Taiohi: Non-fiction titles you'll enjoy

There isn't very much non-fiction out there that is published specifically for young adults, so we've brushed off some of our favourite titles from across our library collections that we promise you will enjoy.

Updated November 27, 2025
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The poisoner's handbook : murder and the birth of forensic medicine in jazz age New York
Blum, Deborah
Paper Book
Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder. Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of...
The observologist : a handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions
Clarkson, Giselle
Paper Book
A highly illustrated, playful field guide for budding natural scientists and curious observers of the world right under our noses. Observology is the study of looking. An observologist makes scientific expeditions, albeit very small ones, every day. They notice interesting details in the...
Smoke gets in your eyes : and other lessons from the crematory
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty--a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre--took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both...
Will my cat eat my eyeballs? : big questions from tiny mortals about death
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral? In Will My Cat Eat My...
Hitler's people : the faces of the Third Reich
Evans, Richard J.
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and Air Mail "A fascinating and instructive book . . . elegantly written and perceptive." --Wall Street Journal "Kaleidoscopic . . . A fascinating exploration of individual agency that never loses sight...
Mythos : the Greek myths reimagined
Fry, Stephen
Paper Book
Mythos--the first installment in the internationally bestselling Greek Myths series--is a witty, vivid retelling of the great stories of Greek mythology by celebrated writer and storyteller Stephen Fry. In Mythos, the ancient stories of the Greek gods are...
The Anthropocene reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet
Green, John
Paper Book
Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. "The perfect book for right now." -People <...
Sapiens : a graphic history. Volume one, The birth of humankind
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. #1 New York Times Bestseller The Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, now available as a beautifully packaged paperback From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking...
Amazons, abolitionists, and activists : a graphic history of women's fight for their rights
Kendall, Mikki
Paper Book
A bold and gripping graphic history of the fight for women's rights by theNew York Timesbestselling author ofHood Feminism "A beautifully drawn, hold-no-punches, surprisingly deep dive through the history of women's rights around the world, which will entrance...
Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster
Krakauer, Jon.
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray. "A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment...
Bad gays : a homosexual history
Lemmey, Huw
Paper Book
These "very funny-deep dives into the lives of the most dastardly queer people in history" offer a passionate argument for rethinking gay politics beyond identity (Vogue). What can we learn from the homosexual villains, failures, and baddies of our past? ...
The age of magical overthinking : notes on modern irrationality
Montell, Amanda
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BookPage Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 From the bestselling author of Cultish and host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores...
What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, a hilarious and informative book of popular science that provides answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick...
What if? additional serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions / 2
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An NPR Best Book of 2022 "The questions throughout What If? 2 are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. . . . Science isn't easy, but...
How to speak whale : a voyage into the future of animal communication
Mustill, Tom
Paper Book
What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill--the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak--asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication....
An outbreak of witchcraft : a graphic novel of the Salem Witch Trials
Noyes, Deborah
Paper Book
A gripping tale of paranoia at its worst, this bewitching narrative nonfiction graphic novel visually imagines the haunting details behind the Salem witch trials. From 1692 to 1693, fear reigned in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts. The night Abigail...
Fuzz : when nature breaks the law
Roach, Mary
Paper Book
What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers...
Side quest : a visual history of roleplaying games
Sattin, Samuel
Paper Book
For fans of dungeon crawls and dice rolls--and anyone wanting to know more about them--Side Quest is a stand-alone graphic novel history of roleplaying games (RPGs), from ancient games to those played today, with personal stories from creators throughout! With...
No one is too small to make a difference
Thunberg, Greta
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller by Time's 2019 Person of the Year "Greta Thunberg is already one of our planet's greatest advocates." --Barack Obama "A powerhouse compendium of [Greta's] greatest hits." --Teen Vogue The groundbreaking...
Radical sewing : pattern-free, sustainable fashions for all bodies
Weiss, Kate
Ebook

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