Texas Topaz Nonfiction List for Adults

Here are some recommendations for adults from the 2025 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List! The purpose of the Texas Topaz Reading List is to provide children, teens, and adults with recommended nonfiction titles that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. Visit txla.org/topaz for the full list and lists from previous years.


Updated January 8, 2025
Lewisville Public Library
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The swans of Harlem : five Black ballerinas, fifty years of sisterhood, and the reclamation of a groundbreaking history
Valby, Karen
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK * Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography * The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history--until now. "This is the kind...
Twelve trees : the deep roots of our future
Lewis, Daniel
Paper Book
A compelling global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees, offering "extensive insight into the ways in which humans and trees are interconnected" (BookPage), revealing the challenges facing our planet and how scientists are working urgently to save our...
Four thousand paws : caring for the dogs of the Iditarod : a veterinarian's story
Morgan, Lee (Veterinarian)
Paper Book
Few sporting events attract as much attention, or create as much spectacle, as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Each March, despite subzero temperatures and white-out winds, hundreds of dogs and dozens of mushers journey to Anchorage, Alaska, to participate in "The Last Great Race on Earth," a...
Making it so : a memoir
Stewart, Patrick
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER The renowned and bestselling memoir--written with "insight, truth, and passion" (Sir Ian McKellen)--from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart. From his...
The angel makers : arsenic, a midwife, and modern history's most astonishing murder ring
McCracken, Patti
Paper Book
The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other--a 1920s midwife who may have been the century's most prolific killer leading a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men. The horror occurred in a rustic farming enclave in modern-day...
The serial killer's apprentice : the true story of how Houston's deadliest murderer turned a kid into a killing machine
Ramsland, Katherine M.
Paper Book
A psychological examination of the blurred line between victim and accomplice--and how a killer can be created Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas, teenager David Brooks had...
The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager...
How to be perfect : the correct answer to every moral question
Schur, Michael
Paper Book
From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation, a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2,400 years of deep thinking from around the world. Most people think of themselves as "good," but it's not...

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