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Non-Fiction: Home

Enjoy reading about real life? Here are some great picks.

Welcome!

Non-fiction books are about facts or true events. This guide focuses on non-fiction subjects and books that are often chosen based on personal interests, rather than for research. At WPL our most popular non-fiction genres are biography & memoir, cookbooks, self help, and true crime. We've also included a section called Our World, which features books in history, social issues and science.

Many other important and interesting topics have their own Info Guides. There are also new staff picks and lists on the Readers' Salon blog.

Recently ordered

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship by Dana A. Williams
VZ: Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Making of a Nation by Dmitry Bykov
It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World by Mikaela Loach
Nice Girls Don't Win : How I Burned It All down to Claim My Power
New Age of Sexism: How Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny by Laura Bates
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig
On Oil by Don Gillmor
Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life by Gabrielle Cerberville

Social media celebrities in print

Nettles and Petals: Grow Food. Eat Weeds. Save Seeds
Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures by Katie Gatti Tassin
Almost 30 : A Definitive Guide to a Life You Love for the Next Decade and Beyond by Lindsey Simcik and Krista Williams
Baking with Pride by Janusz Domagala
Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan
Autism Out Loud by Kate Swenson
Art of Doing: A Guide to Getting Motivated, Getting Unstuck and Getting It Done by Jesse Lipscombe
Good Girls Gossip: Find Your Female Power by Tova Leigh
Climate by Whitney Hanson

Graphic non-fiction

Give me space but don't go far : my unlikely friendship with anxiety Author: Weaver, Haley.
Lavender clouds : comics about neurodivergence and mental health Author: Ollerton, Bex.
Past tense : facing family secrets and finding myself in therapy Author: Mardou, 1975-
Between two sounds : Arvo Pärt's journey to his musical language Author: Sildre, Joonas.
Processing : 100 comics that got me through it Author: Booth, Tara.
Woman, life, freedom by Marjane Satrapi
Give me space but don't go far : my unlikely friendship with anxiety Author: Weaver, Haley.
Let's make bread! : a comic book cookbook Author: Forkish, Ken.
In love with art : Françoise Mouly's adventures in comics with Art Spiegelman by Jeet Heer
Shelterbelts by Jonathan Dyck
How about never-- is never good for you? : my life in cartoons by Bob Mankoff
I will judge you by your bookshelf by Grant Snider
Sapiens : the birth of humankind : a graphic history by Yuval N. Harari
Am I there yet? : the loop-de-loop, zigzagging journey to adulthood by Mari Andrew
The best we could do : an illustrated memoir by Thi Bui
How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you by Matthew Inman
Relish : my life in the kitchen by Lucy Knisley
Amazing fantastic incredible : a marvelous memoir by Stan Lee

Outstanding audiobooks

The Only Plane in the Sky An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graff
I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro
You Can't Touch My Hair And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
Stay sexy & don't get murdered : the definitive how-to guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
In the dream house : a memoir by Carmen Maria Machado
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
How Not to Get Shot And Other Advice From White People and Doug Moe
In conclusion, don't worry about it by Lauren Graham
When they call you a terrorist : a Black Lives Matter memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
The greatest love story ever told : an oral history by Megan Mullaley and Nick Offerman
Dad is fat by Jim Gaffigan
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Staff picks

The beauty in breaking : a memoir by Michele Harper
Broken circle : the dark legacy of Indian residential schools : a memoir by Theodore Fontaine
You are here : around the world in 92 minutes by Chris Hadfield
The cowkeeper's wish : a genealogical journey by Tracy Kasaboski
Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Over the top : a raw journey to self-love by Jonathan Van Ness
Thing explainer : complicated stuff in simple words by Randall Munroe
Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
I contain multitudes : the microbes within us and a grander view of life by Ed Yong
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

Find it online

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