The Best Non-Fiction to Read in 2024

Don’t we all have unanswered questions about the modern world and the latest events? Well, in her newly released book Burning Questions Margareth Atwood attempts to answer issues of tech, climate crisis, freedom and more. The bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments skillfully uses her funny, erudite, and curious voice to discuss many mysteries.

The collection combines over fifty essays, reviews and speeches that allow a reader insight into Atwood’s views and perhaps even help to figure out answers of their own. Although the Burning Questions seem relevant and could not be released at better times than they are now, it covers observations of events chronicling the years 2004 to 2021.   

“Fans of Atwood may quibble over whether her fiction is more enjoyable than her essays or the other way around. It is a pleasant debate because Atwood is undoubtedly one of the finest writers alive,” noted one of the readers.   

Being a parent myself, I keep my eyes on both classics and new editions of best books for parents who seek answers on the proper upbringings of their children. Raising Critical Thinkers is one of those books. In a world where online media is overloaded with available information, parents and teachers struggle to find a way to teach their pupils skills to interpret what they read.

In her new book, Julie Bogart offers practical tools to help children in their ability to explore the world around them, question, and generate consumed information at every stage of their development. Overall, you want this book if concern to raise passionate learners is as relevant to you as it is to me.    

One satisfied reader rightly noted that in the engaged homeschool parent world, we often talk about wanting our kids to be “lifelong learners”, and we also talk about how we can be examples for our kids. Julie Bogart’s book gently guides us through this process of learning how to think carefully. And the result? The fertile ground for healthy growth and connection with our kids for our whole life, she concluded. 

Linda Villarose is a journalism professor at the City University of New York and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, now is also an author of Under the Skin. This landmark book covers the full story of racial health inequality in America. It masterly reveals that racism, on individuals and the health of the American nation, caused significant damage.  

Those who already had a chance to read the book say that Under the Skin is a must-read for all medical practitioners and the conscientious person who wants to understand how dangerous racism is for African-American people, poor people and people of colour. This book is a wake-up call and should be the rallying cry for all responsible and compassionate people to implement, a satisfied reader noted.   

Feeling nostalgic about the 90s? Perhaps The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman (New York Times bestselling author and a featured columnist for Esquire) can reveal so much more than grunge fashion, minimalism, and movies with Richard Gere. It is a witty, yet profound edition about the decades of workaholics, and overall “the greatest shift in human consciousness of any decade in American history,” according to the Penguin Random House.  

The main theme of the book is how delusional we often become thinking of past decades. Being present in a timeframe and thinking about it as the past are two completely different experiences and that is what Mr. Klosterman covers in The Nineties.   

We no longer speak so much of Covid-19. Yet, do you remember how it all began? Thomas Fisher in The Emergency covers a year in the life of an emergency room doctor who is struggling to balance between patients and colleagues during a crushing pandemic. It is a pulse-pounding story that reflects on the healthcare system, humanity and changes that a virus can cause to so many lives.   

The doctor describes in The Emergency has only three minutes to spend with each patient before admitting them to the next care stage. He examines, touches and comforts those who come from his community in the South Side of Chicago. Later comes the reflection on the worst of society: “treating the poor as expendable in order to provide top-notch care to a few,” as one of the readers noted.   

Daniel H. Pink’s books have helped readers around the world rethink how they live. The author of the New York Times bestsellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell Is Human, and When released another book The Power of Regret. In the new volume, he explains a simple truth: everyone has regrets. They are part of human nature. Daniel H. Pink draws explanations from psychology, neuroscience, and biology on how to turn regret into a beneficial experience. The author believes that regret can help with decision-making in the future and guide us toward ways of learning from our own failures.   

The 1960s was the Golden Age of Travel. In her new book The Great Stewardess Rebellion, Nell McShane Wulfhart covers the story of a few women that came together to make changes in the airline business. As glamorous as it seemed, as many dark sides it hid. Nell McShane Wulfhart describes women that fought for their rights and revolutionized the cabin approach to what stewardesses were supposed to look like and live by.   

The book dives deep into details about “Sky girls” who were restricted within weight limits, marriage status, makeup and hair. Promises to assist in glamorous jet settings failed by unreasonable mandatories which were implied until a few of those women started pushing back.   

Written by a criminal defence attorney Kerrie Droban, Aurora offers a compelling look at violence. It is a story from the psychiatrist’s point of view who treated mass shooter James Holmes.  

A reader noted that, as an expert and speaker on mass shootings and gun violence, Dr. Lynn Fenton knew it was impossible to “spot a killer.” 

“This book was riveting and enlightening from start to finish,” said another one. However, keep in mind that the book offers gruelling details of the killings and the heartbreaking stories of the victims. However, the story has an important place in modern society because it offers hope and some answers.   

“Haruki Murakami’s myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller,” said a satisfied reader. In his new book,   Novelist as a Vocation, the bestselling author shares what he thinks about being a novelist.  

He offers some thoughts on the role of the novel in the modern world, musings on the sparks of creativity, and answers to where he gets his ideas. Overall, if you are into writing, it is one of the best books to read at the moment. You have a chance to sojourn with the great author into his creative problem. Novelist as a Vocation is a rare, yet welcoming peek into Murakami’s mind. 

Vacation is something we are so accustomed to, something we look forward to without contemplating the impact it makes on local economies and natural resources. Sarah Stodola discusses the origins of beach culture in The Last Resort. She investigates how the 18th-century seaside wellness rush changed our views about the ocean.

You will read about the resort experience that began in a village in Fiji that drastically changed after the opening of the first resort. Other places also experienced darker realities of resort culture: strangleholds on local economies, reckless construction, erosion of beaches and more.  

Warming, after reading The Last Resort you will never look at beach vacation in the same way as before.   

John Gleeson has had distinguished careers as a federal prosecutor, federal judge, and practicing defence attorney. In The Gotti Wars, he describes famous mafioso Josh Gotti, a notorious mobster, the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history, who came crashing down, thanks to federal prosecutor John Gleeson.   

The Gotti Wars is the fight for justice against organized crime. The book is a vivid memoir of Gleeson’s development as a lawyer and his journey through the trial of Gotti.   

As one reader observed, this is the captivating story of Gotti’s meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall.   

Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink is not your typical book on fashion. Véronique Hyland (ELLE’s fashion features director) writes in smart and funny language about the fashion industry in her new book Dress Code.   

Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink discusses the power of clothes, the importance of dress, the fashion industry versus social changes and stereotypes we are so accustomed to (‘French Girl Look’ is one of them).   

She also covers such issues as social media-influenced dressing, gender-neutral style and signals we send to others with our clothes. 

How Civil Wars Start is probably one of the most important books published in 2022, for serious reasons. We must read to it to avoid another civil war in the Western World, the author insists.  

Barbara F. Walter (the Rohr Professor of International Relations at the University of California) discusses in How Civil Wars Start development of civil wars around the globe, warning signs, and arguments that “we’ll need to shore up the American experiment by protecting voting rights, reforming campaign finance laws, and curbing extremism on social media, among other changes,” as per Esquire.  

According to the author, sociologists determine the major factors which define a high probability of a civil war. Hence, the book is a wake-up call for modern society.   

Heather Havlrilesky, an essayist and critic writes about relationships with wit and grace. She takes the agony and ecstasy of marriage and turns it into stories that prove how hard, yet worthy of it and wonderful marriage can be. In Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage she draws inspiration from her own marriage. The book covers conflicts, compromises, and doubts along with the delights and calamities of fifteen years of marriage. Havlrilesky meditates on how relationships are not simply happy or unhappy, but much more complex. 

Bob Dylan has sold over 125 million copies around the world, won several prestigious awards and now published a book titled The Philosophy of Modern Song.   

He says, in the book, that like any piece of art, songs are not seeking to be understood. That is the whole point which the book focuses on. However, it is not a philosophical book. Bob Dylan wants to make you re-experience a song, an era, or an emotion whenever you read a book or listen to his music.   

I recommend this book not only to Dylan’s music fans but also to any writer, poet or artist. As Bob Dylan says it is important “what a song feels like instead of what it means,” you can apply it to your own art and not get discourages if people do not understand it the way you intended it to be perceived. 

One of the forgotten Parisian cabaret stars gets her dazzling life story recovered in this masterly written biography, Kiki Man Ray by Mark Braude . Kiki de Montparnasse (born Alice Prin) was one of the most popular artists and models of the nineteen-twenties, a cabaret star, painter, memoirist, and bon vivant. Braude’s biography of Kiki takes an unusual turn arguing that she was not just a muse, but also an artist.    

She lived an intriguing life, where painting, starring in Surrealist films and writing memoirs made her the symbol of bohemian Paris. Yet, today she is primarily remembered as an artist’s model.  Hence, in this, partly provocative biography, Mark Braude explores Kiki’s influence on the culture of 1920s Paris and beyond.   

Firebrand by Toronto-based writer, Joshua Knelman discusses cigarettes. He observes it as a controversial consumer product which is seductive, addictive, and deadly—yet legal and widely used.   

Despite anti-smoking campaigns and government regulations, cigarette companies do not lose in revenue and the number of smokers around the world does not necessarily decrease.   

As CBC Canada says, “Firebrand ventures into the heart of the tobacco industry and the icy paradoxes of capitalism.”   

Another book on the healthcare system and The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté is observed as a revolutionary one. Renowned physician Gabor Maté in The Myth of Normal examines why chronic illness and general health problems are on the rise in modern society despite good healthcare systems. He also explains that while technologies advance, cultural stressors are ignored.   

He mentions that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two, while in Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. Why is that? The Myth of Normal offers a few answers. Besides, the doctor contemplates on pressures of modern-day living, today’s culture stress on the body and emotional balance.