Recs if you like Into Thin Air...

These are some of my favorites and books I want to read--nonfiction that reads like fiction or is otherwise compelling. If you're intimidated by books on history, science, memoir, or other subgenres in nonfiction, start here.

Accessible non-fiction titles that are a good intro to the genre—suggestions always welcome! As an added bonus, most of the audiobooks are also great 🎧

includes contemporary fiction, scifi, horror, speculative fiction and nonfiction

Nonfiction about macabre and taboo subjects

Part memoir, part exploration of nature these books tackle environmental themes and/or science through the lens of the author’s life story.

save me Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic save me

ask large questions in small spaces! avoids (but not void of) memoirs/biographies, some case studies, and the macro i'm not a historian or an expert by any means but i am salty. a lot of contemporary lists for microhistory reads contain a lot of books that are absolutely not micro. At. All. think mark kurlansky ("milk", "salt", "cod" etc.), anything that starts with "a short history of [incredibly complex geopolitical event]", or literally any historical account that spans centuries/countries/cultures/individuals. while there is definitely some gray areas and overlap, a good way to attempt to distinguish micro from the macro is macrohistory looks at how an individual/event/object/place changed and influenced the world/society/culture -- an outward expansion of one idea that proliferates time and space. microhistory is the inverse. how did the contemporary society, culture, and world change and influence a specific, tangential individual/place/event? the micro attempts to answer that! so let's reduce the scale of investigation! focus on the ones history would have otherwise forgotten if not for the diligent note takers! we're talking footnotes! anecdotes! indexes! the hot goss! EA-NASIR! macrohistory is about everyone but microhistory is about you and me baby!

The most popular book of each year according to Goodreads (Posted by Sharon on April 1, 2025). In order of oldest (1925) to newest (2024)

grab your crampons and leave your pregnant wife at home. we are going into the death zone.

Sports Books come in all shapes and forms. Maybe you want an athlete’s memoir, a literary drama, a sports romance, a mystery, an endurance adventure, a manga, or a book about the science and culture of sport - we have it all! This is not a comprehensive list of all niche genres, but a little map of the many ways sport can show up in literature. Recommendations are always welcome - just remember: variety is the key! 😉

a list of non fiction books about a wide variety of topics that are actually a great reading experience, even if sometimes tough to read because of the subject it covers (in other words, you may get angry, you may be in awe, but you'll definitely learn something)

“Hey do you remember [insert horrible event here]? I should read a book about that.”

Books on disasters, horrible events, and scientific blunders.

Did I miss one? Let me know in the comments!

Nonfiction books on rock climbing and mountaineering.

Recommendations welcome!

For those of you who subscribe to newlynova on either YouTube or TikTok, I have compiled a list of books that she has mentioned in her videos

Not a (physically) cozy moment to be found, absolutely frigid surroundings, bone chillingly cold environs... brrrr

True thrillers that you can't put down and keep you heart racing.

It's always there just oozing into every part of the story

see me personally,.. i just wouldn’t go! open to suggestions

Antarctica, Patagonia, Alaska, Canada, upper Great Lakes, somewhere in the mountains, wintertime, etc. (fiction and nonfiction)

Mostly nonfiction books written by current and former journalists.