The Greatest Nonfiction Books of 2017

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 '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
3178 Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood 2017 American English
3258 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
4740 Tell Me How It Ends Valeria Luiselli 2017 Mexican English
5329 Grant Ron Chernow 2017 American English
5387 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5807 Prairie Fires Caroline Fraser 2017 American English
6120 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6377 Leonardo Da Vinci Walter Isaacson 2017 American English
6536 Hunger Roxane Gay 2017 American English
7094 The Color Of Law Richard Rothstein 2017 American English
7903 Locking Up Our Own James Forman 2017 American English
8062 The Future Is History Masha Gessen 2017 Russian English
8142 Down Girl Kate Manne 2017 American English
8191 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8636 Other Russias Victoria Lomasko 2017 Russian Russian
8846 Philosophy of the Tourist Hiroki Azuma 2017 Japanese Unknown
8883 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
9191 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9191 Hit Makers Derek Thompson 2017 American English
9191 Talking Back, Talking Black John McWhorter 2017 American English
9191 The Saboteur Paul Kix 2017 Unknown English
9219 On Tyranny Timothy Snyder 2017 American English
9283 1898 Kate Clarke Lemay, Taína Caragol 2017 Unknown English
9523 The Order Of The Day Eric Vuillard 2017 French French
9562 아픔이 길이 되려면 김승섭 2017 Korean Korean
9619 We Are Never Meeting In Real Life. Samantha Irby 2017 American English
9951 The Souls Of China Ian Johnson 2017 American English
10018 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10087 The Ends Of The World Peter Brannen 2017 American English
10087 We Have No Idea Daniel Whiteson, Jorge Cham 2017 Unknown English
10102 Unlikely Partners Julian Gewirtz 2017 Unknown English
10187 Little Soldiers Lenora Chu 2017 Unknown English
10281 They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Hanif Abdurraqib 2017 American English
10759 A Moonless, Starless Sky Alexis Okeowo 2017 American English
10759 Notes On A Foreign Country Suzy Hansen 2017 American English
10814 Life In Code Ellen Ullman 2017 American English
10834 Border Kapka Kassabova 2017 Bulgarian English
10834 Ants Among Elephants Sujatha Gidla 2017 American English
10863 The Broken King Michael Thomas 2017 Unknown English
10939 The 57 Bus Dashka Slater 2017 American English
11071 Hit So Hard Patty Schemel 2017 Unknown English
11082 Insomniac City Bill Hayes 2017 American English
11082 Tell Them I Said No Martin Herbert 2017 Unknown English
11082 Mirror Sydney Vanessa Berry 2017 Australian English
11321 Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race Reni Eddo-Lodge, Ana Camallonga 2017 British English
11481 Ali Jonathan Eig 2017 American English
11481 The Darkening Age Catherine Nixey 2017 British English
11481 Ninety Nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret Craig Brown 2017 British English
11481 Why Comics? Hillary L. Chute 2017 American English
11661 The Evolution Of Beauty Richard O. Prum 2017 American English
11827 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11842 The Fate Of Rome Kyle Harper 2017 American English
11845 The House Of Government Yuri Slezkine 2017 American English
11845 Ghosts Of The Tsunami Richard Lloyd Parry 2017 British English
11932 This Young Monster Charlie Fox 2017 British English
11932 Animals Strike Curious Poses Elena Passarello 2017 American English
12034 Honouring High Places Junko Tabei 2017 Japanese English
12039 Crash Override Zoë Quinn 2017 American English
12655 The Butchering Art Lindsey Fitzharris 2017 British English
13791 When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back Naja Marie Aidt 2017 Danish Danish
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
13971 Book Of Mutter Kate Zambreno 2017 American English
14047 Whereas Layli Long Soldier 2017 American English
14047 Emergent Strategy adrienne maree brown 2017 American English
14122 Principles Ray Dalio 2017 American English
14122 Why We Sleep Matthew Walker 2017 American English
14122 Life 3.0 Max Tegmark 2017 Swedish English
14122 The Choice Dr. Edith Eva Eger 2017 American English
14176 To Be A Machine Mark O'Connell 2017 Irish English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
14730 Measure What Matters John Doerr 2017 American English
14730 Destined For War Graham Allison 2017 American English
14730 Hit Refresh Satya Nadella 2017 American English
14730 Energy And Civilization Vaclav Smil 2017 Czech English
14730 Believe Me Eddie Izzard 2017 British English
14730 Capitalism Without Capital Jonathan Haskel 2017 British English
14984 Adults in the Room Yanis Varoufakis 2017 Greek English
14984 The Nature Fix Florence Williams 2017 American English
14984 Make Your Bed William H. McRaven 2017 American English
14984 Astrophysics For People In A Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson 2017 American English
17120 Crusade and Jihad Bassam Tibi 2017 German English
17120 Women & Power Mary Beard 2017 British English
17120 The Gulf Jack E. Davis 2017 American English
17120 The Evangelicals Frances FitzGerald 2017 American English
17120 Testosterone Rex Cordelia Fine 2017 Australian English
17120 Doughnut Economics Kate Raworth 2017 British English
17120 With The End In Mind Kathryn Mannix 2017 British English
17120 The Five Invitations Frank Ostaseski 2017 American English
17120 Beyond Respectability Brittney C. Cooper 2017 American English
17120 How We Get Free Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor 2017 American English
17120 Viking Britain Thomas Williams 2017 British English
17120 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
17120 The Great Leveler Walter Scheidel 2017 American English
17120 The Death And Life Of The Great Lakes Dan Egan 2017 American English
17120 Cannibalism Bill Schutt 2017 American English
17120 The Dawn Watch Maya Jasanoff 2017 American English
17120 The House Of The Dead Daniel Beer 2017 British English
17120 Storia Del Dove Tommaso Maccacaro, Claudio M. Tartari 2017 Italian Unknown
17120 The Doomsday Machine Daniel Ellsberg 2017 American English
17120 Grand Canyon Jason Chin 2017 American English
17120 Once Upon A Time In The East Xiaolu Guo 2017 British English
17120 Meet Me In The Bathroom Lizzy Goodman 2017 American English
17120 Mythos Stephen Fry 2017 British English
17120 Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat Samin Nosrat 2017 American English
17120 The Broken Ladder Keith Payne 2017 American English
17120 The Stranger In The Woods Michael Finkel 2017 American English
17120 The Road To Somewhere David Goodhart 2017 British English
17120 Drawdown Paul Hawken 2017 American English
17120 Border Kassa Kappabova 2017 Unknown English
17120 The Last Black Unicorn Tiffany Haddish 2017 American English
17120 The World Ending Fire Wendell Berry 2017 American English
17120 Poverty Safari Darren McGarvey 2017 British English
17120 Neo Confucianism Stephen C. Angle, Justin Tiwald 2017 Chinese English
17120 The Storm Before The Storm Mike Duncan 2017 American English
17120 On Lighthouses Jazmina Barrera 2017 Mexican Spanish
17120 The Power Of Meaning Emily Esfahani Smith 2017 American English
17120 Psychopolitics Byung-Chul Han 2017 German German
17120 Hue 1968 Mark Bowden 2017 American English
17120 I Am, I Am, I Am Maggie O'Farrell 2017 British English
17120 Scale Geoffrey B. West 2017 American English