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What is your favorite non-fiction genre?

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libris

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What non-fiction genres are you particularly drawn too?

History, Science/Nature Writing, Social Sciences, Biography, etc...

I love all non-fiction, but my favorite genre is science and nature writing (I lump them together because they sort of blend, Gould's books could nicely fit in either genre even though they're often stuck in the science section.) I also love the books about books, literary crit, book collecting etc... such as Ex Libris or A Gentle Madness.

So what are your favorites? Do they make up a substantial part of your personal library? Most of my personal library consists of (in order of bulk); text books, field guides, science and nature writing; political/historical works from Chomsky to Zinn; and books about books and collecting;
 
Probably politics (though only Chomsky and Zinn out of curiosity, not because I agree with much of anything they say), history, and pop. science; in that order. Any combination of those is all the better. I'd list travel writing too, just for Bill Bryson alone.
 
I love nonfiction in general. It's all fair game if I run across something that strikes my interest. I have books around here on just about every topic imaginable, but tend to favor how-to's, history, cookbooks, and field guides. I guess I'm lumping biograpies with history..I read plenty of those too. In fact, as a kid, that's what promoted my interest in history in the first place..
 
Looking at my shelves, the books seem to be mainly outdoor adventure type travel writing - land and sea expeditions, historical and modern, plus a fairly wide variety of reference text books, along with a sprinkling of accounts of exploits involving WWII submarines.
(submarines seem to hold some sort of fascination!) :)
 
Geo. said:
Looking at my shelves, the books seem to be mainly outdoor adventure type travel writing - land and sea expeditions, historical and modern, plus a fairly wide variety of reference text books, along with a sprinkling of accounts of exploits involving WWII submarines.
(submarines seem to hold some sort of fascination!) :)
Click to expand...


I like travel writing too..cheapest way to see the world!
 
I mainly like history and biography mixed together (and separately) and I buy the odd cookbook, drawing guide, craft book, puzzle book and other things every now and then. The majority of my non-fiction reading has been the first two though (partly thanks to a lot of Horrible Hisitory books over the year) and I love a good memoir.
 
A quick glance at my shelves reveals especially Philosophy, History, Linguistics, Science, Sociology/Anthopology, Politics and Literary Theory. Biographies don't particularly interest me, although the last non-fiction book I read was Wiseguy, about the life of small-time mafia guy Henry Hill (you know, Ray Liotta inGoodfellas): outstanding book!
 
Definitely nature writing and science. I find it's a nice way to escape to the woods or the stars at the end of a hectic day in a big, dirty city.
 
For me, I love philosophy and anything related to humanity and social science. Plus, I like to read history and stories about spies and secret societies.
 
For myself, I would say that I tend to read both historical and science/nature non-fiction works.
 
I would have to say My favorite non-fiction books would have to be History and biographies relating to the 20th century. The most read topic of both genres concerns WW2, a subject which has intrigued me since I was very young.
 
A sort-of fiction book that later became non-fiction, and one of my favorites is 'The Road Ahead' by Bill Gates. He gets almost everything right, and that ain't bad for 1995...
 
Without a doubt, memoirs.
Recently read: The Road From Coorain by Jill Ker Conway, Almost There by Nuala O'Faolain; Travels of an Independant Woman by Alice Steinbach;Peking Story by David Kidd
 
I like reading history (mainly Ancient Egypt), craft books, some philosophy, writing guides and English language books (like English language history and style guides).
 
Guy Deutscher

Without a doubt one of the best non-fiction books of the last years has been Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language.

Quite remarkable!
 
That's a difficult question. I like history books, mostly about the history of England and Ireland. I like books about fairies, especially by Brian Froud or Pierre Dubois. I also love decorating books and biographies.

One non-fiction that I read about twice a year is "Better Than Beauty: A Guide to Charm" by Helen Valentine. It was first published in 1938 and it's a manual to living a gracious life for young women. Many of the beauty tips are really out of date, but most of the book remains relevant!
 
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