Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
This book describes the lifestyle of a surprising number of American retirees who have given up their homes due to financial reasons and are roaming the country, from temporary job to temporary job, in RVs and vans. Much of their seasonal work is at Amazon warehouses and public campgrounds. They attend desert gatherings where they learn from and support one another. They generally prefer to consider themselves houseless instead of homeless. The book was an eye-opener for me.

I don't read much NF, but I have really enjoyed the two books I've read by Erik Larson, Isaac's Storm and Dead Wake. And Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand was really gripping.

Donna

The best non-fiction that I've read was Fabre's Book of Insects by Jean-Henri Fabre. Not terribly scientific but wonderfully written and full of interesting observations about insects and their world (and ours) including mythology and folklore. I read this for a University project when I went back to school as a non-traditional student as part of an independent study on arachnids. I liked it so much that I bought a copy for myself but all I could find at the time was a brand new paperback. I hope to find an old hardcover one of these days as somehow reading the beat up old library book added to the charm. Thanks for starting this thread Yoyobon - I'm going to pull this one out of the bookcase for a much needed re-read.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Yoyobon, I'm not sure if you mean favorite nonfiction books read recently or favorite nonfiction of all my years of reading it. I'll start with a couple of NF books I read in 2018:

London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew -- I recently commented on this in the "December 2018: What We're Reading" thread. I was so taken with this contemporaneous journalism (1849-1862) that I completely reread it a couple of weeks ago. I have Vee to thank for bringing it to my attention.

The Past Is a Foreign Country: Revisited by David Lowenthal -- Vee also mentioned this book in another thread, or at least she was referring to Lowenthal's original that was published in the early 1980s. Lowenthal decided he wanted to update his work, adding more than thirty years of the past to be considered. This one was published in 2015. I started reading on Christmas Day -- it was a gift -- and I finished yesterday on New Year's Day. A whole week of reading one book is very unusual for me! Being profusely illustrated, it certainly wasn't difficult to read; but Lowenthal's narrative sent me over and over to sources outside his book. I even kept notes. Books this involving are indeed rare -- for me, anyway.

"Killers of the Flower Moon." Although this was not pleasant reading, it was interesting to me from an historical perspective, in terms of the Native Americans in Oklahoma.

When Lions Roar: The Churchills And The Kennedys - Thomas Maier

This was so interesting that I found myself googling people I wasn't sure about and doing a lot of research while enjoying this book. The writing is wonderfully readable and not at all stiff or boring. And what a pre WWII story it is !

I really enjoyed The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore. It was a fascinating look at how a small group of women helped to propel a movement to make workplaces safer to work in. Such a sad but yet inspiring story.

I enjoy both biographies and auto-biographies; I like to know what makes people 'tick'. It isn't easy to name a favorite as so often it depends on the 'subject', how they 'come across' and whether I feel the whole truth is being revealed about the person.

My DH has started reading a Christmas gift Do I Make Myself Clear? by Harold Evans, late editor of the Times and Sunday Times and now living in the US where he is an editor-at-large for Reuters.

Impossible to read through the whole book but fascinating to browse in small chunks as it deals with the printed word and the Twittersphere . . . which seems to play such an over-important part in US politics today . . .

Frieda, order your copy today!

I rarely read biographies but I enjoyed "The Life of Noel Coward" by Cole Leslie, a paperback I owned many years ago. I don't know how I got it but liked to read a random chapter as a "Book at Bedtime" regularly. I think I was fascinated by the pre-war era he lived in and the people around him.

The author was his manservant for many years and dealt with humour and discretion about Coward's private life.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I read far more fiction than non-fiction too, but I do have some favorites. I already mentioned A Cold Welcome in this year's "best-of" thread, about how climate affected Europeans' attempts to colonize North America; on a related subject, one of my favorites is E.C. Pielou's After the Ice Age: the Return of Life to Glaciated North America. Although it is a bit dated now (it was written about 30 years ago, I think), it's written by a practicing scientist in the field, rather than a science writer, so it is beautifully straightforward with lots of great diagrams and explanations of the research methods. I despise science writers who think 5 pages of descriptive text is as good as a single diagram, and dilute the real information with anecdotes about the researchers' childhoods or what clothes they like to wear into the field. Based on the books that win prizes, Pulitzer committees seem to prefer the latter. :)

What one considers good in non-fiction is inevitably affected by one's own interests too, I think. I read a book this year on European mythology (From Olympus to Camelot by David Leeming) that I thought really interesting, but a PW reviewer complained how boring and slow it was. I'm glad I ignored the review, because I didn't think it boring at all! But comparative mythology is a favorite topic of mine.

I'm another who reads very little non-fiction, but I did like Unbroken. I also enjoyed Little House in the Ozarks by Laura Ingalls Wilder in which she writes about her adult life in Missouri, but then I love her Little House books about their move west. Sometime I'd like to visit her house in MO that is now open to the public.

I don't read much non-fiction, either, but of the handful of NF books I read this past year The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne really grabbed me. In addition to discussing financial, social, racial, and educational inequality, the book also tackles perceived inequality -- what happens when people feel "less than" others, regardless of what their actual situation is -- and how it drives their behavior. I felt it explained a lot about our current political climate.

I read a fair amount of nonfiction, generally books about gardening, plants, fabric, needle arts, history of houses, arts, and so forth. I almost never read biographies, politics, or true crime, unless such a book is on my book club list. On rare occasions I will read books of science meant for the general public or those that describe the influence of the natural world on history.

As for a recent favorite, I was much struck with The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy. The topic is the importance of selecting native ornamentals for your garden over those from outside North America to provide insect life to feed the birds. I mentioned it on another thread, but I'm enough impressed with it to mention it again.

Frieda, order your copy today!

Vee, I did! Thanks for your recommendation of Do I Make Myself Clear?

After reading this thread, I went a little crazy at Amazon. I also ordered:

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder. Thanks to Kathy_t.

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. Thank you, Christine_a.

The Broken Ladder by Keith Payne. Sheri, your description of it intrigues me, although it's not in my regular realm of interest!

(See all the original posters' comments upthread.)

I've read several of the other books mentioned. I found myself nodding my head in recognition and agreement. Donnamira, I particularly want to note After the Ice: the Return of Life to Glaciated North America by E. C. Pielou. I have enjoyed a couple of Pielou's other books very much, too. I was sorry to read that she died in 2016.

Nonfiction is a feast, in my opinion. I enjoy good fiction, as well, but I tend to think of it as dessert -- lovely when I can find something that I like.

I'm another who doesn't read a lot of non-fiction, but have recommended to everyone Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. The scientific background of sleep and how it is needed by our body and brain to keep healthy was illuminating.

When I replied so quickly to Yoyobon's question with Nomadland, I was thinking only of the past year. (Guess I was still in "Best of 2018" mode.) Looking back further, I have a few more:

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
This is an account of the University of Washington crew (boat-rowing) team that against all odds became the team to represent the U.S. in the 1936 Olympics.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
I was well along in this book when someone said to me, "Isn't it amazing that it's a nonfiction book?" I was floored. It reads like a novel, and a far-fetched one at that. Quite a story, it's about the trial of Jim Williams who stands accused of murdering his gardener/house boy.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
This is the story of a mountain climber who crawled many miles back to his base camp with a broken leg after being left for dead by his climbing partner in the Andes.

Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Fitch
This the biography of Julia Child. I just like her a lot and so enjoyed this book.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
This book describes interviews that Horwitz conducted in which he asked people throughout the southern states of the U.S. why the U.S. Civil War is still such a big deal to them.

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley

Like many of you, I read far more fiction than nonfiction but I do have some subjects that intrigue me. Earlier this year, I read and enjoyed Chasing New Horizons by Alan Stern about building the space/rocket ship that was sent to explore Pluto. Recently I read both How We'll Live on Mars by Stephen Petronek and How to Live On Mars by Robert Zubrin. I had heard part of a Ted talk by Stephen Petronek and wanted to read the book he wrote but didn't remember his name so ordered both books. I found both of them interesting but the Zubrin book was, in my opinion, more tongue in cheek, as if he was having fun with the idea and invited the reader to go along with it in the same vein (which I did *vbg*).

Recently--Born a Crime, Trevor Noah.

There was a joint thread on another forum I frequent so I decided to come over here and will join in.

I will just second or third, that I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil not too long after it was published and it just blew me away. I don't usually re-read books, but I am thinking I might just with that one. It as such an amazing story and so incredibly well told.

This year, I read Radium Girls which I didn't actually find so much of page turner, but the story was just beyond anything I could imagine. What really amazed me (and most of the people in my book clubs) is that we had never learned about this at all It was a totally untold story.

The other book that also didn't draw me in as far as page-turning but what an amazing untold story as well is Killers of the Flower Moon.

In case you haven't read these, they are definitely worth your time.

I also read Midnight... I think I've read it three times. The movie totally stank, though. :)

Bon, I read Confederates in the Attic a long time ago. I remember liking it; maybe I will re-read it, too.

Donna

To add to my earlier post, I did read Killers of the Flower Moon and it definitely should be added to my list of

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as well as the

Radium Girls.

I just remembered another one that was well worth it-

The Omnivore's Dilemma