Barack Obama's favorite books
All of his picks since 2008, both summer reading lists and yearly round-ups.






books your pretentious friend has heard of






Iβm on a boatβΌοΈ
I got my swim trunks & my flippy floppies π©³π©΄
I was listening to the lonely island and the next thing you know, this list happened.
this list contains a variety of books that take place on a variety of boats, ships and vessels
as always, taking any and all suggestions






Nonfiction that's actually fun to read
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.






In which the title is comically long
We love books with a verbose title, and this list celebrates them! Suggestions welcome π€






Morbid Curiosity
Nonfiction books to explore your morbid curiosity. Topics include death, pathogens, the paranormal, and more.
Check out my list horror nonfiction for books about horror media.






So you think you hate nonfiction
Accessible non-fiction titles that are a good intro to the genreβsuggestions always welcome! As an added bonus, most of the audiobooks are also great π§






nautical nonfiction β
tales of history's infamous ships and those who sailed them






Nonfiction about WEATHER
special interest weather forecasting & disasters, +climate change






non-fiction cannibalism
I mean I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory. cannibalism that happened in real life NOT true crime (mostly)






books about a really niche topic in history
i love when historical nonfiction is hyperspecific so






Shipwrecked and Hungry
Thanks to alexindex for naming this list! These are books with boats, shipwrecks, and cannibalism. More description in the comments






survival (cannibalism occured)
books where disaster leads to cannibalism (non-apocalypse/dystopian)






Nonfiction that feels like fiction
real stories just as strange and entertaining as fiction






Maritime Weird
exploration, shipwreck, waves, storms, beasts






Mother Nature (Natural Phenomena on the Cover)
Based on the HRCYED 3.0 prompt! Books with weather or natural disasters/phenomena on the cover (at least one version), including: rain, storms, lightning, clouds, snowfall, fog, sunshine, tornados, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis.
Not an exhaustive list - feel free to suggest titles! I tried to keep it more focused on books that fit the prompt but would be harder to find (i.e. ones that don't have the key words in the title).






Be More Interesting At Parties
Books that focus on βfun factβ histories, people, concepts, crimes, developments and snapshots from human history.






Lost at Sea (water symbolism)
Transformation. Destruction. Renewal. Water holds significance symbolism throughout literature. Take a DIVE into books where water elements play a DEEP role.






Snow, Shipwrecks, and Survival
A mix of fiction and nonfiction books about people being trapped in the ice or stuck at sea and trying to survive against all odds.






actual microhistories
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!





