Teach me something new and oddly specific 💬
Niche nonfiction, aka micro-histories!
created by endless_tbr_list
last updated October, 2025
Comments
love this list! i want to read everything!
This is such a fun list! I can't wait to dive into some these titles. Also, I feel like notbillnye's tomato book might fit nicely! Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World by William Alexander.
Ooh, yes! Adding now
notbill & that damn tomato book 😭🍅 (i am waitlisted for it at my library) (which one of yall lives near me & has taken the notbill rec)
(i would ship my copy to florida just for you if i could)
🥹🍅 this is why you’re the best. it says “10 week~” wait like WHY are we all getting the tomato book rn
I’m devastated, one of the libraries in my system finally got the audiobook, but since it’s not my home branch, anyone with that library as theirs gets priority. I started with just a 2-week wait, and now I’m all the way up to 10. 😭 I was so excited to listen to it, especially since it’s won awards, but I guess I’ll just have to be patient. It’s nice to see it getting so much love though! I can read it physically if I see others start it hehe.
i am also at 10 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!! maybe we will end up reading it around the same time!!! 🫶🫶🫶🫶
me, looking at this list: oh cool! my tomato book! rad! me, zooming to the comments: "NOTBILLNYE IS ACTUALLY A TOMATO IN DISGUISE"
my legacy 5ever
Y'all need to stop with these non-fiction lists. I don't read enough non-fiction to keep adding all these books 😭
Come to the dark side, we have cookies and random facts 😂
I need that on a t-shirt
THE BOSTON MOLASSES FLOOD slams tbr button
RIGHT?! I keep putting it off but I want to read it SO BAD
maybe we’ll have to read it together at some point !!!!! 🫶
SAME
this is a rad ass list!!! i love this idea!!
thank you! it was fun doing a deep dive to create it
This list is awesome! I want to learn about so many of these topics.
Thank you! I have no many on my tbr I figured I'd share 😆
I’m not sure if you want to include food history here but The Apple: A Delicious History by Sally Coulthard might be a good addition to this list.
Adding!
I think a great addition to this would be Eyeliner by Zahra Hankir! Its literally just about the history of eyeliner!
Oh I love that! Adding now
YES YES this is exactly the kind of history I like to read, thank you!
same! I'm hoping I have some time next year to really dive in
I hope both sides of your pillow stays cool and soft and you never stub your toe ever again 🤗✨✨
I needed this yesterday, thank you 🥰
OMG I wanna read all of these!! Here is my fodder for future Polymath challenges 😄😄
I am also gonna suggest Clara's Grand Tour, A fish caught in time, and The Land Where Lemons Grow
added, thank you!
This is incredible. Where does one start? Mac n cheese? Eels? Teeth? Life is like a PB list, you never know what you’re gonna get
crying over how it goes from the history of eyeliner to Ten Tomatoes to a book about cadavers—this list is EVERYTHING
this list is setting my ADHD brain on fire in the best way possible, ohmygodddddd
I hope you find something you enjoy!
This is SUCH a good list, and really scratches the itch in my brain. I just picked up Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky which is very much in this vein, hoping to start that soon.
I hope you enjoy!!
We need to add the new maple syrup book to this list!! https://pagebound.co/books/76f6e7fe-08d2-41ee-a1d1-4081a50cacae
The list i never knew i needed thank u 😭🫶🏽
I'm not sure if this fits, but I had a lot of fun with The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots that Shook New York City by Scott D. Seligman.
Oh this sounds so interesting!
Loving this list! I already had a couple books finished before seeing it and am now one my second book as suggested by it! A suggestion: Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. I think it fits the bill of keeping the book's subject pretty small in scope! I have other nonfiction suggestions but that's the most niche one I can think of off the top of my head 😅
Oh yay, I'm so happy you're finding recs from this! Also I'm absolutely adding that book, it sounds perfect and also so interesting
I'm about halfway through The Deepest Map and it reminds very strongly of The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean. It features a lot of the same people and dives (they were published the same year actually!), but The Underworld is more of a history of deep ocean exploration, which may also fit into this list, though I'm not sure if it's quite niche enough!
my new favorite list 😍😍
Interesting list! Two suggestions: a. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams: Matthew Walker b. "The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality": Angela Saini
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