply, and is very good at sharing his wonder. If you watch the Youtube channel (Ghost Town Living), he includes different stories in the book so it's not just a rehash.
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:10 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]