Staff Picks: Nonfiction (DDL Winter Reading 24-25)

Updated December 18, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Atomic habits : tiny changes, remarkable results : an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones
Clear, James
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of...
The barn : the secret history of a murder in Mississippi
Thompson, Wright
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Slate, Vanity Fair, TIME, Buzzfeed, Smithsonian, BookPage, KCUR, Kirkus, and Boston Globe "It literally changed...
The body keeps the score : mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma
Van der Kolk, Bessel A.
Paper Book
What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have...
Challenger : a true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space
Higginbotham, Adam
Paper Book
Winner of the 2024 Kirkus Nonfiction Prize * Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction * A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *...
Cue the sun : the invention of reality TV
Nussbaum, Emily
Paper Book
The rollicking saga of reality television, a "sweeping" (The Washington Post) cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer--"a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture"...
The demon of unrest : Abraham Lincoln & America's road to civil war
Larson, Erik
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War in this 'riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult' (Los Angeles Times). On November 6,...
A fatal inheritance : how a family misfortune revealed a deadly medical mystery
Ingrassia, Lawrence
Paper Book
Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Named a best book of the year by Amazon, NPR, and Kirkus Weaving his own moving family story with a sweeping history of cancer research, Lawrence Ingrassia delivers an intimate,...
The friday afternoon club : a family memoir
Dunne, Griffin
Paper Book
A charming, hilarious account of Griffin Dunne's coming of age among a family of larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan.
Frostbite : how refrigeration changed our food, our planet, and ourselves
Twilley, Nicola
Paper Book
"Engrossing...hard to put down." - The New York Times Book Review "Frostbite is a perfectly executed cold fusion of science, history, and literary verve . . . as a fellow nonfiction writer, I bow down. This is how it's done." - Mary Roach, author of Fuzz and...
Grief is for people
Crosley, Sloane
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, TIME, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Esquire, NPR, Elle, Library Journal, LitHub, Oprah Daily, Publishers Weekly, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, Bookpage, The Independent, and New Statesman
Knife : meditations after an attempted murder
Rushdie, Salman
Paper Book
**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024** A gripping account of survival and recovery from internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize-winner Salman Rushdie On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the...
Meditations for Mortals: Four weeks to embrace your limitations and make time for what counts
Burkeman, Oliver.
Paper Book
Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating journey towards a more meaningful life - one that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence, but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves. Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, it...
Men have called her crazy : a memoir
Tendler, Anna Marie
Paper Book
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* "This book is so many things I didn't know I needed: a testament to the work of healing, a raw howl of anger, and an indictment of misogyny's insipid, predictable, infuriating reign." --Carmen Maria Machado, author of the National Book Award...
The message
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The renowned author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell--and the ones we don't--shape our realities. "Ta-Nehisi Coates always writes with a...
Nexus : a brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to AI
Harari, Yuval N
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions,...
Nuclear war : a scenario
Jacobsen, Annie
Paper Book
The INSTANT New York Times bestseller Instant Los Angeles Times bestseller One of NPR's Books We Love One of Newsweek Staffers' Favorite Books of the Year Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize
The other Olympians : fascism, queerness, and the making of modern sports
Waters, Michael
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History and the 2025 Mark Lynton History Prize. Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by The New Yorker, NPR and BookPage. "Michael Waters performs an Olympian act of storytelling, using the stories...
Patriot : a memoir
Naval?ny?, Alekse?
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, THE ATLANTIC, NPR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD * The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs.
Polar vortex : a family memoir
Dorrance
Paper Book
What do you do when your mother can't remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, lowa, where she's hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for...
Revenge of the tipping point : overstories, superspreaders, and the rise of social engineering
Gladwell, Malcolm
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Most Anticipated in: AARP | Associated Press | Time Magazine | Oprah Daily | Chicago Tribune | Literary Hub | Publishers Weekly | Publishers Lunch<...
The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance
Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
Paper Book
'This book will nourish your soul, heart, and mind' Anthony Doerr As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy....
Slow productivity : the lost art of accomplishment without burnout
Newport, Cal
Paper Book
A New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and IndieBound bestseller "Brilliant and timely" -- Oliver Burkeman ~ Do Fewer Things. Work at a Natural Pace. Obsess over Quality. ~ From the New York Times bestselling...
Smoke and ashes : opium's hidden histories
Ghosh, Amitav
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE 'An acerbic, compelling and always accessible account of how opium corrupted the world' TLS 'The writing is sublime, the research thorough, the eye for story superb' Sunday Telegraph
Soldiers and kings : survival and hope in the world of human smuggling
De León, Jason
Ebook
WINNER OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION A TIME 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 * An NPR Book We Love 2024 * A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 * A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024 "A work of extraordinary reportage and compassion...[it...
Supercommunicators : how to unlock the secret language of connection
Duhigg, Charles
Paper Book
From the author of the global bestseller, The Power of Habit 'This is not just a riveting read about how to understand others better. It's also a revealing look at how to be understood.' - ADAM GRANT If you want to improve your communication skills at work...
There's always this year : on basketball and ascension
Abdurraqib, Hanif
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "powerful" (The Guardian) reflection on basketball, life, and home--from the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America "Mesmerizing . . . not only the most original...
Traveling : on the path of Joni Mitchell
Powers, Ann
Paper Book
*An Observer Best New Biographies of 2024* *Now in paperback!* Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself. "What you are about to read is not a standard...
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...
A walk in the park : the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller * Winner of the 2024 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Air...
What I ate in one year
Tucci, Stanley.
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 Discover the mouthwatering follow-up to Stanley Tucci's bestselling memoir, Taste 'Sharing food is one of the purest human acts'<...
The wide wide sea : imperial ambition, first contact and the fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook
Sides, Hampton
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, TIME, THE ECONOMIST, NPR, THE NEW YORKER, THE SMITHSONIAN, AND KIRKUS REVIEWS A "thrilling and superbly crafted" (The Wall Street Journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of...
Woman, life, freedom
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
Winner, ALA ALEX Award An urgent, groundbreaking and visually stunning new collection of graphic storytelling about the present Iranian revolution, using comics to show what would be censored in photos and film in Iran. Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis,...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.