Recs if you like Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History...

Niche nonfiction, aka micro-histories!

This list was a winner of the Q2 2026 Community Voting event - if you'd like to participate in the Quest, a link is pinned in the comments.

Do you want to be hot and smart but are tired of trying to find a nonfiction book that appeals to you? Why don't you try finding a fun subject and become the life of the party at your next gathering👀 everyone will stand up and give you a round of applause when you share these cool facts🙂‍↕️

microhistory: the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research (such as an event, community, individual or a settlement); it aspires to "ask large questions in small places"

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.

Non-fiction about horror, those is the horror industry, horror-adjacent subjects, and down-right terrifying books.

For when you want something more ominous, macabre, or mysterious in taste that also centers on a deeply specific subject. Ranging from the occult to the supernatural to just plain weird and interesting. Expand your knowledge by reading these narrow glimpses into the past.

Books with weird, strange, absurd, or just hilarious titles Please comment your own suggestions

how we keep them, how they happen, how they taste, how we think about them, and everything else in-between

Nonfiction about strange, outlandish, and/or macabre subjects (books that make you more or less go “wtf?!”)

Niche nonfiction books that dads are still likely to enjoy that either 1) are not military history at all or 2) a niche area of a war that is not military history

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

Inspired by the Morbidly Curious Book Club, these are nonfiction books that tackle topics often treated as taboo or seen as too grim and grisly to discuss.

i see new cannibal-leaning lists on PB all the time. modern authors are running with this theme in so many fun ways. BUT! this queer-coded, girlboss, eat the rich cannibalism we're seeing a lot of right now is brand new. i think it's important to balance this with an understanding of the role that cannibalism has played in colonialism and systematic violence. here are some books to read if you're a fan of man-eaters, soylent green, or special meat. as always, i am open to recommendations!

bon appetit!

Read these books first! Take a deep dive into the wonderful ecosystems that have evolved over millions of years and realise that humans are not as unique as we like to think.

It’s much cheaper than a degree (coming from a conservation and ecology major) 🤪

True stories of horror, authors who take a horror lense to their memoirs or historical, film, literary analysis of horror. There’s even a scientific analysis of cannibalism, including humans interest in the taboo subject.

non-fiction books to read if you want to learn about an oddly specific topic

no? well, now you do Books about [niche subject] or [not so niche subject] that spam from the mysterious and the macabre to the weird and unsettling to just interesting and fun