Narrative Nonfiction Books
True stories told with the structure and pacing of novels, often built around archival research and reportage.
93 books
Non-Fiction
33 Strategies of War
Robert Greene
Memoir
A Child Called It
David J. Pelzer
Memoir
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers
Memoir
A House in the Sky
Amanda Lindhout
Philosophy
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson
Non-Fiction
A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson
Non-Fiction
Alive
Piers Paul Read
Philosophy
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Neil Postman
Memoir
Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
Annapurna
Philosophy
Antifragile
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Non-Fiction
Authentic Happiness
Martin Elias Pete Seligman
Barefoot
Johan van Lengen
Philosophy
Being Mortal
Atul Gawande
Non-Fiction
Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me
Non-Fiction
Billion Dollar Whale
Wright, Tom (Wall Street Journal reporter)
Black Sun
Thelma Balfour
Romance
Blue Nights
Heather Graham
Non-Fiction
Brave Enough
Cheryl Strayed
Non-Fiction
Breath
James Nestor
Buy Back Your Time
Dan Martell
Non-Fiction
Caste
Isabel Wilkerson
Non-Fiction
Complex PTSD
Pete Walker
Non-Fiction
Country of My Skull
Antjie Krog
Memoir
Creativity, Inc.
Ed Catmull
Non-Fiction
Crucial Conversations
Kerry Patterson
Historical Fiction
Dead Wake
Erik Larson
Die with Zero
Bill Perkins
Self-Help
Discipline Equals Freedom
Discipline Is Destiny
Ryan Holiday
Non-Fiction
Dopamine Nation
Anna Lembke
DotCom Secrets
Russell Brunson
Earthlings
Ian Ford
Non-Fiction
Eat and Run
Scott Jurek
Effortless
Non-Fiction
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
Non-Fiction
Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman
Memoir
Empire of Pain
Patrick Radden Keefe
Non-Fiction
Empire of the Summer Moon
S. C. Gwynne
Non-Fiction
Endurance
Paul S. Boyer
Endure
Philosophy
Essentialism
Greg McKeown
Non-Fiction
Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser
Non-Fiction
Friday Night Lights
Buzz Bissinger
Non-Fiction
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Jared Diamond
Homo Deus
Yuval Noah Harari
Non-Fiction
I'll Be Gone in the Dark
Michelle McNamara
Comedy
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
Non-Fiction
In Defense of Food
Michael Pollan
Non-Fiction
In the Heart of the Sea
Nathaniel Philbrick
Non-Fiction
Inside the Nudge Unit
David Halpern
Non-Fiction
Life After Life
Raymond A. Moody
Comedy
Made in America
Bill Bryson
Metabolical
Non-Fiction
Misbehaving
Richard H. Thaler
Non-Fiction
Never Finished
David Goggins
Non-Fiction
On War
Rashid Khalidi
Philosophy
Open
Karl Popper
Outlive
Peter Attia
Non-Fiction
Predictably Irrational
Dan Ariely
Non-Fiction
The Lost City of Z
David Grann
Non-Fiction
The Nature Fix
Florence Williams
Non-Fiction
The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Non-Fiction
The Palace Papers
Irb Media
Literary Fiction
The Plague
Daniel Defoe
Memoir
The Radium Girls
Kate Moore
Non-Fiction
The River of Doubt
Non-Fiction
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
Jeff Hobbs
Non-Fiction
The Sixth Extinction
Elizabeth Kolbert
Non-Fiction
The Smartest Guys in the Room
Bethany McLean
Non-Fiction
The Snow Leopard
Peter Matthiessen
Memoir
The Sound of Gravel
Ruth Wariner
Non-Fiction
The Undoing Project
Non-Fiction
The Wager
David Grann
Non-Fiction
The Warmth of Other Suns
Isabel Wilkerson
Memoir
The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
Historical Fiction
The Zookeeper's Wife
Diane Ackerman
Non-Fiction
Touching the Void
Joe Simpson
Trauma and Recovery
Memoir
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
Non-Fiction
Turn the Ship Around!
L. David Marquet
Non-Fiction
Ultra-Processed People
Chris van Tulleken
Memoir
Ultramarathon Man
Dean Karnazes
Memoir
Unfollow
Megan Phelps-Roper
Wave
Non-Fiction
What Happened to You?
Bruce D. Perry
Memoir
When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi
Why We Sleep
Matthew Walker
Memoir
Wild
Cheryl Strayed
ZeroZeroZero
Roberto Saviano
Young Adult
iGen
Jean M. Twenge
