The joys of non-fiction include the freedom to traverse genres and learn about the world around us. Where to start reading non-fiction if you’re new to the category, however, can be daunting. Admittedly, I mostly read non-fiction with a tiny smattering of fiction, typified by the occasional Middle Grade novel to stay up-to-date on great reads for kids I program for, or Fantasy books like the Iron Druid Series, Rivers of London, and Dresden Files (my go-to series authors). I’ve been a steadfast non-fiction reader for about 20 years now, and have read across most genres, including the seeming outliers like fine arts, design, languages, literary criticism, and computers, when compared to the heavyweights of business and leadership, cookbooks, wellbeing, science, politics and history, indigeneity, philosophy, and sociology.

If you’re looking for a good non-fiction book, or a way of reading non-fiction that makes it more appealing, October’s Book Chat is for you! You’ll learn how to read non-fiction (and love it!), and learn about some new releases for Fall 2026!

Why read non-fiction, anyway?

• Our own perspectives are limited, but non-fiction opens that up to give us a chance to consider more than just the narrow scope of what we encounter every day.
• You can learn more about the world from experts in ways that help quiet anxiety about an uncertain world in the realm of politics and the economy.
• Some stories are just too good to pass up, especially when it comes to public figures whose lives have been very different from ours.
• We can better differentiate signals from the experts, from the noise of pundits who, together, translate a future whose AI goalposts have changed the game for a lot of us.
• We can relate to others better, and be able to talk about a broader range of subjects with others, even if they aren’t our own hobbies or interests.
• Similar to the way Obama would read up on topics before meetings/briefings, I like diving into subjects to know how to learn to talk about and ask about what I don’t know about it yet using the specific terminology of the subjects to fill in gaps.