I'd love to hear what non-fiction books you all enjoy reading. Here are my Top 8:
1) Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens is, without exaggeration, one of the most perspective changing books I've read. He presents a history of mankind, but in a deeper way than simply talking about the agricultural revolution. His concept of the "Cognitive Revolution", in which humans used shared myths such as the concept of nationhood, money, religion, capitalism and so on to form extremely large and powerful societies, is fascinating, and well worth exploring.
2) Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
Far from the controversial title, this book is actually about talking to white people about race. But it goes further than that: it's about how white people should be talking about race, and so should we all - not talking about racism won't make it go away. Eddo-Lodge is from the UK, and presents a really insightful account of black British history. As a white man, this was another book that helped explain so many things I had only vaguely understood before, and was another hugely perspective-changing book.
3) Dataclysm - Christian Rudder
On the surface, this is a book about how we can use data to understand people. Written by one of the founders of OkCupid, Rudder has access to a unique data source - the anonymous mass data about people who use dating sites. But it goes far beyond boring data science and do-women-prefer-men-with-such-and-such. Dataclysm explores questions of race, sex, sexuality and preferences with humanity and depth, and the conclusions it presents are really interesting. Rudder's book is really accessible, and rather than introducing lots of statistical jargon, Rudder is careful to minimise the terminology, and explain in simple terms all of the concepts he's using.
4) Everybody Lies - Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
This book is similar to the above, in that its focus is on Big Data - from Google, Facebook, YouTube, and so on - and I think what's so interesting about this book is not only how data scientists such as Stephens-Davidowitz are able to make use of unconventional data sources to reach interesting conclusions, but that these conclusions are often radically different from the stories we tell ourselves. Far from being a "post-racial" society, the data in S-D's book shows that Google searches for the n-word rose substantially when Obama was elected President. Like Dataclysm, this is an easily accessible book with very limited jargon.
5) Through The Language Glass (Guy Deutscher)
A little less political, this book is about the way we use language, and how it can influence the way we think. Far from being a boring textbook, Deutscher presents his book as a story, devoting at least a third of the book to the tale of William Gladstone, and his interesting observation about the use of colour in Homer's texts, and what this reflects for the way our thought is influenced by language. This book reflects my own interest in linguistics, but it's easily readable by non-linguists as well.
6) Watching The English (Kate Fox)
As a Brit, this book helped me place into context a lot of aspects of English culture I'd never really thought to question before. Plus, it's hilarious. I don't have much more to say about it than: if you have any interest in English culture, with its sarcasm, constant talking about the weather and humour that only we seem to find funny, you'll like this book.
7) How To Be Miserable (Randy J. Paterson)
This is an interesting kind of self-help book: one that uses reverse psychology to show you strategies that you can use to be happy, by presenting all of the things we do to make us unhappy. It's well worth a read.
8) In The Land of Invented Languages (Arika Okrent)
This one may be a bit specialist, but it goes back to my interest in linguistics, and particularly constructed languages. If you've never given a second thought to the fact that some people are strange enough to create their own language, Okrent goes to the trouble of explaining why. She doesn't just tell the stories behind invented languages (such as Klingon, Esperanto, Tolkien's Elvish, Lojban and many other unsuccessful attempts,) but gets behind the humans who created them, drawing on interviews and first-hand experience with people who have created languages, and attempted to create communities around them. It's a surprisingly human story, for what most people would consider an esoteric hobby at best, and probably never consider at all otherwise.
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Let me know what you all think, and please contribute your own lists!
Edit: Obligatory RIP my inbox. Will read all of your lists when I get the time.
