Recs if you like The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters...

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.

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 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

Public health: scientific, political, social, cultural, economic…