The Guardian’s Robert McCrum’s 100 Greatest Nonfiction Books

1.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 4.15 avg rating — 77,295 ratings
1.
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Year of Magical Thinking 3.93 avg rating — 285,014 ratings
3.
Orientalism
Orientalism 4.13 avg rating — 28,513 ratings
4.
A Room of One’s Own
A Room of One’s Own 4.22 avg rating — 246,507 ratings
5.
Testament of Youth
Testament of Youth 4.11 avg rating — 12,165 ratings
6.
No Logo
No Logo 3.89 avg rating — 32,436 ratings
7.
A Brief History of Time
A Brief History of Time 4.21 avg rating — 467,056 ratings
8.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene 4.16 avg rating — 189,066 ratings
9.
The Female Eunuch
The Female Eunuch 3.68 avg rating — 7,401 ratings
10.
The Double Helix
The Double Helix 3.84 avg rating — 19,755 ratings
11.
The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique 3.87 avg rating — 30,221 ratings
12.
Silent Spring
Silent Spring 4.05 avg rating — 53,320 ratings
12.
The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style 4.18 avg rating — 86,240 ratings
14.
The Making of the English Working Class
The Making of the English Working Class 4.21 avg rating — 3,644 ratings
15.
Black Boy
Black Boy 4.09 avg rating — 55,307 ratings
16.
How to Win Friends & Influence People
How to Win Friends & Influence People 4.22 avg rating — 1,110,923 ratings
17.
Goodbye to All That
Goodbye to All That 3.93 avg rating — 15,318 ratings
18.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace
The Economic Consequences of the Peace 3.98 avg rating — 1,941 ratings
18.
The Souls of Black Folk
The Souls of Black Folk 4.31 avg rating — 44,287 ratings
20.
Eminent Victorians
Eminent Victorians 3.76 avg rating — 2,584 ratings
21.
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi 3.87 avg rating — 15,347 ratings
22.
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands 3.44 avg rating — 1,733 ratings
23.
Walden or, Life in the Woods
Walden or, Life in the Woods 3.78 avg rating — 200,857 ratings
23.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 4.12 avg rating — 132,005 ratings
25.
Domestic Manners of the Americans
Domestic Manners of the Americans 3.71 avg rating — 509 ratings
26.
A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal 4.02 avg rating — 48,432 ratings
27.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 3.86 avg rating — 17,029 ratings
28.
Birthday Letters
Birthday Letters 3.89 avg rating — 10,288 ratings
29.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance 3.94 avg rating — 229,616 ratings
30.
The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff
by: Tom Wolfe
4.23 avg rating — 54,860 ratings
31.
Dispatches
Dispatches 4.22 avg rating — 21,217 ratings
32.
North
North 4.07 avg rating — 2,543 ratings
33.
Awakenings
Awakenings 4.09 avg rating — 13,804 ratings
34.
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock
by: Nik Cohn
3.75 avg rating — 564 ratings
35.
Against Interpretation and Other Essays
Against Interpretation and Other Essays 4.14 avg rating — 10,000 ratings
36.
Ariel
Ariel 4.19 avg rating — 86,767 ratings
37.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 4.03 avg rating — 29,127 ratings
38.
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed 4.22 avg rating — 91,688 ratings
39.
The Affluent Society
The Affluent Society really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,046 ratings
40.
The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working-Class Life
The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working-Class Life 3.80 avg rating — 439 ratings
41.
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son 4.37 avg rating — 23,284 ratings
42.
The Nude
The Nude 4.07 avg rating — 603 ratings
43.
The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History
The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History 4.03 avg rating — 2,294 ratings
44.
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot 3.84 avg rating — 217,127 ratings
45.
A Book of Mediterranean Food
A Book of Mediterranean Food 4.18 avg rating — 407 ratings
46.
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad 3.39 avg rating — 142 ratings
47.
The Last Days of Hitler
The Last Days of Hitler 4.06 avg rating — 1,759 ratings
48.
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care 3.80 avg rating — 2,212 ratings
49.
Hiroshima
Hiroshima 4.04 avg rating — 86,445 ratings
50.
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies 4.22 avg rating — 2,503 ratings
51.
How to Cook a Wolf
How to Cook a Wolf 4.15 avg rating — 2,993 ratings
52.
Enemies of Promise
Enemies of Promise 3.81 avg rating — 218 ratings
53.
The Road to Wigan Pier
The Road to Wigan Pier 3.91 avg rating — 27,352 ratings
54.
The Road to Oxiana
The Road to Oxiana 3.90 avg rating — 3,327 ratings
55.
My Early Life, 1874-1904
My Early Life, 1874-1904 4.26 avg rating — 4,742 ratings
56.
The Waste Land
The Waste Land 4.11 avg rating — 57,832 ratings
57.
Ten Days that Shook the World
Ten Days that Shook the World
by: John Reed
3.94 avg rating — 7,552 ratings
58.
The American Language
The American Language 4.12 avg rating — 545 ratings
59.
De Profundis
De Profundis 4.22 avg rating — 24,402 ratings
60.
The Varieties of Religious Experience
The Varieties of Religious Experience really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12,770 ratings
61.
Brief Lives
Brief Lives 3.88 avg rating — 307 ratings
62.
Personal Memoirs
Personal Memoirs 4.13 avg rating — 9,497 ratings
63.
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes 3.62 avg rating — 2,841 ratings
64.
Nonsense Song
Nonsense Song 3.77 avg rating — 137 ratings
65.
Culture and Anarchy
Culture and Anarchy 3.41 avg rating — 1,071 ratings
66.
The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species 4.01 avg rating — 120,195 ratings
67.
On Liberty
On Liberty 3.96 avg rating — 41,828 ratings
68.
The Life of Charlotte Brontë
The Life of Charlotte Brontë 3.85 avg rating — 8,902 ratings
69.
Roget's International Thesaurus
Roget's International Thesaurus 4.44 avg rating — 1,009 ratings
70.
London Labour and the London Poor
London Labour and the London Poor 4.04 avg rating — 842 ratings
71.
Household Education
Household Education 3.77 avg rating — 13 ratings
72.
The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson 4.23 avg rating — 2,683 ratings
73.
American Dictionary of the English Language
American Dictionary of the English Language 4.63 avg rating — 262 ratings
74.
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Confessions of an English Opium Eater 3.28 avg rating — 10,821 ratings
75.
Tales from Shakespeare
Tales from Shakespeare 3.94 avg rating — 6,796 ratings
76.
Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa
Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa 3.89 avg rating — 698 ratings
77.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 3.85 avg rating — 89,883 ratings
78.
Vindication of the Rights of Women
Vindication of the Rights of Women 3.92 avg rating — 26,300 ratings
79.
The Life of Samuel Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson 3.80 avg rating — 5,264 ratings
80.
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Reflections on the Revolution in France 3.74 avg rating — 7,117 ratings
81.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano 3.74 avg rating — 14,419 ratings
82.
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne 3.97 avg rating — 557 ratings
83.
The Federalist Papers (Annotated)
The Federalist Papers (Annotated)
by: Publius
4.10 avg rating — 41,559 ratings
84.
The Diary of Fanny Burney
The Diary of Fanny Burney 4.08 avg rating — 61 ratings
85.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume V (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire #5)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume V (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire #5) 4.05 avg rating — 308 ratings
86.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 3.88 avg rating — 34,382 ratings
87.
Common Sense
Common Sense really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 38,569 ratings
88.
A Dictionary of the English Language: An Anthology
A Dictionary of the English Language: An Anthology 4.22 avg rating — 116 ratings
89.
A Treatise of Human Nature
A Treatise of Human Nature 3.95 avg rating — 12,539 ratings
90.
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain 3.69 avg rating — 125 ratings
91.
Book of Common Prayer (1552 & 1662)
Book of Common Prayer (1552 & 1662) 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings
92.
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 3.96 avg rating — 3,302 ratings
93.
Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, or, A Brief Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk
Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, or, A Brief Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk 4.11 avg rating — 506 ratings
94.
Leviathan
Leviathan 3.70 avg rating — 51,358 ratings
95.
Aeropagitica
Aeropagitica 3.85 avg rating — 2,546 ratings
96.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions 3.94 avg rating — 165 ratings
97.
The First Folio of Shakespeare: 1623
The First Folio of Shakespeare: 1623 4.78 avg rating — 272 ratings
98.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
The Anatomy of Melancholy 4.11 avg rating — 1,840 ratings
99.
The History of the World
The History of the World 3.20 avg rating — 10 ratings
100.
Holy Bible (Authorised King James Version) (Windsor Series)
Holy Bible (Authorised King James Version) (Windsor Series)
by: Anonymous
4.44 avg rating — 308,885 ratings