Whether reading is a chore, your escape, or your favorite past-time, there’s no telling what doors you’ll open up with the right book in your hand.
Especially when it comes to non-fiction, the world is your oyster! You get to explore an author’s philosophies, their take on a hot topic issue, the experiences they’ve had, or explore how they unpack the big questions in life.
Whether you’re settling in with an audiobook, eBook, a hardcover, or a cozy paperback, here are four inspiring non-fiction reads that may become your favorite companion.
1. Love Stories,
Trent Dalton (2021)
“Essentially, the “teleological” definitions of love point to it nurturing, healing and transforming humans (and societies) into the best versions of themselves.”
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fall in love with Trent Dalton’s homage to the love stories we are unwittingly surrounded by every day.
The premise of this book is the author, Trent Dalton, setting up shop at a street corner in the Brisbane CBD with a blue Olivetti typewriter left to him through an act of love by the mother of his friend upon her death. There begins a journey spanning two months where Dalton asks everyone and anyone for a love story.
This book is completely heartwarming, utterly readable, and perfect for picking up for a few minutes every day to ingest a bite-sized nugget of love. Fair warning, you’ll need to put it down after every story just to process your thoughts.
Love Stories is earnest, honest, and will wake you up to the stories that surround you on the daily.
2. I Am Malala, Christina Lamb
and Malala Yousafzai (2013)
“I don’t want to be thought of as the ‘girl who was shot by the Taliban’ but the ‘girl who fought for education.”
The name Malala Yousafzai is hardly unfamiliar. I Am Malala, tells her story in her own words.
In this book, published when she was just 16, Malala talks about her life story that went on to change the lives of so many more.
As someone who nearly lost her life, at the tender age of 15, for standing up for what she believes in, this story is an inspiring read about how one girl changed the world.
It’s especially heartening to read nearly a decade after this book was first published. Contemporary readers get to explore her story having seen a now 25-year-old Malala, graduate from the University of Oxford, and become the youngest Nobel Laureate.
I Am Malala takes you from a remote valley in Northern Pakistan to the United Nations in New York for a story of courage that is truly one for the ages.
3. Thinking, Fast
and Slow, Daniel
Kahneman (2011)
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”
Psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman takes you on a deep dive into some of life’s greatest mysteries. The workings of your own mind.
Thinking, Fast and Slow introduces us to the 2 Systems that run the show in our mind. The intuitive and emotional System 1 and the more deliberate and logical System 2. You may immediately have some understanding of how these different systems correlate and work in your decision-making, but this book will lay it all out for you.
Understanding how your mind works and the trajectory of your decision-making will be a lot easier with Thinking, Fast and Slow on your bookshelf. You’ll definitely think about thinking more than you ever have before.
4. Why I’m No Longer
Talking To White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)
“The mess we are living in is a deliberate one. If it was created by people, it can be dismantled by people, and it can be rebuilt in a way that serves all, rather than a selfish, hoarding few.”
Reni Eddo-Lodge dives straight into a topic that has been had over several generations, centuries, and societies around the world.
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race is a much-needed analysis of our conversation about race and racism.
The award-winning British journalist first birthed the idea for this book on her blog when she expressed her frustration on how people of color were not the ones leading conversations about race and racism. The response she received led her to explore these feelings even deeper.
What resulted from her research into suppressed black history is a snapshot of the undeniable link between class and race, and so much more.
That’s all we have for you for now! You can see 4 more recommendations right here.
Are you adding any of these to your cart or moving them up in your must-read list? Let us know in the comments below.