The 10 Of The Greatest (True) Stories Ever Written—Read TheseBooks
I hate the concept of guilty pleasures because it often does an injustice to the pleasure. But if I am ever feeling stuck, bored, under-stimulated, over-stimulated or tired and on the road, I know there is one book genre that will get me out of my funk—narrative non-fiction.
Sure, these books are for entertainment purposes first, just like Mad Men or Breaking Bad. They blow my mind for that reason. How do the authors do it? To tell this epic story and make even the background details seem exciting?
To keep you on the edge of your seat even when, most of the time, you already know the ending?
They can tell you the way the sunset looked on a day they never witnessed, they can tell you what the hero was thinking—deeply and intimately so.
All of this is more than journalism, more than facts—it is storytelling. That’s what narrative non-fiction is at it’s finest: storytelling about real people doing extraordinary things.
It’s the arc, the rising and falling action, climax, the characters…and shockingly, it’s all true.
Below, I’d like to recommend what I think are just a few of the classics of the genre.
These are books I loved so much that I read them in marathon sittings, wanting to get to the end but hoping they never finished.
These authors are masters of their craft who can teach us not just about writing, but at their best, give us insights about life and the human condition. Enjoy!
1. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
Did you know that Moby Dick was based on a true story? And that the real story is arguably better? There was a real whaling ship that was broken in half by an angry sperm whale. And then it gets crazy.
The members of the crew escaped in three lifeboats, traveling thousands of miles at sea with little food and water until they slowly resorted cannibalism (like drawing straws, killing and then eating the loser, cannibalism).
Besides being an utterly unbelievable story, this book also gives a great history into the whaling industry and the cowboy-like entrepreneurs who led it. Wow.
More books inside
As summaries
Course Notes
Lesson via a true life story with captions to follow pronounciation, for vocabulary skills and other miscellaneous lessons
