Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2018

My favorite ten nonfiction books that I read in 2018!
--Nonfiction Favorites of Prior Years:
My Top 5 Nonfiction Books of 2017: • My Top 5 Nonfiction Bo...
My Top 5 Nonfiction Reads of 2016: • My Top 5 Nonfiction Re...
Top 10 books of 2015: • My Top 10 Books of 2015!
-Books Discussed- (Not in the order they appear in the video)
The Big Short by Michael Lewis: amzn.to/2UUEmjZ
--Other places I discuss this book: • August 2018 Wrap Up
Owl by William Service: amzn.to/2CHc5Fe
--Other places I discuss this book: • Nonfiction November 20...
The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater by Alanna Okun: amzn.to/2YchKOa
--My full review of this book: • The Curse of the Boyfr...
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: amzn.to/30SEu7A
--Other places I discuss this book: • June 2018 Wrap Up
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren: amzn.to/2AzyIgp
--Other places I discuss this book: • May 2018 Wrap Up
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg: amzn.to/3fz1L2e
--Other places I discuss this book: • March 2018 Wrap Up
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty: amzn.to/30SDVuu
--Other places I discuss this book: • March 2018 Wrap Up
The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson: amzn.to/2Y6Lvj9
--Other places I discuss this book: • Nonfiction November 20...
Feathers by Thor Hanson: amzn.to/3e9d3tO
--Other places I discuss this book: • July 2018 Wrap Up
Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee: amzn.to/3fvGx5t
--Other places I discuss this book: • August 2018 Wrap Up
(The above are affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase, I will receive a very small commission that goes toward the operating expenses for this channel.)
Outro music by ProleteR (proleter.bandcamp.com/) under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.
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[@marjoriebd3326]

There is not enough talk about nonfiction on BookTube. Thank you!!

[@SlowpokeReads]

This is so helpful for me since I really want to try and read nonfiction next year! You are so eloquent in the way you speak too. Thank you for sharing your love of Nonfiction with us :)

[@ChaoticBibliophile]

What a great selection! My to-buy list always grows too much when you talk about non-fiction you love because you have such a great taste and talk so passionately about it that it makes me want to read every single book right away.

[@InfiniteText]

Great list Olive! I read the curse of the boyfriend sweater earlier in the year after your review and it was so cozy. Ever since I started watching your channel two years ago I think my nonfiction reading went up significantly and I started reading it unapologetically. I hope you are having wonderful holidays and I look forward to your top fiction video!

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

Thank you so much for these wonderful recommendations. You are my favourite booktuber. I enjoy listening to your book discussions. I think you provide intelligent and interesting discussion on the pros and cons of the books you’ve read. Thanks for the tip on the crafting book - I’ll definitely be purchasing that one!

[@alishacampbell9491]

I was so excited to see this upload! Making a coffee as the little one naps to enjoy it with you! Thank you for all that you do and continue to do Olive! I discovered some amazing books this year thanks to you! Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2019! Xo

[@radreads3269]

Wow! I love the variety of nonfiction you read; I’m especially stoked about this video because I own so many of the books you’ve mentioned. Thanks for sharing :D

[@AlwaysDoing]

I love seeing which nonfiction books stuck with you and am glad that Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (loved it) is high on your list, as well as Eggshell Skull (tbr!). Here's to a 2019 filled with joy and good reading!

[@Phillybookfairy]

Thannks! So many good recs! Its so reassuring to have you associated non-fiction reads as something other than drab. The non-fiction i read were some memoirs and im finding that i really kinda despise them. I thought id find something profound, but usually they just come off as self-indulgent. Sounds like its so muvh wiser to have the "memoir" not be a memoir at all but about something specific in your life (like the owl) so that we dont have to focus on every angst. I dunno. I think i prefer biographies.

[@buddhabillybob]

Thanks for a great video. Lab girl is now in my TBR!

[@sylviaanderson4294]

Another great video! Two of my favorites were discoveries from your videos - The Speckled Monster and The History of The World in 6 Glasses. Another in my top ten was Destined for War - Can America and China avoid the Thucydides Trap. All excellent books, not only for the primary story they tell, but for other avenues of interest they opened for me!

[@BrekkeEl]

I so appreciate how much you expose me to nonfiction! so much diversity and insight. I can't wait for 2019!

[@LisaK1075]

I’m always filled with a little bit of glee when I go on goodreads and see what new nonfiction you are reading and I frequently put it on my TBR list. Thanks for sharing your opinions and favorite books with us!

[@abookolive]

I hope you'll be seeing even more nonfiction & thoughts on the nonfiction I'm reading over on GR this year!

[@katieamarsh]

I was so excited to see this video. I knew you’d give me ideas. We have similar interests in nonfiction!

[@margiecrawford4429]

I read Owl several years ago and really enjoyed it - glad to see it make your list.

[@zakwan10]

Yes!!! finally a book reviewer that isnt going on about YA/romance novels, thank you.

[@abookolive]

Hi! Thanks for your comment! Just to clarify, though - I do also read the occasional YA and/or romance book. I read a little bit of everything, really. I think things are more fun that way!

[@literaryprints]

I so agree with your review of Kitchen Confidential. Similarly, I read it after his passing - and I was honestly blown away by how vibrant and well-written his memoir is. Truly a loss. And I read some Michael Lewis this year too! Flash Boys has that same narrative drive I really enjoyed from The Big Short film. I don't think I've ever expressed my thanks for spurring my interest in reading more non-fiction. I've actually read more non-fiction than fiction this year, amidst all the chaos of uni work. So thank you, Olive! For maintaining a channel that promotes non-fiction in a way that I strive to do more of. Merry Christmas! 😊

[@abookolive]

This makes me so happy Catherine, thank you! It's wonderful to hear that nonfiction has become a bigger part of your reading life and the fact that I had anything to do with that makes my heart so full

[@MaryAmongStories]

sounds like a great and very diverse list, I love it!

[@BB-kd8bs]

These all sound marvelous and I’ve only read Kitchen Confidential. I’ll be coming back to this video later when I wang more recommendations

[@mikeearls126]

olive - since you love birds - you should take a look (if you haven't) at this awesome illustrator from Maine, Jada Fitch. I know this is random but she draws some amazing birds.

[@arp711]

I really want to read Lab Girl, it sounds fascinating, and if it was your favorite, it must be good :) I didn't read a ton of NF this year but I did read a few really good ones. Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly and Word By Word by Kory Stamper were both terrific reads (though obviously verrrry different, hah)

[@mybooksnews5996]

What a great list. I loved Lab Girl.

[@myreadinglife8816]

So many books I want to read on this list. ❤️ Lab Girl

[@Toastwig]

lab girl is one of my very favourite books

[@abookolive]

It's certainly one of mine now, too!

[@neilsonsarify]

Same!

[@IzzyRain]

"Cleopatra:A Life" was my favorite nonfiction book that I read in 2018!

[@glassrooster]

Great reviews! So glad I found your channel by following Merphy Napier’s search advice.

[@abookolive]

Happy you found your way here - welcome!

[@leemac]

Wonderfully eclectic bunch of books as always Olive. Your review of 'The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater' remains my fave review of 2018. I cannot wait to read it (I'm currently sitting at number 2345234*^%12 in the library queue... Time for me to quit being tight and buy it I think 😉) x

[@abookolive]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. It remains a review that's close to my heart (for obvious reasons). I don't know if you're in North America, but last I checked it was available on Book Outlet and they're doing their boxing day sale until the 31st.

[@SpinesAndSpoilers]

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is one of my favorite books and changed my life forever 💜

[@abookolive]

I can see why - it's a beautiful and illuminating book!

[@allisonpiazza2317]

For the first time probably ever, 2 memoirs topped my best of all books read: Becoming and Born a Crime.

[@theredheadisreading2251]

I bought Lab Girl last December and still haven’t read it! I definitely need to make it a priority in 2019.

[@abookolive]

I hope you love it as much as I did!

[@ladybookdragon7609]

I really loved Lab Girl the first time I read it also, but after a second reading knowing the type of hazing behavior that Jahren not only participated it but lauds as a way to find kindred spirits, I found a lot of her earlier behavior very worrying. As a fellow scientist, I loved the nature writing part of the book but a lot of the behaviors, like long road trips in unsafe cars, working all hours of the night alone, not paying your best friend enough that he could live in a real apartment, while definitely Jahren's truth and similar to things I have experienced, do not represent what I hope we are striving toward. As this is never addressed in the book, I worry that the minority portrait of how science is done (and I feel that she portrays that it should be done) is not as positive as the book has been promoted to be.

[@brunabento4866]

did you watched the movie adaptation of the big short?

[@abookolive]

Not yet, but I want to!

[@raynizzle143]

I recently released a memoir if anyone would like to review the book.

[@imaginationforyou]

Your teeth is more organised than my life. 👍

[@top10andtop57]

U r so beautiful I love u nd want to marry u with ur permission mam.