A Librarian’s Most Meaningful Nonfiction Reads of 2025
Reading nonfiction books is important not just for informational purposes but for gaining access to lived experiences that are not our own. It can be difficult to relate to a spell-slinging wizard who’s fighting a tophat-wearing dragon in that fantasy book you picked up. Yet, all of us can relate to struggle, living with illness, the loss of a loved one, and overcoming failure, which are so often at the core of nonfiction books. We read fiction for entertainment and escape. We read nonfiction to improve self-awareness through the lens of others' lives.
Nonfiction can be inspirational, informational, and sensational. Nonfiction expands our worldview from the safety of our couch, satisfies curiosity, and inspires action. The following six books inspired me to action in 2025.
Note: The books are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name because – librarian.
The Gift of Anger by Arun Gandhi
Arun Gandhi is the grandson of the late Mahatma Gandhi, the world-famous philosopher of peace. This book is a collection of life lessons Arun learned while sitting on his grandfather's knee at his ashram in India. It’s part memoir, part philosophy, part self-help guide. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author himself, which made the experience all the more powerful.
One lesson I particularly enjoyed recounted a story about Arun when he was young and in need of a new pencil for school, as his was worn down to a nub. Frustrated that the other kids at school had new pencils, Arun tossed his into a ditch on the side of the road on his walk home, expecting that his grandfather would buy him a new one. Instead, he was sent out in the middle of the night to search for the pencil in the ditch until he found it.
The lesson taught respect for the things we have, rather than being envious of things we don’t have. It highlighted respect for nature in not disposing of something that still has value as a tool made from natural resources. From that point forward, Arun was instructed to keep a journal of his angry moments so that he could begin to learn from those emotional moments.
Read this book if you are looking for ways to harness your anger into a force for good in the world.
Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg
I read this one late in the year, and it really struck a chord with me. It’s a quick read chock-full of solid writing advice. Goldberg spoke directly to what I so often struggle with as a writer – editing as I go.
Goldberg gave a great analogy on how we have two hands: our writing hand and our editing hand. She says you have to keep the writing hand moving because if you let the editing hand grab your writing hand, it can’t move forward anymore. It’s a simple concept, but damn if it doesn't hit home.
This book is for any writer who struggles with consistency.
ADHD is Awesome by Penn and Kim Holderness
Yep, I have ADHD. I was diagnosed as a kid, some 30-odd years ago. Over that span of years, I have self-taught methods of coping with my distractibility and energy. I’ve always viewed my ADHD as a problem to overcome. A diagnosis to treat with meds, structure, and discipline. This book turns those thoughts on their heads and frames an ADHD diagnosis as something one can use to let creativity flow. It’s funny, lighthearted, and yes, a bit pandering to those of us with ADHD, but I don’t have a problem with being flattered every once in a while.
I’d recommend this book to anyone with ADHD, or to those living with us who have it. Parents of children with ADHD could also benefit from reading this book.
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Cal Newport is my favorite writer in the productivity space. Newport gives solid, easy-to-implement suggestions on increasing one's ability to produce quality work by eliminating unnecessary distractions. An especially needed skill for those of us with ADHD, and a phone addiction.
Newport’s work is always well-researched and well-written. This book was no exception. So many of us managers and leaders spend an inordinate amount of time doing what Neport calls “shallow work.” This is the busy work we all find ourselves swamped with every day. Emails, bill paying, phone calls, you name it. If it typically fits on a to-do list, it’s probably shallow work. Shallow work consists of the tasks we can all finish on autopilot.
We let these tasks fill our days so we feel busy and like we accomplished something. In reality, we are avoiding the “deep work” we truly need to be doing. Such as writing that grant, building policy and procedure manuals, writing our memoir, or having productive conversations with our team members. We use the busy work, our phones, and countless other little tools to keep ourselves from doing what we know we really need to be doing.
Read this book if you, too, struggle with the busy work and need some solid advice on how to get into the work that truly matters to you and your profession.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
As a manager and leader, I am always looking for ways to better understand myself and those who work for me. Rubin’s Four Tendencies framework posits that people all have two kinds of expectations: internal and external. How we react to those expectations is based on our “Tendency.” The four tendencies are: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels.
Like many personality profiles, the Four Tendencies can help us better understand ourselves and those around us. This understanding improves interpersonal relationships and increases productivity. All the things society tells us a good leader needs to know how to do.
If you’re curious, I’m an Obliger, which means I work best with external motivators over internal ones. In other words, I am really good at meeting other people’s expectations of me, but terrible at meeting the expectations I set for myself. Maybe that’s why those diets never work, but I digress.
I’d recommend the Four Tendencies to anyone looking to understand themselves and those around them better.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
I love reading people’s nature journals. It is always fascinating to read about far-flung places I will likely never visit, but even more fascinating is how much life occurs in our backyards that we tend to overlook. Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles takes place over two years as she records the wide array of bird species living in her backyard. Beyond birds, she documents trips to the wild bird store (yep, that’s a thing) to pick up specialized food and feeders to better care for her yard-dwelling friends. She even kept mealworms in her freezer!
As my blog shows, I went through a bit of a birding phase last year. Tan even inspired me to try bird sketching, which was a disaster. I gave up sketching, but I still like to sit on my back porch and see what birds I can identify. My kids and I also enjoy tracking out discoveries in the Merlin app from Cornell.
If you, too, have a love of nature journals or an interest in the habits of wild birds, pick this book up.
This year, reading nonfiction taught me how to channel anger into motivation. How to write more through “deep work,” and how to leverage my tendencies to motivate myself to do that deep work. I discovered the joy of birding and how to cope with my ADHD. These six books will stay with me well into the new year as I work to improve my writing and be a better leader.
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