These are the best and worst nonfiction books that I read last year. Earlier this week I posted my fiction picks, still to come are young adult books. (Titles below are listed alphabetically.)
Best:
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson – This book will have you scouting out everyone around you to see if you can spot the psychopaths. FYI – relatives don’t appreciate you pointing out their psychopathic traits.
The Sun’s Heartbeat Bob Berman- I never would have though a book about the sun could be so interesting. A fascinating and surprisingly entertaining account of what we know about the sun.
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres- I learned so much that I didn’t know about Jonestown from this book. It reconstructs events from the very beginning of Jim Jones’s churches using insiders’ and survivors’ accounts.
Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi – This memoir deals with the actress’s struggles with eating disorders, her sexuality, and how the constant critiques of body image in modeling and show business contributed to the eating disorders from a young age. There is only a tiny bit at the end about her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres, but Portia’s story shines just fine on its own.
Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand – This is an amazing true story about Louis Zamperini who was an Olympian, survived an incredible amount of time in a life raft in the Pacific in WWII, and then suffered as the target of a tyrant in Japanese POW camps. It’s a book that manages to be completely inspirational even with all of the horrible things he lived through. (Note, the first 50 pages are slow, don’t give up though because the rest of the book is spectacular.)
Worst:
Fannie’s Last Supper by Christopher Kimball – The author is the man from America’s Test Kitchen – a show that I love. While there is testing of Fannie Farmer’s recipes in this book, there is also a ton of filler about the cooking and culture of her time. Even that had the potential to be interesting, but with the exception of a few humorous anecdotes I was bored to tears.
© 2012, At Home With Books. All rights reserved.
So glad to hear you loved Unbroken, since I received that book for Christmas. The Psychopath Test sounds fun!
I’m afraid to read The Psychopath Test…afraid I might find myself in there
One of the coolest things I read in that book was that if you are worried about being a psychopath then that’s the biggest sign you aren’t one.
Oh, thank goodness!!!
Nice collection of nonfiction books that I must investigate further. I had passed on the one about the sun thinking it would be boring. Obviously I was wrong. Thanks also for the warning about Fannie’s Last Supper – as the Cosby kids used to say, “Eeeeuuw!”
I’ve been doing my own psychopath tests for years. That is why I read true crime! I need to know the characteristics. The scary thing is…they are out there, amongst us. I love your focus on non-fiction. I am hoping to get to the Jonestown book soon.
The Psychopath Test sounds great. I’m usually not a big non-fiction reader, but I will have to check it out.
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction. Maybe I’ll change that this year.
Your Best Of list looks exactly like what I want on my TBR shelf. So interesting!! It’s made me realize how much I miss non-fiction. I’ll have to get back to reading some in 2012.
I can’t wait to read Psychopath Test, my friend read it immediately when I pointed it out, lol. I also am interested in Portia’s memoir.
I have several of those titles and haven’t read any of them. I am so far behind!!
“Bored to tears” is definitely a very bad thing in a book!
“FYI – relatives don’t appreciate you pointing out their psychopathic traits.”
I bet they don’t!
I just don’t think I’d WANT to know if there were psychopaths around me!
I tell you, I want to read all of your non-fiction picks… I used to be so good with non-fiction, but I am slacking lately.
Oh, and I am so fond of Mr. Kimball….
I like your list ! I’ve heard very good things about The Psychopath Test and Unbroken. The others look quite promising, too. In past years I’ve also deemed one book “the worst”. Thankfully this year I couldn’t come up with a book to bestow that title upon !
BTW, in case you are interested, here’s a link to my best of list:
http://maphead.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/my-favorite-books-of-2011/
I own “Unbearable Lightness” I received it as a gift last year. I can’t wait to read it!
I’m glad you liked it.
Thanks for this yearly wrap-up — I’m going to see if I can track down The Sun’s Heartbeat!
I loved Unbroken as well (http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=1178), have to add the rest to my TBR.
Thanks.