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 May 3, 2026
W
Wellington City Libraries Youth team at Wellington City Libraries
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A short history of nearly everything 2.0
Bryson, Bill
Paper Book
In this fully revised and updated edition of the best-selling popular science book of the 21st century, Bill Bryson makes complex subjects clear and compelling for everyone with an interest in the world around them. NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED. 'Possibly the...
Smoke gets in your eyes : and other lessons from the crematory
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
The critically acclaimed account of Caitlin Doughty's first year working on the funerary frontlines.
Will my cat eat my eyeballs? : big questions from tiny mortals about death
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
Hitler's people: the faces of the third reich
Evans, richard J.
Paper Book
Why did so many Germans take part in the crimes of Nazi Germany? How did they come to support Hitler and follow him almost to the very end? For too long, the Nazis have been presented as little more than psychopaths or criminals. In his major new work, renowned historian Richard J. Evans makes use...
Mythos
Fry, Stephen
Paper Book
The Greek myths are amongst the best stories ever told, passed down through millennia and inspiring writers and artists as varied as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, James Joyce and Walt Disney. They are embedded deeply in the traditions, tales and cultural DNA of the West. You'll fall in...
The Anthropocene reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet
Green, John
Ebook
The story of art without men
Hessel, Katy
Paper Book
How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Discover the glittering Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century USA and...
Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster
Krakauer, Jon.
Paper Book
Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended in the worst single-season death toll in...
What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Nerd royalty' BEN GOLDACRE 'Totally brilliant' TIM HARFORD 'Required reading across the world' NEW YORK TIMES From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, hilarious and informative answers to...
What if? 2 : additional serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
'Nerd royalty' Ben Goldacre 'Laugh-out-loud funny' Bill Gates 'Totally brilliant' Tim Harford WHAT IF you still had so many more strange questions about the universe? And WHAT IF Randall Munroe, former NASA roboticist and xkcd creator,...
How to Speak Whale : A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication
Mustill, Tom.
Paper Book
'Fascinating' Greta Thunberg 'Extraordinary' Merlin Sheldrake 'A must-read' New Scientist 'Enthralling' George Monbiot 'Brilliant' Philip Hoare As a biologist and nature filmmaker, Tom Mustill had always liked whales. But when one landed on his kayak,...
No one is too small to make a difference
Thunberg, Greta
Ebook

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