Staff Nonfiction Favorites

See chronicles her ancestors’ immigrant experience coming from China to California. Spanning 100 years of family history, from dynamiting railroads into mountainsides to rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite, See shares the triumphs and the devastations along the way. I was charmed by See’s honest, often emotional rendering of her family’s remarkable journey. - Jade

I think I raved to everyone who would listen about how much I loved this book. Lockwood is hilarious, yet her words are thoughtful and heartfelt as she describes her ‘walking warning label’ of a mother and her priest father who has a habit of dropping his collar (and pants) at the door. Families aren’t perfect and Lockwood’s is no different. - Karena

A book about the past mixed with the politics of the today, all told through captivating reporting. It celebrates the true thrilling story of the people who smuggled old, rare books and scripts out of West Africa as they confront the new dangers of the present. Badass Librarians is both inspiring and page-turning. - Ian

A book for anyone who wants to waste less food, get more creative in their use of leftover ingredients, or generally feel more confident in the kitchen. Full of enormously practical advice, Adler's essays on cooking and eating are also beautifully written and reassuringly focused on eating well rather than 'correctly'. - Ilana

Straight from the land of Shaolin comes a poignant memoir about one of the Wu-Tang Clan’s underrated members, chronicling childhood traumas, first run-ins with Wu-Tang Clan members (his young Method Man stories are insightful and hilarious), and the beginnings of the Wu-Tang. Heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud hilarious, RAW is the definitive hip-hop memoir of the year. - Gabe

I urge you to pick up this. I loved learning about microscopic, indestructible water bears, moss diapers, peat bogs, and the grueling fun of being a scientist.  Kimmerer has something that few science writers have: lyrical writing and an infectious curiosity for the world around her. This gem of a book instills a sense of delight and awe and gratitude for living things. - Natalie

Gripping, evocative, and richly detailed, Tara Westover's clear-eyed account of how she achieved a Ph.D.— despite the fact that her father's religious fundamentalism kept her out of school until she was 17 (and she and her siblings out of hospitals, despite some truly horrendous injuries)—is a must-read. I couldn't put this memoir down. - Stuart

This is the book that keeps resurfacing in my mind and in my conversations. I can’t stop talking about it! My personal understanding of “belonging” and my cultural understanding of “belonging” have been given a new language and a new mission. I think this shift in thinking has unlimited potential and such hope for better conversations with friends and foes, alike. - Jenny

The ‘How Stuff Works’ series by DK publishes some of my favorite books. This iteration is no different. Simple in its display of facts and easy to follow, How Food Works forms a fantastic introduction to nutrition and the role food plays in maintaining a healthy human. - Ian

The sexual politics of college (and post-college) life are central to successful discussions of gender equality. In this must-read book Wade investigates what hookup culture looks like, the unequal impacts of it (oftentimes along racial and gender lines), and its relationship to an ever-changing lineage of American youths and how they initiate and experience sex and romance. - Clara