My Favourite Non-Fiction Books of 2024!

[@AbiofPellinor]

An African History of Africa has been on my tbr for ages now, I really need to pick up a copy! Same with How to Say Babylon

[@RovingReader]

I loved A Flat Place so so much! I did a vlog on it and it's probably one that I'm most proud of. I've had a lot of mental health stuff going on and am having to switch therapists to have someone more specialized to my needs. I'm gifting this to my current therapist on my last session. I absolutely adored it!

[@TiggerTellsTales]

Thanks for sharing your list! I have added several to my TBR. We all read a certain genre of nonfiction, mine is usually science/natural world or politics related. For a decade, I primarily only read nonfiction. My 2024 standouts were…The Art Thief, War, H is for Hawk, Doppelgänger, Why animals talk: the new science…, Say Nothing, The Wager, and Vanishing treasures. Happy New Year to you!🎉

[@elsiebrewster4164]

My Good Bright Wolf was immense. I don’t remember details very much any more but I remember the feeling of that book so deeply.

[@janicedowson7793]

Happy New Year Bob!!! Thanks for enriching my reading life and that of many others!

[@drawyourbook876]

I had no idea that I was going to love a flat place as much as I did, but it did also end up in my favourites list. Great selection

[@julieaulava9567]

Thanks for such a great TBR list. I'm trying to mix in more NF and have a few waiting to be read. Including How to Say Babylon.

[@lindysmagpiereads]

More books for my TBR! When you talked about Lasting Harm, I was reminded of my experience listening to Chanel Miller read her memoir Know My Name, an emotionally challenging but powerful and important book. A detail that I have retained: when Miller was asked as part of her victim statement what she would like to see happen to the man who raped her, she said he should go to jail. She didn’t realize that there is a distinction between jail and prison (length of detention). Her words were used against their intention.

[@sarahwallace2585]

Fantastic list Bob, some great titles there that I've also read, some others I have bought on your recommendation not read yet, but looking forward to doing so. Finding you to be a wonderful source for ideas which match my personal tastes. Thank you for all the work you've put into producing videos this year, I'm excited to see what 2025 will bring in the book world ❤

[@LikeAnExpertRevision]

Love this Bob - really glad Matresence was up there. One of my fave books this year ❤

[@elsiebrewster4164]

My Good Bright Wolf was immense. I don’t remember details very much any more but I remember the feeling of that book so deeply. I’m also new here but wondered if you’d read Eve by Cat Bohannon?

[@dqan7372]

Bedawi's book sounds interesting. According to Amazon it's "Perfect for Winter 2025". Might be some categorization issues there, which may explain why I had a harder time finding anything on it. "Matrescence" sounds really good too.

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

In 2024 I read one nonfiction book Strong Female Character by Fern Brady I keep getting nonfiction books as presents but not reading them. Even this morning I got a copy of David Niven’s The Moons A Balloon 🍀👋☘️📖📚☕️📕

[@bookofdust]

Doppelganger was my NF book of 2023 too, so not on this years list either, and we also share How to Say Babylon as an outstanding book of the year. Someone who I don’t think has made it to the UK in an impactful way that I think you would like and who I gave two 5 star books on my NF is the phenomenal Myriam Gurber, a SoCal Latino Lesbian writer. The earlier book is a slim novella length memoir called Mean, which I read second, but would recommend reading first as the second book, Creep, references it in quite is few of the essays. You will have the full context of that story first to better understand her comments about it. If she is known to you, it most likely from her review of the book American Dirt, which became a literary scandal that basically halted the acclaim of that book exposing that however well meaning the author set out to be, she was co-opting others stories and telling them badly. Two other highly recommended books are Liliana’s Invincible Summer, a NBA NF series where net from 2023 about revisiting a beloved sister’s murder in the 1990s at the hands of an exboyfriend and Still Lufe With Bones about forensic anthropology at sites of Genocide.

[@penelopegough6050]

I am currently reading Question 7 which is a wonderful piece of writing. I think at this stage my favourite NF has been the Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy. It has really stayed with me. I also have a Sarah Moss book about her year in Iceland called Names for the Sea. Having been twice to Iceland in 2024 I’m puzzled as to why I haven’t read it yet! Another book for the bedside pile, a pile which is dangerously close to toppling. 😊

[@bc-mv5se]

I love the idea of cowrie shells as a metaphor for empty capitalism. I'm definitely dialing this one up. Just how do I make sure ur getting ur commission? It's potlatch beeyotch