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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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...
Chamber divers : the untold story of the D-day scientists who changed special operations forever
Lance, Rachel
Paper Book
The previously classified story of the eccentric researchers who invented cutting-edge underwater science to lead the Allies to D-Day victory In August 1942, more than 7,000 Allied troops rushed the beaches of Normandy, France, in an all but-forgotten landing. Only a small...
One in a millennial : on friendship, feelings, fangirls, and fitting in
Kennedy, Kate (Podcaster)
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom pop culture podcaster and a voice of a generation, Kate Kennedy, a celebration of the millennial zeitgeistOne In a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned (for better and...
A man of two faces : a memoir, a history, a memorial
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism,...
Hidden potential : the science of achieving greater things
Grant, Adam
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller "This brilliant book will shatter your assumptions about what it takes to improve and succeed. I wish I could go back in time and gift it to my younger self. It would've helped me find a more joyful path to progress." --Serena Williams, 23...
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 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 * 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 of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!" --Misty...
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...
Walking with Sam : a father, a son, and five hundred miles across Spain
McCarthy, Andrew
Paper Book
An intimate, funny, and poignant New York Times bestseling travel memoir following award-winning author and actor Andrew McCarthy as he walks the Camino de Santiago with his son Sam.    When Andrew McCarthy's eldest son began to take his first steps...
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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