Best Non-Fiction Books to Read Right Now

Alright, let's be real for a sec. We all love a good story, right? Getting lost in fictional worlds is awesome, no doubt. But have you ever picked up a non-fiction book and had your mind absolutely blown? Seriously, these aren't your dusty old textbooks. We're talking about books packed with real stories, cool facts, and insights that can actually, you know, make your life a little bit richer and your brain a little bit bigger.

Think of them as cheat codes for understanding the world and yourself better. There are just some non-fiction gems out there that, honestly, everyone should have on their radar. They're the kind of books that spark conversations, challenge your thinking, and leave you going, "Whoa, I never thought about it like that before!"

So to save you time, we compiled a list of non-fiction books that should be on everyone's to be read list:

Memoirs/ Biographies

Miles Franklin Undercover by Kerrie Davies

The little-known years when she created her own brilliant career

After the success and celebrity of her coming of age novel My Brilliant Career, published when Miles Franklin was only 21, she disappeared. This is the story of the decade that made her second career as a fearless advocate for working women.

Source Code by Bill Gates

The origin story of one of the most influential and transformative business leaders and philanthropists of the modern age.

Bill Gates is one of the most transformative figures of our age. In Source Code he takes us back to his beginnings. He describes with candour his childhood in Seattle, the centrality of family – his close relationship with his card-playing grandmother and his demanding but caring parents – his struggles to fit in, his rebelliousness, his first deep friendships and the impact of losing his closest friend.

We see Gates’s extraordinary mind developing, the restless teenager who discovered a love of coding and computing at the dawn of a new era and felt that ‘by applying my brain, I could solve even the world’s most complex mysteries’. We see the earliest signs of his phenomenal business acumen, which led him to drop out of Harvard at the age of 20 to devote all his energies to Microsoft, the company he started with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He writes about his first encounters with three Steves – Jobs, Wozniak and Ballmer – who would play a crucial role in so much that followed.

The book ends in the late 1970s when Microsoft, still with only a dozen employees, signed its first deal with Apple. The deals would go on and Microsoft would grow unimaginably. Yet Gates never forgot his mother’s reminder that he was merely a steward of any wealth that he gained. This warm and inspiring book, Bill Gates’ origin story, allows readers to understand his energy and ambition – and to see how he sets himself in the world.

Klim by Michael Klim

As one of Australia's most celebrated athletes, Michael Klim's impact extends far beyond the pool.

Klim's journey to greatness began behind the Iron Curtain, in communist-era Poland. His family made a bid for freedom in the 1980s and immigrated to Australia, where swimming became his passport into a new culture and eventually led him to become one of his adopted country's great sporting heroes.

His crowning moment came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he captured the hearts of millions with his gold medal performances and world record-breaking swims.

But being a champion athlete does not come without personal challenges. Beyond his achievements in the pool, Klim's life has been equally compelling. Through transitions in the business world, family life and major health trials, his natural buoyancy kept him afloat - until he faced a crisis that forced him to reassess his life and fight for his future.

The Bank Robber's Boy by Peter Norris

This is the against-all-odds story of Peter Norris, the son of one of Australia’s most wanted criminals, and his struggle to escape his father’s shadow.

Born into a life of crime, Peter’s earliest memories are shaped by the chaos of his father’s criminal exploits. Torn from home to home and running from heist to heist, his childhood was marked by violence, betrayal, and upheaval.

In this compelling memoir, Peter exposes the truth of his turbulent upbringing. As the youngest son of Clarence “Clarry” Norris, a notorious fugitive, Peter recounts the powerful love and loyalty that bound him to his father, creating a profound inner struggle between the allure of the underworld and the desire for normalcy.

Faced with a heart-wrenching decision at just 12 years old, Peter had to choose between following his father's criminal path or seizing a lifeline. The memoir moves from the underbelly of 1970s Sydney to the outskirts of Melbourne, highlighting a troubling chapter in Australian history when Peter and other innocent children were sent to abusive institutions.

Self-Help and Self-Development Books

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

Become happier, more confident, and secure with a viral, life-changing hack that teaches you to focus on what you can control about yourself vs trying to control others-from Mel Robbins, host of the #1 Mel Robbins Podcast and New York Times best-selling author.

Become happier, more confident, and secure with a simple, viral, life-changing tool from Mel Robbins, host of the #1 Mel Robbins Podcast and New York Times best-selling author.

Take Control of Your Life With 2 Simple Words

The Let Them Theory is a life-changing tool that millions of people can't stop talking about. This is the best relationship advice no one has ever told you before.
Start using it, and almost immediately, something begins to happen- Your stress and tension lowers. You feel more in control. Frustrating relationships disappear.

Open When... by Dr Julie Smith

Million-copy bestselling psychologist Dr Julie is back with the book that will carry you through life's difficult moments

This is a book for when you feel overwhelmed – whether you’re facing grief, fear, self-doubt, relationship issues, difficult decisions, burnout, regrets or don’t know how to ask for help.

Each chapter begins with a letter from Dr Julie to the reader offering comfort and perspective. She then follows with her trademark simple and straightforward advice to help you see clearly how best to respond and act.

Showing you how to re-frame life’s complex problems, Open When . . . will help you navigate any crisis or tough moment and return to a place of calmness, strength and positivity.

What's Your Dream by Simon Squibb

Find Your Passion. Love Your Work. Build a Richer Life.

What's your dream? It's a simple question, but one which very few of us ever really think about.

From early on, we are taught that there's only one path to getting ahead: do well at school, get a certain kind of job, and avoid failure at all costs. We're so busy trying to follow these rules that we never stop and ask ourselves: What's my purpose? What do I really want? Do I have the power to make it happen?

Simon Squibb is on a mission to change people's lives for the better. Here, he shares the hard-won life lessons from his years in the business world plus his own personal life, from facing homelessness as a teenager to selling a multi-million pound business, and now inspiring a new generation of budding entrepreneurs. Simon will empower readers to identify their own meaningful goals, to remove the barriers that stand in the way, and ultimately to build a richer life. Sometimes, it just takes one person to believe in you...

Bright Shining by Julia Baird

How grace changes everything. The new book from the award-winning author of the unforgettable bestselling memoir Phosphorescence

From the bestselling author of Phosphorescence comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary of human qualities: grace.

Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other. If, in its crudest interpretation, karma is getting what you deserve, then grace is the opposite: forgiving the unforgivable, favouring the undeserving, loving the unlovable.

But we live in an era when grace is an increasingly rare currency. The silos in which we consume information dot the media landscape like skyscrapers, and our growing distrust of the media, politicians and public figures has choked our ability to cut each other slack, to allow each other to stumble, to forgive one another.

So what does grace look like in our world, and how do we recognise it, nurture it in ourselves and express it, even in the darkest of times?

Books About Interesting & Current Important Topics

The Chairman Lounge by Joe Aston

Magic Pill by Johann Hari

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

A powerful argument for reclaiming childhood - and all human relationships - from the online world, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author

Jonathan Haidt has spent his career speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most difficult spaces – communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the mental health emergency hitting teenagers today in many countries around the world.

In The Anxious Generation, Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others. Time engaging face-to-face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health.

But this is not just a story about technology; this profound shift took place against a backdrop of declining childhood freedom and free-play, as parents over-supervised every aspect of their children’s lives offline, depriving them of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults.

Why Do People Queue for Brunch by Felicity Lewis

Does handwriting still matter? What are rogue waves? What do our teeth reveal about us? A compelling compendium of astonishing facts and occasional weirdness for curious minds.

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

From renowned historian and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari comes the story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI – a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. If we are so wise, why are we so self-destructive?

NEXUS considers how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age through the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Shocking and darkly funny, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to the decisions that are shaping our world and the people who make them. Welcome to Facebook.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook's potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite - and the consequences this has for all of us.

Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.

Magic Pill by Johann Hari

So, yeah, while we at Booxies totally get the pull of a cracking fantasy novel or a gripping thriller (we're bookworms, after all!), don't sleep on the power of non-fiction. These aren't just books; they're like mini-mentors, offering different ways to see the world and maybe even yourself. Think of adding a few of these must-reads to your Booxies stack and add your favourite snacks or goodies to enjoy your reading time even more – you never know what kind of awesome insights you might unlock. Happy reading, fellow Booxies readers! Build your own Booxies with up to 2 books of your choice and up to 4 products from our premium Aussie selection.