Most Popular Non-Fiction Books

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Freakonomics • Book 1

by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Discover why drug dealers live with their parents and how baby names predict economic class through unexpected economic analysis. Levitt and Dubner reveal hidden patterns in everything from cheating teachers to real estate agents' tricks.

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Discover why drug dealers live with their parents and how baby names predict economic class through unexpected economic analysis. Levitt and Dubner reveal hidden patterns in everything from cheating teachers to real estate agents' tricks.

Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell

Why are most professional hockey players born in the first three months of the year, and what do rice paddies teach about math skills? Gladwell examines the cultural and environmental factors that create extraordinary achievement beyond individual talent.

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Why are most professional hockey players born in the first three months of the year, and what do rice paddies teach about math skills? Gladwell examines the cultural and environmental factors that create extraordinary achievement beyond individual talent.

Blink

by Malcolm Gladwell, Barry Fox, Irina Henegar

Gladwell examines the power of rapid cognition, showing how our unconscious mind makes lightning-fast decisions that often prove more accurate than deliberate analysis.

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Gladwell examines the power of rapid cognition, showing how our unconscious mind makes lightning-fast decisions that often prove more accurate than deliberate analysis.

A Brief History of Time

by Stephen W. Hawking

How did the universe begin, and will time flow backward when it contracts? Hawking explains relativity, quantum mechanics, and cosmology using everyday language, making the deepest physics accessible to curious minds.

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How did the universe begin, and will time flow backward when it contracts? Hawking explains relativity, quantum mechanics, and cosmology using everyday language, making the deepest physics accessible to curious minds.

Quiet

by Susan Cain

Our loudest voices aren't always our best ideas—Cain demonstrates how introverts drive innovation while extroverted culture overlooks their contributions. Essential reading for understanding how personality shapes everything from classrooms to boardrooms.

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Our loudest voices aren't always our best ideas—Cain demonstrates how introverts drive innovation while extroverted culture overlooks their contributions. Essential reading for understanding how personality shapes everything from classrooms to boardrooms.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

by David Grann

Members of the oil-rich Osage Nation were murdered one by one in the 1920s while authorities looked away. Grann's investigation reveals how the FBI's first major case exposed an American conspiracy of greed and racial violence.

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Members of the oil-rich Osage Nation were murdered one by one in the 1920s while authorities looked away. Grann's investigation reveals how the FBI's first major case exposed an American conspiracy of greed and racial violence.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

by Lori Gottlieb

Therapist Lori Gottlieb's own crisis forces her into the patient's chair, revealing the messy, funny, heartbreaking reality of healing from both sides of the couch.

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Therapist Lori Gottlieb's own crisis forces her into the patient's chair, revealing the messy, funny, heartbreaking reality of healing from both sides of the couch.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

by John Carreyrou

This investigation reveals how Theranos convinced investors and patients that revolutionary blood tests could run on tiny samples, despite the technology never actually working. Carreyrou methodically documents the fraud that put lives at risk while Silicon Valley looked the other way.

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This investigation reveals how Theranos convinced investors and patients that revolutionary blood tests could run on tiny samples, despite the technology never actually working. Carreyrou methodically documents the fraud that put lives at risk while Silicon Valley looked the other way.

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

by David Grann

Shipwrecked sailors on a remote island resort to murder and cannibalism, then tell wildly different stories when rescued. Grann reveals how survival became a courtroom battle that questioned the very foundations of empire.

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Shipwrecked sailors on a remote island resort to murder and cannibalism, then tell wildly different stories when rescued. Grann reveals how survival became a courtroom battle that questioned the very foundations of empire.

Walden

by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau retreats to a cabin at Walden Pond to discover how little he needs to live well—his experiment becomes a manifesto for intentional living.

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Thoreau retreats to a cabin at Walden Pond to discover how little he needs to live well—his experiment becomes a manifesto for intentional living.

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

by Malcolm Gladwell

The biblical David vs. Goliath story gets reframed as Gladwell argues that apparent disadvantages frequently become hidden strengths. Through examples from education, business, and social movements, he demonstrates how underdogs leverage their limitations to achieve surprising victories.

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The biblical David vs. Goliath story gets reframed as Gladwell argues that apparent disadvantages frequently become hidden strengths. Through examples from education, business, and social movements, he demonstrates how underdogs leverage their limitations to achieve surprising victories.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

by Kate Moore

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

A botanist and indigenous scholar combines scientific training with traditional plant wisdom to argue for a reciprocal relationship with nature based on gratitude rather than consumption.

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A botanist and indigenous scholar combines scientific training with traditional plant wisdom to argue for a reciprocal relationship with nature based on gratitude rather than consumption.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

by Michael Lewis

While everyone believed housing prices could never fall, a handful of contrarians recognized the mortgage bubble and bet against it with devastating accuracy. Lewis makes complex derivatives understandable while exposing the willful blindness that caused the crash.

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While everyone believed housing prices could never fall, a handful of contrarians recognized the mortgage bubble and bet against it with devastating accuracy. Lewis makes complex derivatives understandable while exposing the willful blindness that caused the crash.

Endurance

by Alfred Lansing

Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to cross Antarctica becomes history's greatest survival story when ice crushes the Endurance, leaving 28 men stranded. Lansing reconstructs their two-year ordeal with novelistic detail drawn from crew diaries and interviews.

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Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to cross Antarctica becomes history's greatest survival story when ice crushes the Endurance, leaving 28 men stranded. Lansing reconstructs their two-year ordeal with novelistic detail drawn from crew diaries and interviews.

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

by Stephen E. Ambrose

Easy Company parachuted into Normandy, held Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and captured Hitler's Eagle's Nest—Ambrose's tribute to citizen soldiers who endured 150% casualties yet never broke.

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Easy Company parachuted into Normandy, held Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and captured Hitler's Eagle's Nest—Ambrose's tribute to citizen soldiers who endured 150% casualties yet never broke.

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

Freakonomics • Book 2

by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Why do street prostitutes earn more than architects? What do suicide bombers and life insurance have in common? The Freakonomics sequel applies economic thinking to global warming, healthcare, and human behavior with surprising results.

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Why do street prostitutes earn more than architects? What do suicide bombers and life insurance have in common? The Freakonomics sequel applies economic thinking to global warming, healthcare, and human behavior with surprising results.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely

Why does a fifty-cent aspirin work better than a one-cent aspirin, and why do we gorge at buffets even when already full? Ariely exposes our wonderfully illogical decision-making patterns.

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Why does a fifty-cent aspirin work better than a one-cent aspirin, and why do we gorge at buffets even when already full? Ariely exposes our wonderfully illogical decision-making patterns.

Beyond Good and Evil

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Seriously...I'm Kidding

by Ellen DeGeneres

DeGeneres serves up her signature blend of absurd observations and gentle humor, jumping from deep thoughts to completely random tangents with characteristic charm.

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DeGeneres serves up her signature blend of absurd observations and gentle humor, jumping from deep thoughts to completely random tangents with characteristic charm.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series

by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard

Rather than just chronicling Lincoln's death, O'Reilly and Dugard build suspense around Booth's conspiracy and the president's final weeks, reading like historical fiction despite being meticulously researched.

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Rather than just chronicling Lincoln's death, O'Reilly and Dugard build suspense around Booth's conspiracy and the president's final weeks, reading like historical fiction despite being meticulously researched.

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures

by Malcolm Gladwell

Why does ketchup come in one variety while mustard has dozens? Gladwell's collected essays tackle counterintuitive questions about everything from hair dye's cultural impact to what football teaches about hiring teachers.

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Why does ketchup come in one variety while mustard has dozens? Gladwell's collected essays tackle counterintuitive questions about everything from hair dye's cultural impact to what football teaches about hiring teachers.

Nudge

by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

This groundbreaking exploration of 'choice architecture' shows how governments and organizations can steer people toward better decisions while preserving freedom. Thaler and Sunstein's examples range from cafeteria layouts to healthcare enrollment, proving small tweaks yield big results.

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This groundbreaking exploration of 'choice architecture' shows how governments and organizations can steer people toward better decisions while preserving freedom. Thaler and Sunstein's examples range from cafeteria layouts to healthcare enrollment, proving small tweaks yield big results.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being

by Rick Rubin

Music producer Rubin distills decades of creative wisdom into a philosophical guide for connecting with your artistic wellsprings and creative nature.

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Music producer Rubin distills decades of creative wisdom into a philosophical guide for connecting with your artistic wellsprings and creative nature.

The Guns of August

by Barbara W. Tuchman

Tuchman's Pulitzer-winning account reveals how thirty days in 1914 set the course for the century's bloodiest conflict. Her focus on personality and miscalculation makes grand strategy feel intimate and inevitable.

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Tuchman's Pulitzer-winning account reveals how thirty days in 1914 set the course for the century's bloodiest conflict. Her focus on personality and miscalculation makes grand strategy feel intimate and inevitable.