I’m delighted to welcome you to the 2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. The challenge asks participants to read up to 12 books over the year, each from a different category
Categories
1. Biography 2. Travel 3. Self-help 4. Essay Collection 5. Disease 6. Oceanography 7. Hobbies 8. Indigenous Cultures 9. Food 10. Wartime Experiences 11. Inventions 12. Published in 2021
Click here to learn more about the 2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge, sign up and join the fun!
For the next four weeks I will post some recommendations for each category that might inspire your own selections.
Click here for Part #1 – Biography, Travel, Self Help/Self Improvement
Click here for Part #2 – Essay Collection, Disease, Oceanography
Click here for Part #3 – Hobbies, Indigenous Culture, Food
You can find more suggestions via other bloggers, and lists such as Goodreads Listopia, Library Booklists. Use your good faith judgement as to whether a book fits a particular category or not.
Wartime Experiences
Books chosen for this category should focus on the experiences of people during wartime (as opposed to politics/strategy etc.
Inventions
For the purposes of this challenge the focus is on a novel device developed by scientific/technological/engineering process.
Published in 2021
Select any nonfiction book published in 2021
Feel free to add your own recommendations and suggestions in the comments.
book'd out 
Jan 30, 2021 @ 17:24:52
So many great suggestions! I am especially intrigued by the book about Sri Lanka.
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Jan 30, 2021 @ 23:39:34
How do you find SO many fascinating titles I’ve never heard of?! You amaze me. These are such great suggestions, and I can emphatically second the recommendation for Gory Details. I just finished an ARC and it was fantastic.
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Jan 31, 2021 @ 04:52:43
That’s good to know about Gory Details, I look forward to your review!
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Feb 01, 2021 @ 06:22:10
Happily, I’ve found Fifty Inventions and Icebound at my library. Hopefully, I will get to read these soon.
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Feb 01, 2021 @ 16:47:49
I’ve had a book about the invention and subsequent use of anesthetics for years, but have never got around to reading it (and I even heard the author speak and was so enthusiastic about the book after that) – this challenge is the perfect prompt.
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Feb 03, 2021 @ 10:13:56
Somehow I missed these recommendation posts! How fun!
For Wartime Experiences, I’d also recommend some of Erik Larson’s books, like Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, and The Splendid and the Vile (which my husband is reading right now). Come to think of it, Larson’s Thunderstruck (about Marconi and the telegraph) would cover Inventions, too!
I haven’t read any of these that you’ve mentioned yet, so lots of good ideas for this year!
Sue
Book By Book
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Feb 10, 2021 @ 22:55:32
I loved Adventures in Stationery: A Journey Through Your Pencil Case by James Ward, and I think The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession is the same book retitled.
Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science sounds interesting.
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