The Guardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books

1.
A Brief History of Time
A Brief History of Time 4.21 avg rating — 467,075 ratings
2.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 4.15 avg rating — 77,302 ratings
3.
Walden
Walden 3.78 avg rating — 200,864 ratings
4.
The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species 4.01 avg rating — 120,198 ratings
5.
Hiroshima
Hiroshima 4.04 avg rating — 86,450 ratings
6.
Silent Spring
Silent Spring 4.05 avg rating — 53,326 ratings
7.
No Logo
No Logo 3.89 avg rating — 32,436 ratings
8.
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Year of Magical Thinking 3.93 avg rating — 285,053 ratings
9.
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
10.
The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff
by: Tom Wolfe
4.23 avg rating — 54,862 ratings
11.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends and Influence People 4.22 avg rating — 1,110,982 ratings
12.
The Waste Land
The Waste Land 4.11 avg rating — 57,833 ratings
13.
A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal 4.02 avg rating — 48,435 ratings
13.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding/Second Treatise of Goverment
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding/Second Treatise of Goverment 3.91 avg rating — 44 ratings
15.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene 4.16 avg rating — 189,069 ratings
16.
Birthday Letters
Birthday Letters 3.89 avg rating — 10,288 ratings
17.
The Female Eunuch
The Female Eunuch 3.68 avg rating — 7,401 ratings
18.
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot 3.84 avg rating — 217,132 ratings
19.
Awakenings
Awakenings 4.09 avg rating — 13,804 ratings
20.
The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style 4.18 avg rating — 86,241 ratings
21.
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock
by: Nik Cohn
3.75 avg rating — 564 ratings
22.
The Double Helix
The Double Helix 3.84 avg rating — 19,755 ratings
23.
Orientalism
Orientalism 4.13 avg rating — 28,517 ratings
23.
Dispatches
Dispatches 4.22 avg rating — 21,219 ratings
25.
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies 4.22 avg rating — 2,503 ratings
26.
A Room of One’s Own
A Room of One’s Own 4.22 avg rating — 246,521 ratings
27.
On Liberty
On Liberty 3.96 avg rating — 41,829 ratings
28.
Ten Days that Shook the World
Ten Days that Shook the World
by: John Reed
3.94 avg rating — 7,552 ratings
29.
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings 4.37 avg rating — 949 ratings
30.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave 4.12 avg rating — 132,011 ratings
31.
Nature and Selected Essays
Nature and Selected Essays 4.11 avg rating — 2,267 ratings
32.
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Confessions of an English Opium Eater 3.28 avg rating — 10,822 ratings
33.
Common Sense
Common Sense really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 38,570 ratings
34.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 4.02 avg rating — 15,257 ratings
35.
Wealth of Nations
Wealth of Nations 3.85 avg rating — 194 ratings
36.
A Treatise of Human Nature
A Treatise of Human Nature 3.95 avg rating — 12,540 ratings
37.
Leviathan
Leviathan 3.70 avg rating — 51,364 ratings
38.
Areopagitica and Other Writings
Areopagitica and Other Writings 3.71 avg rating — 56 ratings
39.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions 3.94 avg rating — 165 ratings
40.
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son 4.37 avg rating — 23,285 ratings
41.
William Shakespeare The First Folio
William Shakespeare The First Folio 4.78 avg rating — 272 ratings
42.
The Road To Wigan Pier
The Road To Wigan Pier 3.91 avg rating — 27,352 ratings
43.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 4.03 avg rating — 29,126 ratings
44.
North
North 4.07 avg rating — 2,543 ratings
45.
Against Interpretation and Other Essays
Against Interpretation and Other Essays 4.14 avg rating — 10,000 ratings
46.
Ariel
Ariel 4.19 avg rating — 86,773 ratings
47.
The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique 3.87 avg rating — 30,224 ratings
48.
The Making of the English Working Class
The Making of the English Working Class 4.21 avg rating — 3,644 ratings
49.
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed 4.22 avg rating — 91,695 ratings
50.
The Affluent Society
The Affluent Society really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,046 ratings
51.
The Uses of Literacy (Classics in Communication and Mass Culture Series)
The Uses of Literacy (Classics in Communication and Mass Culture Series) 3.80 avg rating — 439 ratings
52.
The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form
The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form 4.07 avg rating — 603 ratings
53.
Hedgehog & The Fox
Hedgehog & The Fox 4.03 avg rating — 2,294 ratings
54.
A Book of Mediterranean Food
A Book of Mediterranean Food 4.18 avg rating — 407 ratings
55.
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad 3.39 avg rating — 142 ratings
56.
The Last Days of Hitler
The Last Days of Hitler 4.06 avg rating — 1,759 ratings
57.
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
58.
Black Boy
Black Boy 4.09 avg rating — 55,310 ratings
59.
How to Cook a Wolf
How to Cook a Wolf 4.15 avg rating — 2,993 ratings
60.
Enemies of Promise
Enemies of Promise 3.81 avg rating — 218 ratings
61.
The Road to Oxiana
The Road to Oxiana 3.90 avg rating — 3,327 ratings
62.
Testament of Youth
Testament of Youth 4.11 avg rating — 12,165 ratings
63.
A Roving Commission; My Early Life (1930)
A Roving Commission; My Early Life (1930) 4.26 avg rating — 4,744 ratings
64.
Goodbye to All That
Goodbye to All That 3.93 avg rating — 15,319 ratings
65.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace
The Economic Consequences of the Peace 3.98 avg rating — 1,941 ratings
66.
The American Language
The American Language 4.12 avg rating — 545 ratings
67.
Eminent Victorians
Eminent Victorians 3.75 avg rating — 2,586 ratings
68.
The Souls of Black Folk
The Souls of Black Folk 4.31 avg rating — 44,288 ratings
69.
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12,770 ratings
70.
Brief Lives
Brief Lives 3.88 avg rating — 307 ratings
71.
Personal Memoirs
Personal Memoirs 4.13 avg rating — 9,497 ratings
72.
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi 3.87 avg rating — 15,347 ratings
73.
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes / The Amateur Emigrant
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes / The Amateur Emigrant 3.54 avg rating — 125 ratings
74.
Nonsense Songs and Stories
Nonsense Songs and Stories 3.85 avg rating — 41 ratings
75.
Culture and Anarchy
Culture and Anarchy 3.41 avg rating — 1,071 ratings
76.
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands 3.44 avg rating — 1,733 ratings
77.
The Life of Charlotte Brontë
The Life of Charlotte Brontë 3.85 avg rating — 8,902 ratings
78.
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
79.
London Labour and the London Poor
London Labour and the London Poor 4.04 avg rating — 842 ratings
80.
Household Education
Household Education 3.77 avg rating — 13 ratings
81.
Domestic Manners of the Americans
Domestic Manners of the Americans 3.71 avg rating — 509 ratings
82.
American Dictionary of the English Language
American Dictionary of the English Language 4.63 avg rating — 262 ratings
83.
Tales from Shakespeare
Tales from Shakespeare 3.94 avg rating — 6,797 ratings
84.
Travels in the Interior of Africa
Travels in the Interior of Africa 3.89 avg rating — 698 ratings
85.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 3.85 avg rating — 89,888 ratings
86.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 3.92 avg rating — 26,302 ratings
87.
The Life of Samuel Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson 3.80 avg rating — 5,264 ratings
88.
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Reflections on the Revolution in France 3.74 avg rating — 7,117 ratings
89.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (Norton Critical Editions)
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (Norton Critical Editions) 3.74 avg rating — 14,419 ratings
90.
The Natural History of Selborne
The Natural History of Selborne 3.97 avg rating — 557 ratings
91.
The Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers 4.10 avg rating — 41,560 ratings
92.
The Diary of Fanny Burney
The Diary of Fanny Burney 4.08 avg rating — 61 ratings
93.
A Dictionary of the English Language: An Anthology
A Dictionary of the English Language: An Anthology 4.22 avg rating — 116 ratings
94.
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain 3.69 avg rating — 125 ratings
95.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys 3.96 avg rating — 3,302 ratings
96.
The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662
The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662 4.50 avg rating — 108 ratings
97.
Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall: Or a Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk
Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall: Or a Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk 4.11 avg rating — 508 ratings
98.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
The Anatomy of Melancholy 4.11 avg rating — 1,841 ratings
99.
The History of the World
The History of the World 3.20 avg rating — 10 ratings
100.
The Holy Bible: King James Version
The Holy Bible: King James Version
by: Anonymous
4.44 avg rating — 308,896 ratings