When I sat down to pick my four examples, I realized quickly how many nonfiction books I've read over the past few months! Here are my final picks, though:
Mellencamp: An American Troubadour by David Masciotra (Biography)
This book is perfect for anyone looking for more than just the bare-bones story of John Mellencamp's life. This book reads as much like a work of music criticism as it does a biography, charting how the artist's life experiences influenced his music and vice-versa. The author does a great job of weaving these two modes of writing together, to create a believable narrative for Mellencamp's life that leaves readers feeling like they've come to know him from the inside out. This book can be found in the Biography section in BCPL under "Mellencamp."
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel (History)
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys quirky reads. Unlike survey histories which can often lose a reader's interest because of their breadth, this book's unique lens makes it endlessly memorable, and gives its readers the gift of being the only ones wise to the fact that bananas as we know them might well be extinct in our lifetimes (tragic, but true). The book can be found in the 300s with the books on economics (its specific call number is 333.95 K), but I might just as easily categorize this book as "Science" nonfiction for all the technical details it provides on the history of banana husbandry (seriously, it's a thing). I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the recently published nonfiction work Hair, which also traces the history of a common everyday item.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe (Science)
This book is highly entertaining even for a lay reader, but especially for anyone with enough knowledge and interest in science and physics to follow the author's hilarious extrapolations. I would absolutely recommend it as leisure reading for any of my overworked engineering student friends, who would enjoy it all the more because they actually understand the science behind it. The book lives up to both halves of its title, combining the whimsical absurdity of the original xkcd webcomic with the serious scientific background of its author to create the perfect specimen of entertaining but educational nerd culture, which can be found at the very beginning of the "Pure Science" Dewey section, under call number 500 M.
MySecret: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren (Overcoming Adversity)
This compilation of anonymous postcard confessions is an "easy read" only in the sense that it can be devoured in less than half an hour - but its contents are often anything but "easy." While several of the postcards are lighthearted, many reveal the dark secret's of the sender's past or the deep struggles of their present. The abundance of illustrations makes it great for readers with short attention spans, while its frank, raw tone may appeal to readers who want to think honestly about the abundance of struggles people deal with, day in and day out. Hearing, in short snippets, the confessions of perfect strangers, who could easily be the person you pass on the street every day, can be comforting to those dealing with painful secrets of their own, to know that they're not alone. Reflective of this therepeutic benefit, this book can be found among the pharmacology and therepeutics books with call number 615.851 W.
This compilation of anonymous postcard confessions is an "easy read" only in the sense that it can be devoured in less than half an hour - but its contents are often anything but "easy." While several of the postcards are lighthearted, many reveal the dark secret's of the sender's past or the deep struggles of their present. The abundance of illustrations makes it great for readers with short attention spans, while its frank, raw tone may appeal to readers who want to think honestly about the abundance of struggles people deal with, day in and day out. Hearing, in short snippets, the confessions of perfect strangers, who could easily be the person you pass on the street every day, can be comforting to those dealing with painful secrets of their own, to know that they're not alone. Reflective of this therepeutic benefit, this book can be found among the pharmacology and therepeutics books with call number 615.851 W.
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