Discover our ideas for the most interesting non-fiction books to read right now.
Holidays are almost over so as the kids prepare to go back to school in September and the grownups head back to the office en masse, we’re making like Matilda and taking ourselves off to the library to fill up our regulation backpacks with all the best non-fiction books that our team are reading at the moment..
After all, you’re never too old to learn something new!
- The Monocle Companion: Fifty Essays for a Brighter Future
From the masters of modern thinking, The Monocle series brings us fifty insightful essays to encourage you to question the world we’re living in and quite possibly solve some of the problems we now face. Read why the current school curriculum is letting us down, why world leaders shouldn’t care about what we earn and very politically on point, whether national service is actually worth fighting for. If you’re looking for a fresh perspective, this is the book for you.
2. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
An absolute smash hit bestseller, and winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize, this is a vibrant hallucinatory read as you journey through the life of these extraordinary organisms.
It’s simultaneously disgusting and fascinating, makes you think twice about fungi when you learn some can transform other living creatures into flesh-eating zombies but also earns them a whole new level of respect and you’ll never look at your mushies on toast the same again. Choose the illustrated edition sold at our bookshop favourite Mr B's Emporium for a real delectable treat.
3. Work by Kwanghi Chan
Step out of your comfort zone and try something a little different with this small cookbook from Kwanghi Chan; born in Hong Kong but raised in Buncrana, Country Donegal. This is the first Irish-Chinese cookbook to be published and is broken down into nine sections with three recipes in each section. From the best Sichuan-style aubergines to soy-braised fice-spice chicken, discover a new corner of the culinary arts with this slim and handy recipe book of dinner ideas. Buy now online.
4. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that can’t stop talking, Susan Cain
In a world built for extroverts, like the way desks are laid out in primary classrooms, how university curriculums are organised and even our preference for world leaders, discover what it means to be an introvert in this day and age and the power it can harness if allowed to flourish in schools, in the office and at home. Buy from Mr B's Emporium.
5. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez
Did you know? 90% of women suffer from PMS, the causes of which are poorly understood, whereas erectile dysfunction affects only 15% of men but has 5 times more studies on it. There's data discrepancies in scientific research programmes, the policies made by world leaders and even the size of our pavements, this book highlights the expansive gender gap in what should be clinical but is definitively not - data. Buy now from Mr B's Emporium.
6. Daring Greatly, Dr Brene Brown
Challenging everything we know about vulnerability, Dr Brene Brown analyses twelve years of social research to dispel the widely accepted myth that vulnerability is a weakness and help us open up our vulnerable side to every part of our lives. Buy now from Mr B's Bookshop Emporium.
Got a reading recommendation for our Always Sunday book club? Head to our instagram @the_sunday_papers and let us know in the comments or DM us or find a new article to read in The Sunday Papers, the Always Sunday online lifestyle magazine.
