The Greatest Nonfiction Books of All Time Set in California

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
328 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
575 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
590 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
715 The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe 1979 American English
801 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
921 And the Band Played On Randy Shilts 1987 American English
980 The Feynman Lectures on Physics Richard P. Feynman 1963 American English
1172 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
1229 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
1451 Moneyball Michael M. Lewis 2003 American English
1565 My First Summer in the Sierra John Muir 1911 American English
2402 Native Funk & Flash Alexandra Jacopetti 1974 American English
2739 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3027 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
3138 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English
3198 Pictures From Home Larry Sultan 1992 American English
3236 Duke of Deception Geoffrey Wolff 1979 American English
3255 Barbarian Days William Finnegan 2015 American English
3479 Living Up The Street Gary Soto 1985 American English
3493 The Land Of Little Rain Mary Austin 1903 American English
3493 Mountain Charley Elsa Jane Guerin 1861 American English
3591 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
3606 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
3638 The Chinese Enlightenment Vera Schwarcz 1986 Unknown English
3734 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser 2001 American English
3815 Bad Blood John Carreyrou 2018 American English
3914 Helter Skelter Vincent Bugliosi 1974 American English
3995 The Benn Diaries, 1940 90 Tony Benn 1987 British English
4006 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
4128 Stay True Hua Hsu 2022 Chinese English
4148 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
4400 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
4581 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
4627 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
4631 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
4688 Chinese Cinderella Adeline Yen Mah 1999 Chinese English
4690 Going Clear Lawrence Wright 2013 American English
4879 As They Were M. F. K. Fisher 1982 American English
4891 Uncanny Valley Anna Wiener 2020 American English
5091 Hell's Angels Hunter S. Thompson 1966 American English
5172 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
5241 Three Month Fever Gary Indiana 1999 American English
5309 Nixon And Mao Margaret MacMillan 2005 Canadian English
5347 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
5362 The Autobiography Of A Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda 1946 Indian English
5443 The Heart Of A Woman Maya Angelou 1981 American English
5547 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
5578 Stiff Mary Roach 2003 American English
5598 Management Peter Drucker 1973 American English
5608 Can't Stop Won't Stop Jeff Chang 2005 American English
5714 Operating Instructions Anne Lamott 1993 American English
5736 Limbo Carobeth Laird 1975 American English
5775 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 American English
5779 Nixonland Rick Perlstein 2008 American English
5862 Still Alive Ruth Klüger 1992 German German
6343 The Unabomber Manifesto Theodore Kaczynski 1995 American English
6357 The Deal Of The Century Steve Coll 1986 American English
6419 Wealth And Power Orville Schell, John Delury 2013 Unknown English
6484 Disney War James B. Stewart 2005 American English
6502 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
6547 Exile And Pride Eli Clare 1999 American English
6586 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Joan Didion 2006 American English
6646 Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki 1970 Japanese English
6685 The Hacker Crackdown Bruce Sterling 1992 American English
6695 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
6721 Close To The Machine Ellen Ullman 1997 American English
6745 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
6761 Slow Days, Fast Company Eve Babitz 1977 American English
6813 Getting Things Done David Allen 2001 American English
6985 The Beautiful Country And The Middle Kingdom John Pomfret 2016 American English
7103 Six Easy Pieces Richard P. Feynman 1994 American English
7119 Play Their Hearts Out George Dohrmann 2010 American English
7261 Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009 American English
7351 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
7381 A Guide For The Perplexed E. F. Schumacher 1977 British English
7458 A Paradise Built In Hell Rebecca Solnit 2009 American English
7580 Rosie The Riveter Revisited Sherna Berger Gluck 1987 American English
7601 The Revolt Of The Public And The Crisis Of Authority In The New Millennium Martin Gurri 2014 Unknown English
7635 Dealers Of Lightning Michael Hiltzik 2000 American English
7674 My Guru And His Disciple Christopher Isherwood 1980 British English
7704 Phantoms In The Brain Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Sandra Blakeslee 1998 American English
7738 The Trip To Echo Spring Olivia Laing 2013 British English
7851 Ai Superpowers Kai-Fu Lee 2018 Chinese English
7898 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
7934 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
7950 China's New Red Guards Jude Blanchette 2019 Unknown English
7986 All Out War Tim Shipman 2016 British English
8009 The Woman With A Worm In Her Head Pamela Nagami 2001 American English
8009 Borderlands/La Frontera Gloria Anzaldúa 1987 American English
8017 Quiet Odyssey Mary Paik Lee 1990 Korean American English
8085 Nothing Ever Dies Viet Thanh Nguyen 2016 American English
8125 Who Controls The Internet? Tim Wu, Jack Goldsmith 2006 American English
8140 Pictures At A Revolution Mark Harris 2008 American English
8222 Twilight Of The Elites Christophe Guilluy, Malcolm Debevoise 2019 French French
8285 Kubrick Nathan Abrams and Robert Kolker 2020 Unknown English
8310 Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana 1840 American English
8333 The 57 Bus Dashka Slater 2017 American English
8421 After Henry Joan Didion 1992 American English
8421 Taste Of Power Elaine Brown 1992 American English
8492 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
8564 This Machine Kills Secrets Andy Greenberg 2012 Unknown English
8569 Cue The Sun! Emily Nussbaum 2024 Unknown English
8660 The Descent Of Man Charles Darwin 1871 British English
8592 Cruising Speed William F. Buckley, Jr 1971 American English
8741 Instant Replay Jerry Kramer, Dick Schaap 1968 American English
8765 The Woman Who Knew Too Much Gayle Greene 2005 American English
8784 Boy Kings Kate Losse 2012 Unknown English
8804 I’m Glad My Mom Died Jennette McCurdy 2022 American English
9029 Faith Hope And Carnage Nick Cave, Sean O'Hagan 2022 Unknown English
9058 Racial Realignment Eric Schickler 2016 American English
9097 The Sound Of The City Charlie Gillett 1970 British English
9125 Minor Feelings Cathy Park Hong 2020 American English
9146 Hitchcock Francois Truffaut 1966 French French
9197 Elon Musk Walter Isaacson 2023 American English
9243 Crossing The Line William Finnegan 1986 American Unknown
9362 The Library Book Susan Orlean 2018 American English
9362 Arthur Ashe: A Life Raymond Arsenault 2018 Unknown English
9362 Fly Girls Keith O'Brien 2018 American English
9362 In Pieces Sally Field 2018 American English
9362 Looking For Lorraine Imani Perry 2018 Unknown English