We’ve all found ourselves procrastinating gift buying for those ‘hard to buy for’ parents/friends/acquaintances on our list…and by the time we make ourselves actually purchase those last minute gifts, we’re tired, stressed, and honestly don’t care if they like the gift or not. If this sounds familiar, consider heading to your local independent book store and picking up a book or two from this list!
This list of non-fiction books has universal appeal sure to make gifting less stressful…and don’t forget to get yourself a book or two while you’re at it! Wishing you Season’s Readings!
5 Non-Fiction
David Grann is a great writer and the author of various non-fiction books that all have universal appeal. His most recent, The Wager, tells the story of a ship lost at sea and the unlikely story of the crew and captain as they struggle to survive.
Also by David Grann: Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, and The Devil & Sherlock Holmes
Another fantastic non-fiction author! This book tells the story of the women who worked in watch factories in the early decades of the 20th century. These women hand painted watches with radium based paint so the numbers would glow, little did they know the deadly effects of radioactive paint or the legacy of worker rights/safety legislation and law their stories would initiate.
Also by Kate Moore: The Woman They Could Not Silence
This one is not for the faint-of-heart, but if you enjoy an author with a quirky sense of humor and don’t mind reading about the lives of human bodies after death then Mary Roach’s, Stiff is for you! Our book club read this book and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it even though the topic could be a bit morbid.
Also by Mary Roach: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
This is a must-read for EVERYONE! It’s so well researched and written it’s hard to put down. This one has a little scientific jargon (nothing too intense) but ultimately tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, her amazing cells which are used to this day in research, and her family’s legal struggles as they relate to the continued use of Henrietta’s cells.
If there is book-lover on your gift list, this is the git for them! Susan Orlean, New Yorker reporter, documents the events of the April 1986 fire that destroyed more than four hundred thousand volumes and damaged many more at the Los Angles Public Library. Was the fire accidental or did someone intentionally set it? If so, who? And why?
